0%

Book Description

Is Innovation just an overused buzzword? A waste of time? A mere marketing ploy?   

Author Alex Goryachev has a simple, resounding response to such questions: No!

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is driving change at an unprecedented pace, level, and intensity that is impacting businesses across industries, not to mention our everyday lives. We are rapidly blurring the physical and the digital, transforming the way we live and, in some sense, what it even means to be human. Whether we run a startup or multinational, a nonprofit or academic institution, a city or a whole country, we need to embrace this change to not just survive but thrive under these new realities.

In Fearless Innovation, Cisco’s Managing Director of Innovation Strategy and Programs explores how, no matter their function, leaders and managers can cut through the noise to understand change and deliver real results.

Goryachev’s actionable, consistent, and timeless innovation principles offer a blueprint to driving growth, enacting change, increasing the bottom line, and creating clear measurable value. Featuring diverse case studies of some of today’s most innovative organizations, historical observations, first-hand experience, and a look at where innovation is thriving, and why, this down-to-earth guide provides advice and clear steps on how to:

  • Get teams to embrace innovation beyond empty slogans
  • Focus on execution of innovation through leadership and strategy
  • Measure the real effects of innovation to showcase ROI and attract investment
  • Break down org silos by empowering effective, diverse, and inclusive teams
  • Drive co-innovation through win-win ecosystem-wide partnerships
  • Organize innovation teams and orchestrate outcomes by leveraging organizational DNA
  • Communicate the value of innovation to differentiate ourselves from competition

Written for any organization that wants to stay relevant in the 21st Century, and even beyond, Fearless Innovation offers a step-by-step guide for getting past the confusion, overcoming fear, and getting down to business to create an environment of true innovation.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction: From Buzzword to Reality
    1. Living with Change
    2. Okay, But WTF Is Innovation?
    3. Fearless Innovation
    4. Notes
  4. Chapter 1: Innovation Is Now or Never
    1. Don’t Join the Dying Breeds
    2. Work with Change, Not Against It
    3. Know When to Take Action
    4. Summary: Innovation Waits for No One
    5. Principle
    6. Action
    7. Obstacle
    8. Outcome
    9. Notes
  5. Chapter 2: No Leadership = No Strategy = No Innovation
    1. Recognize How Dysfunction and Stagnation Begin
    2. Take Responsibility
    3. Ask Questions
    4. Clarify and Publish Employee Sentiments, Goals, and Strategy
    5. Summary: Lead, Strategize, Innovate
    6. Principle
    7. Actions
    8. Obstacles
    9. Outcome
    10. Notes
  6. Chapter 3: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It
    1. Get Real About Innovation
    2. Find the Metrics
    3. Incentivize Innovation through Radical Transparency
    4. Time It Right
    5. Summary: Metrics Matter
    6. Principle
    7. Action
    8. Obstacle
    9. Outcome
    10. Notes
  7. Chapter 4: Innovation Is Not Disruption
    1. Stop Thinking “Disruptively”
    2. Start Thinking Pragmatically
    3. Get Back to the Basics
    4. Summary: The Pen Is Mightier than the Program
    5. Principle
    6. Action
    7. Obstacle
    8. Outcome
    9. Notes
  8. Chapter 5: The Lonely Innovator Myth
    1. Treat Innovation Like a Team Sport
    2. Foster Diversity and Inclusion
    3. Summary: Innovation Is a Team Sport
    4. Principle
    5. Action
    6. Obstacles
    7. Outcome
    8. Notes
  9. Chapter 6: Innovation Wants to Be Free
    1. Come Together
    2. Take Co-Innovation to the Next Level
    3. Summary: The Freedom of the Ecosystem
    4. Principle
    5. Action
    6. Obstacles
    7. Outcome
    8. Notes
  10. Chapter 7: Outcomes Must Be Orchestrated
    1. Don’t Let Innovation Get Lost
    2. Hire a Chief Innovation Officer
    3. Put Governance Processes into Action
    4. Build Innovation Teams
    5. Summary: Orchestrating Invisible Innovation
    6. Principle
    7. Action
    8. Obstacles
    9. Outcome
    10. Notes
  11. Chapter 8: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
    1. Invest in Communications Skills and Capabilities
    2. Start Internally
    3. Create Dialogue Externally
    4. Summary: Discover, Listen, Act
    5. Principle
    6. Action
    7. Obstacles
    8. Outcome
    9. Notes
  12. Conclusion: Business as Usual
  13. About the Author
  14. Index
  15. End User License Agreement