20 Best Books About Innovation (2023 Update)

"most startups are built to fail. but those failures, according to entrepreneur eric ries, are preventable. startups don't fail because of bad execution, or missed deadlines, or blown budgets. they fail because they are building something nobody wants. whether they arise from someone's garage or are created within a mature fortune 500 organization, new ventures, by definition, are designed to create new products or services under conditions of extreme uncertainly. one of the central premises of the lean startup movement is what ries calls "validated learning" about the customer.

"how today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically succesful businesses" test your ideas before you bet the bank on them. don''t listen to what focus groups say; watch what your customers do. start with a modest offering and build on the aspects of it that prove valuable. expect to get it wrong and stay flexible and solvent enough to try again and again until you get it right.

"if you want to get rid of obsolete practices and succeed with the new digital, read this book." –carlota perez, author of technological revolutions and financial capital"mik provides a great articulation of the importance of focussing on the work not the workers, on the value stream network, and on lessons learned on what to avoid." –jon smart, author of sooner safer happier "a major contribution to the theory of management in the age of software." –carliss baldwin, co-author of design rules, volume 1: the power of modularityin the age of software, will your business dominate and maintain relevance–or will it become a digital relic? unfortunately, business and technology leaders are woefully ill-equipped to solve the problems posed by digital transformation. at the current rate of disruption, half of s&p 500 companies will be replaced in the next ten years. a new approach is needed. in project to product, value stream network pioneer and technology business leader dr. the flow framework will enable your company's evolution from project-oriented dinosaur to product-centric innovator that thrives in the age of software. if you're driving your organization's transformation at any level, this is the book for you. "[project to product] that gives technology leaders a framework to enable the change necessary for companies to remain relevant." –dominica degrandis, author of making work visible

Drawing on examples of the hottest innovators in silicon valley, this step-by-step guide will show you how to develop, test and launch your impossibly big idea to success. almost every major company today has made innovation its number one priority. yet fewer than one in four executives believe their organizations are effective innovators. the pressure to innovate and the price paid for failure keeps rising, while most companies haven't progressed at all. they are still using the same antiquated techniques pioneered decades ago. this is why some of the biggest corporations in the world manage to lose entire markets to startups they've never heard of.in today's world, everyone will need to innovate to stay competitive. it doesn't matter if you're a startup founder, corporate executive, small business owner, freelancer or professional, there's a technology out there that's going to upend your industry. and if you aren't able to harness it to your advantage, someone else will. innovation is no longer an option–it's the price of admission into the business world.make elephants fly is designed to help you implement the same innovation methodologies and processes as silicon valley startups. it will teach you: how startups come up with breakthrough products and services. how to structure innovation teams. the best ways to identify and vet new ideas. what it takes to foster a culture of innovation. how to establish a process of innovation throughout your organization.by the time you've digested this book, you will have the tools needed to take your impossibly big idea and make it fly!

Surprising rules for successful monetization innovation is the most important driver of growth. today, more than ever, companies need to innovate to survive. but successful innovation—measured in dollars and cents—is a very hard target to hit. companies obsess over being creative and innovative and spend significant time and expense in designing and building products, yet struggle to monetize them: 72% of innovations fail to meet their financial targets—or fail entirely. many companies have come to accept that a high failure rate, and the billions of dollars lost annually, is just the cost of doing business. monetizing innovations argues that this is tragic, wasteful, and wrong. radically improving the odds that your innovation will succeed is just a matter of removing the guesswork. that happens when you put customer demand and willingness to pay in the driver seat—when you design the product around the price. it’s a new paradigm, and that opens the door to true game change: you can stop hoping to monetize, and start knowing that you will. the authors at simon kucher know what they’re talking about. as the world’s premier pricing and monetization consulting services company, with 800 professionals in 30 cities around the globe, they have helped clients ranging from massive pharmaceuticals to fast-growing startups find success. in monetizing innovation, they distil the lessons of thirty years and over 10,000 projects into a practical, nine-step approach. whether you are a ceo, executive leadership, or part of the team responsible for innovation and new product development, this book is for you, with special sections and checklist-driven summaries to make monetizing innovation part of your company’s dna. illustrative case studies show how some of the world’s best innovative companies like linkedin, uber, porsche, optimizely, draeger, swarovski and big pharmaceutical companies have used principles outlined in this book. a direct challenge to the status quo “spray and pray” style of innovation, monetizing innovation presents a practical approach that can be adopted by any organization, in any industry. most monetizing innovation failure point home. now more than ever, companies must rethink the practices that have lost countless billions of dollars. monetizing innovation presents a new way forward, and a clear promise: go from hope to certainty.

