In The Change Maker's Playbook, Amy Radin shares her insight-driven,
down-to-earth approach to deliver innovation results under today's
uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing conditions.
Any leader in any size company, no matter the size or sector, feels the
pressure to innovate, find new ideas and business models, and create
enduring customer value. There is no one formula or set process to find
and execute the ideas that achieve these goals; customers set moving
targets, shareholders are unforgiving and demanding, and society expects
companies to care about much more than the bottom line.
The fast and furious forces of change stimulated by technology,
demographics, lifestyles, and economic, environmental, political and
regulatory impacts -- or any number of these in combination - are easy
to see. They are easy to talk about. They are easy to intellectualize.
The problem? The answers are hard to execute and require nuanced
combinations of leadership, skills, strategy and tactics. On top of
that, innovation has moved from an abstraction that will matter at some
distant date to a front-and-center deliverable that must show evidence
of impact in the space of the calendar quarter.
In the stories, tools, techniques and advice inside The Change Maker's
Playbook, leaders will find tangible steps to find and safeguard the
plans that will deliver the sustainable business-changing impacts - new
customers, new relationships, new sources of value and growth-- their
businesses need.
Separated from the pack of academic and consultant innovation theories,
Radin's approach stems from her own experience sitting in the innovation
hot seat at some of the world's most demanding companies and is
bolstered by interviews with 50 corporate executives, founders and
startup investors representing media, e-commerce, payments, healthcare,
government, professional services, and not-for-profit sectors.
The book walks readers through Radin's adaptive, 9-part framework,
engaging them in ready-to-apply techniques. Her work shows leaders how
to find the big ideas that will meaningfully address customer needs,
take the insight from idea through implementation in a way that delivers
in the short and long-term for the organization, and lead effectively
through the obstacles that tend to derail or diminish innovation. Three
phases - Seeking, Seeding and Scaling - organize the framework within an
intuitive, logical and useable format, with concrete actions outlined
every step of the way.
The answer to the dilemma every business faces today is that innovation
is exhilarating, rewarding and even fun when it is approached as a
unique challenge, but it can also be polarizing, unpredictable, and
scary. Success requires that leaders rethink how they lead innovation.
Leaders know they must set aside preconceived notions of what works, and
look to those who have already walked in their shoes. This is why The
Change Maker's Playbook was written, and why it will become an ongoing
resource for any innovation leader.
