The end of the year is here, and the Christmas break is just around the corner. If you’re looking for some interesting readings to keep you company at the beach, look no more because we’ve got you covered.
Change By Design
by Tim Brown
“The subject of “design thinking” is the rage at business schools, throughout corporations, and increasingly in the popular press-due in large part to the work of IDEO, a leading design firm, and its celebrated CEO, Tim Brown, who uses this book to show how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business.
The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from the minds of geniuses. The reality is that most innovations come from a process of rigorous examination through which great ideas are identified and developed before being realized as new offerings and capabilities.
Change by Design explains design thinking, the collaborative process by which the designer’s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people’s needs, not only with what is technically feasible, but what is viable to the bottom line. Design thinking converts need into demand. It’s a human-centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and more creative.
Introduced a decade ago, the concept of design thinking remains popular at business schools, throughout corporations, and increasingly in the popular press-due in large part to work of IDEO, the undisputed world leading strategy, innovation, and design firm headed by Tim Brown. As he makes clear in this visionary guide-now updated with addition (sic) material, including new case studies, and a new introduction-design thinking is not just applicable to so-called creative industries or people who work in the design field. It’s a methodology that has been used by organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, to increase the quality of patient care by re-examining the ways that their nurses manage shift change, or Kraft, to rethink supply chain management.
Change by Design is not a book by designers for designers; it is a book for creative leaders seeking to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service to drive new alternatives for business and society.” (source: Amazon)
The Innovator’s DNA
by Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal B. Gregersen & Clayton M. Christensen
“A new classic, cited by leaders and media around the globe as a highly recommended read for anyone interested in innovation.
In The Innovator’s DNA, authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and bestselling author Clayton Christensen (The Innovator’s Dilemma, The Innovator’s Solution, How Will You Measure Your Life?) build on what we know about disruptive innovation to show how individuals can develop the skills necessary to move progressively from idea to impact.
By identifying behaviours of the world’s best innovators—from leaders at Amazon and Apple to those at Google, Skype, and Virgin Group—the authors outline five discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from ordinary managers: Associating, Questioning, Observing, Networking, and Experimenting.
Once you master these competencies (the authors provide a self-assessment for rating your own innovator’s DNA), the authors explain how to generate ideas, collaborate to implement them, and build innovation skills throughout the organization to result in a competitive edge. This innovation advantage will translate into a premium in your company’s stock price—an innovation premium—which is possible only by building the code for innovation right into your organization’s people, processes, and guiding philosophies.” (source: goodreads)
Practical and provocative, The Innovator’s DNA is an essential resource for individuals and teams who want to strengthen their innovative prowess.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
by Peter F. Drucker:
“Innovation and Entrepreneurship deals with ‘what, when and why’; with policies and decisions; opportunities and risks, structures and strategies; staffing, compensation and rewards. In addition to managers in all types of business, lecturers and students of management and business studies will this a revealing and exciting work. Highly critical in approach, it is nevertheless a practical and illuminating study of an area crucial for today’s world.
A timeless classic from Peter F. Drucker, one of the world’s leading management thinkers. Innovation and Entrepreneurship remains a key area of practice. A bestseller in the Drucker Classic Collection.” (source: Google Books)
Happy holiday reading!
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