The new playbook for innovation and startup success is emerging from beyond silicon valley–at the "frontier." startups have changed the world. in the united states, many startups, such as tesla, apple, and amazon, have become household names. the economic value of startups has doubled since 1992 and is projected to double again in the next fifteen years. – for decades, the hot center of this phenomenon has been silicon valley. this is changing fast. thanks to technology, startups can now take root anywhere–and they are, from delhi to detroit to nairobi to sao paulo. yet despite this globalization of startup activity, our knowledge of how to build successful startups is still drawn primarily from silicon valley–over the years, countless books, blogs, and speeches have codified this model, prescribing what a startup should look like and how it should be run. – as venture capitalist alexandre lazarow shows in this insightful and instructive book, this silicon valley "gospel" is due for a refresh–and it comes from what he calls the "frontier," the growing constellation of startup ecosystems, outside of the valley and other major economic centers, that now stretches across the globe. the frontier is a truly different world where startups often must cope with political or economic instability and lack of infrastructure, and where there might be little or no access to angel investors, venture capitalists, or experienced employee pools. – under such conditions, entrepreneurs must be creators who build industries rather than disruptors who change them because there are few existing businesses to disrupt. the companies they create must be global from birth because local markets are too small. they focus on resiliency and sustainability rather than unicorn-style growth at any cost. – with rich and wide-ranging stories of frontier innovators from around the world, out-innovate is the new playbook for innovation–wherever it has the potential to happen.

In the book, you’ll learn how to utilize the design thinking paradigm for innovation success and how successful leaders manage explore and exploit portfolios to create impact. the author explains how to: strategically employ data analytics, artificial intelligence, and neurodesign to drive innovation and business results deploy objectives and key results (okrs) for innovation teams to realize true alignment between the business and team performance use the provided hands-on tools to measure your firm’s success at creating meaningfully new and interesting products, services, and experiencespart of the design thinking series, design thinking and innovation metrics will earn a place in the libraries of managers, executives, product owners, innovation teams, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders.

Learn how to disrupt. learn how to innovate. compiled by springwise, the global innovation discovery engine, disrupt! explains and highlights the best, most disruptive and most useful innovation ideas of the 21st century. – the book shares which themes underpin their success and which ideas can best be used to drive creativity in your workplace, office or industry. – this attractively designed book draws on their vast archive and the expertise of their editorial team to create a practical, themed overview of contemporary innovation with simple, implementable strategies for bringing more creativity to your business or idea and more disruption to your industry. it is an indispensable handbook to modern innovation. – springwise has a huge online readership (700,000 page impressions a month, 31,000 facebook followers, 62,000 twitter followers and an email database of 160,000 names) and a reputation as the number-one engine for collating and sharing cutting-edge business ideas. – dan pink describes springwise as: "an amazing roundup of new business ideas and surprising business models from around the world." seth godin says: "almost too good to share!"

