The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine And What Smart Companies Are Doing About It

Book description

For true innovation, you may need to think outside the box and outside the company.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword by Dorothy A. Leonard
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction: A Crushing Force
    1. The Paradox of Expertise
    2. An Overview of the Book Structure
    3. A Note on Terminology
  9. Part I. What’s Weighing us Down
    1. Chapter 1. Our Own Worst Enemy: How the Burden of what we know Limits what we can Imagine
      1. First Things First: What Exactly Is Innovation?
      2. The Attack on Innovative Thinking
      3. Innovation Phases and Filters
      4. The Ah-Hah! of the Perpetual Novice
      5. Two Notes
      6. Key Points
    2. Chapter 2. Groupthink: The Strongest Force on Earth: Why Sustained Innovation is so Darned Hard: Part 1
      1. No One Is Immune
      2. But We’re Smarter Than That
      3. So What?
      4. Key Points
    3. Chapter 3. Expertthink: Groupthink on Steroids: Why Sustained Innovation is so Darned Hard: Part 2
      1. Expertise: The Pros and the Cons
      2. ExpertThink: Expertise Gone Awry
      3. Follow the Leader
      4. Catch-22
      5. The Heavy Cost
      6. The Anti-ExpertThinker
      7. Key Points
  10. Part II. Zero-Gravity Thinkers
    1. Chapter 4. Time Travel to see the Naked Emperor: The Benefit of Psychological Distance
      1. Psychological Distance: Groupthink’s Nemesis
      2. The Perils of Being an Insider and an Outsider at the Same Time
      3. The Challenge of the Permanent Balancing Act
      4. Key Points
    2. Chapter 5. Just Curious: The Benefit of Renaissance Tendencies
      1. A Real-Life Study in Contrast
      2. Unexpected Associations
      3. Measuring Renaissance Tendencies
      4. Key Points
    3. Chapter 6. Smart about Something else: The Benefit of Related Expertise
      1. Naiveté
      2. Funny Math: Two + Two = Five
      3. A Potential Intersection Point
      4. Gaining Steam
      5. It’s All Relative
      6. Key Points
  11. Part III. Defying Gravity
    1. Chapter 7. The Collaborator: What does a Zero-Gravity Thinker Actually do?
      1. Outside Roles
      2. Zero-Gravity Informers and Doers
      3. The Underutilized Role
      4. Being Intuitive
      5. Key Points
    2. Chapter 8. When and where … when do you need a Collaborator and where do you Find One?
      1. When Do You Need a Collaborator?
      2. Where Do You Find a Collaborator?
      3. A Final Word
      4. Key Points
    3. Chapter 9. How to Work with a Zero-Gravity Thinker: Eleven Questions and Answers
      1. Key Points
    4. Chapter 10. Do-It-Yourself Weightless Thinking: Losing the Weight of Expertise on Your Own
      1. Practice One: Look at the Challenge as if You Are Someone Else … And Then Someone Else … And Then Someone Else
      2. Practice Two: Train Yourself to Look for Weird Combinations
      3. Practice Three: Change the Way You Think About Thinking
      4. Practice Four: Spend Quality Time Defining the Problem Before Trying to Solve It
      5. Practice Five: Understand What Constrains Your Thinking
      6. Practice Six: Nurture the Zero-Gravity Thinker Within
      7. Key Points
    5. Chapter 11. The Courage to go Where no one has Gone Before: The Role of the Leader
      1. Hittin’ Out of the Park
      2. Mixed Messages
      3. A Culture of Courage
      4. Staged Approach to Innovation-Stimulation
      5. Making Our Own Luck
      6. Key Points
  12. Appendix A. Related Expertise Grid
  13. Appendix B. A Leader’s Guide
  14. Notes
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine And What Smart Companies Are Doing About It
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: July 2006
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814408834