Inspiring next series is designed to bring innovation to your organization. it enables leaders to see farther with a purpose. it empowers change agents to be effective through proven tricks. it provides innovators with tools to ideate and manage risk and uncertainty. the library of best practices in innovation is ideal for those who are passionate about improving quality of life, who are driven to addressing problems worth solving, and who dream to do big things and need leverage. it inspires any organization to behave like a visionary. the methodology has continuously evolved with every engagement. it has proven itself across energy, aerospace, healthcare, construction, consumer goods, garments, manufacturing, and it sectors. volume 1 – inspiring next purpose is all about the why. it helps you discover your purpose, using a hierarchical model – financial drive, industry 4.0, society 5.0, and sustainable development. it guides you through a series of steps to monetize any idea – market insight, structured ideation, concept qualification, purpose & ethics check, and effective execution with manageable risk. it brings structure to innovation through a framework called + that helps build a profile from aware to follower to forecaster and to be a trendsetter. the best practices are organized to progressively create a robust strategy, build innovative workforce, manage creative process, and execute effectively. volume 4 – inspiring next mindset is more about the how (people). it provides multiple tips to re-build the innovation mindset in a stepwise manner – unshackle the past, reboot leadership, re-ignite creativity, and learn to embrace failures. the complete set strengthens the mental muscle and builds the innovation capacity of any organization. it is based on a philosophy that innovation is like a sport – a team sport, a contact sport, played in the market arena. you don't win every game, but if you practice regularly with a coach, your success rate keeps getting better. a brilliant coach is the one who stays with you on the ground, pushes you hard, gives you timely and candid feedback, inspires your team with strategic plans, and also helps you with tactical moves. a real coach is always by your side, physically, mentally, and emotionally; happy when you win, empathic when you lose, and even provocative when required for your good. the inspiring next series is not intended to replace your coach but assist you both in winning the game. ripi singh is a purposeful innovation coach, strategist, author, keynote speaker, industry 4.0 enabler, and a lifelong learner. he has practiced innovation as a corporate leader, an engineering professor, and on dod sbirs; in the usa, europe, and asia. ripi is an expert contributor to the iso 56000 on innovation management; guest editor for international journals; advisor to several universities around the world, as well as the international association of innovation professionals.

Discusses why investments in the economic development of poor countries rarely see positive change or improvement over time and offers a new framework for spurring growth and prosperity based on entrepreneurship and market-creating innovation.

This is an essential read for managers in forms that used to have a product focus and that are trying to shift towards designing services and experiences. by covering the early stages of the innovation process, it guides readers throught developing new knowledge, creating service concepts and prototyping experiences. it's valuable not only for service innovation and design practicioners but also visionary business leaders who understand that creating destinct customer experiences is the future of innovation.

Innovation is a must if you want your company to adapt and overcome the market's rapid change in this highly competitive world. innovation can drive growth and revenue, whatever the size of your business – whether a micro-company, sme, or multinational. but while the more commonly tried and tested incremental innovation can save time, costs and enable a company to be more sustainable, breakthrough and radical innovation (the creation of new, far-reaching, and novel ideas) can generate between two to five times as much revenue within the same period. the challenge is that breakthrough and radical innovation are hard: they require unique capabilities, structures, approaches, success metrics, and cultures to succeed. launching radical projects without a strategic approach risks you burning through time and money without anything to show for it. the radical innovation playbook is a practical, how-to-do-it manual with tested advice and guidance on planning, creating, and successfully launching new innovative business ideas. authors olga kokshagina, an innovation practitioner, researcher, and advocate for open science and entrepreneurism and allen alexander, an associate professor with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurism, provide insight, practical solutions, and reusable business model canvases to show how to develop breakthrough and radical ideas while steering through the culture of the organisation to gain buy-in from peers as well as stakeholders. in this playbook, you will learn how to: discover new innovative ideas and emerging market opportunities;find evidence that your innovation idea has business viability;make vital decisions about how to plan and design your innovation project;generate alternatives to your proposition;explore, collect and analyse information to influence and convince others;identify, navigate, and embrace uncertainty;engage with peers and stakeholders;reflect on how your organisation supports ideation processes;discover, explore and secure investment;gain confidence and skills for a successful launch;diversify into new markets and commercial channels;build a business structure that enables innovation to grow;inspire and support future generations to make an impact and achieve success. this book is for you if: you are a first-time innovator looking for guidance and help in understanding how to take your fledgling ideas forward; a ceo or senior manager looking to invest in and devise your next-generation corporate innovation portfolio; you need to tailor your organisational structure to explore and deliver successful innovations. the radical innovation playbook is a practical guide, presented in striking colour, with downloadable worksheets and canvases to help you collect, analyse, plan and launch a successful breakthrough or radical innovation project.

In 1966, recent art college grad, john f. tyson, became the first industrial designer hired by northern electric, bell canada's modest manufacturing arm. in 2000, he retired as vice-president of advanced technology for nortel, then the world's leading supplier of communications networks. tyson's journey from student to senior executive when an entirely new world of human communications came into being. he traces the development of corporate identity, vision, and activities of bell-northern research (bnr), which would become one of the most innovative and widely respected research-and-development organizations in the world. throughout, he candidly portrays the many colourful personalities he met along the way who helped realize grand visions. as an innovator and passionate champion of r&d, he offers critical insights into the interplay of innovation, vision, and leadership as the key to corporate success. he details some of his own pioneering work in user-centred design and market research methods, translating the philosophical to the tangible within a collaborative community of people, process and product, and delivering groundbreaking innovations to the marketplace. tyson gives readers an insider's compelling perspective on a turbulent time in communications history, all written with humour and the sense of wonder and delight that marked his fascinating career.

Innovation may be a buzzword du jour in entrepreneurship and business circles but knowing how to nurture and grow an innovative culture tends to be elusive. this is particularly true within a big bureaucracy and especially within government. – few organizations learned that better than afwerx, a government startup created to unleash the us air force's culture of innovation. starting as an idea in the pentagon, afwerx ended up being ranked #16 on fast company's 2020 list of best workplaces for innovators-ahead of companies such as amazon and intel-in less than three years' time. – to guide afwerx to its world-class cultural capabilities, co-founder and startup-years leader dr. brian "beam" maue developed an original strategic framework that drew upon ideas ranging from sun tzu to silicon valley. in the experiment that succeeded, beam chronicles the principles and practices afwerx used during its startup years to realize its remarkable achievements. – bouncing between gravitas and a bit of buffoonery, beam takes readers on a journey through his factors linking organizational will (flow) framework. the exploration includes right and left-brain thinking, thought-provoking culture graphics and more than 50 questions to help internalize insights absorbed along the way. – achieving innovation success may be challenging, but it is not random. the experiment that succeeded reveals hidden principles of innovation success from a truly unique voice in the world of creative cultures. by applying its lessons, organizations-even those within the government-will accelerate up the learning curve and warp reality more readily in their favor.

A step-by-step guide to successfully transforming any organization it is well recognized that succeeding at innovation is fundamental in today's hyper-competitive global marketplace. it is the only way to outperform current and emerging competitors sustainably. it is a practical guide that moves beyond the “why” to the “how” of making innovation happen, for leaders and practitioners inside organizations of all sizes. written by two pioneers in the field of embedding innovation in organization, the innovator's field guide focuses on the most pressing innovation problems and specific challenges innovation leaders will face and offers concrete solutions, tools, and methods to overcome them. each chapter describes a specific innovation challenge and details proven ways to address that challenge includes practical ideas, techniques, and leading practices describes common obstacles and offers practical solutions any leader or professional who needs concrete solutions—right now—to the critical challenges of innovation will find invaluable aid in the practical, easy-to-understand, and market-tested approaches of the innovator's field guide.

How great firms fail by doing everything rightharvard professor clayton m. the innovator's dilemma eloquently demonstrates a shattering paradox: that the best of conventional good business practices can ultimately weaken a great firm. the solution? create a subsidiary entirely focused on the emerging market, one that is free to be visionary while courting an unorthodox customer base and staying poised to catch the next great wave of industry growth. sharp, cogent, and provocative, the innovator's dilemma is one of the most talked about business books of our time-and something that none of today's executives will dare to be without.

The barriers to entry in your market just vanished. unexpected competitors are swarming in. are you ready? you always knew digital was going to change things, but you didn't realize how close to home it would hit. the only way to compete is to evolve. james mcquivey of forrester research has been teaching people how to do this for over a decade. he's gone into the biggest companies, even in traditional industries like insurance and consumer packaged goods, and changed the way they think about innovation. now he's sharing his approach with you. mcquivey will show you how dr. hugh reinhoff of ferrokin biosciences disrupted the pharmaceutical industry, streamlining connections with doctors and regulators to bring molecules to market far faster–and then sold out for $100 million. how charles teague and his team of four people created lose it!, a weight loss application that millions have adopted, achieving rapid success and undermining titans like weight watchers and jenny craig in the process. regardless of your background and industry, you can learn how to be a digital disruptor too. first, adopt the right mindset: take risks, invest as cheaply as possible, and build on existing platforms to find the fastest path to solving a customer's problem. second, seek the "adjacent possible"–the space just next to yours where new technology creates opportunity. that's how benjamin rubin and paolo depetrillo of zeo created a $100 sleep monitor that does much of what you'd get from a $3,000 sleep lab visit. finally, disrupt yourself. use these tools to make parts of your business obsolete before your competitors do. that's what tim fitzrandolph did at disney, creating a game that shot to the top of the app store charts. with the tools in this book you can assess your readiness, learn the disruptive mindset, and innovate rapidly, starting right within your own business.

The barriers to entry in your market just vanished. unexpected competitors are swarming in. are you ready? you always knew digital was going to change things, but you didn't realize how close to home it would hit. the only way to compete is to evolve. james mcquivey of forrester research has been teaching people how to do this for over a decade. he's gone into the biggest companies, even in traditional industries like insurance and consumer packaged goods, and changed the way they think about innovation. now he's sharing his approach with you. mcquivey will show you how dr. hugh reinhoff of ferrokin biosciences disrupted the pharmaceutical industry, streamlining connections with doctors and regulators to bring molecules to market far faster–and then sold out for $100 million. how charles teague and his team of four people created lose it!, a weight loss application that millions have adopted, achieving rapid success and undermining titans like weight watchers and jenny craig in the process. regardless of your background and industry, you can learn how to be a digital disruptor too. first, adopt the right mindset: take risks, invest as cheaply as possible, and build on existing platforms to find the fastest path to solving a customer's problem. second, seek the "adjacent possible"–the space just next to yours where new technology creates opportunity. that's how benjamin rubin and paolo depetrillo of zeo created a $100 sleep monitor that does much of what you'd get from a $3,000 sleep lab visit. finally, disrupt yourself. use these tools to make parts of your business obsolete before your competitors do. that's what tim fitzrandolph did at disney, creating a game that shot to the top of the app store charts. with the tools in this book you can assess your readiness, learn the disruptive mindset, and innovate rapidly, starting right within your own business.

The author of the bestselling the art of innovation reveals the strategies ideo, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout an organization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity. the role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. it allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. nothing is more potent in stifling innovation. over the years, ideo has developed ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. filled with engaging stories of how kraft, procter and gamble, safeway and the mayo clinic have incorporated ideo's thinking to transform the customer experience, the ten faces of innovation is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.

The global disruption caused by the pandemic, climate change, technology, and new customer expectations is unparalleled. overnight, entire economies, education systems, and social infrastructures came to a grinding halt. nowadays, many companies, organizations, business leaders, and entrepreneurs face the test of redefining their strategy in a short time frame. as widespread crisis lurks as our ever-present reality, the question arises of how to develop new systems and societies that possess the resilience needed to thrive under uncertain conditions. it requires a better understanding of the problem you want to solve and all elements involved. unsettled disruption provides a systematic process to consider external factors, your industry's chances of disruption, and the pillars that would help you build your strategy. this practical guide combines the concepts, tools, and dozens of proven business cases and stories from the author's experience.