A summary of things you should know about The Seven Sins of Innovation according to Dave Richards: Introduction In this episode Dave Richards takes a deep dive into his book,Read More
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]]>In this episode Dave Richards takes a deep dive into his book, The Seven Sins of Innovation, where he discusses 7 causes of success or failure for innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors.
In his book Richards shares examples and case studies from some of the most well-known organizations and demonstrates how individual and group psychology must be engaged effectively to create entrepreneurial cultures capable of powerful innovation. The goal of his book is to provide you with a guide to applying the model, finding the right external resources, and involving people effectively.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs, business leaders, or managers attempting to start, reinvent, or grow an organization of any kind.
A lot of books on innovation tend to be quite academic or theoretical. Also a lot of great stories about entrepreneurship and innovation are really personal stories. My book is more about trying to make sense of it all and draw together various theories and practicalities of innovation. And pointing out why most efforts fail but also what to do about it in practical terms.
There are sections of the book that are devoted to specific types of enterprises. So there are sections that I think might be of interest to specific readers but I’ve tried to write them in a way that they are applicable to any type of innovation effort or any type of entrepreneurship.
I think it’s that the success or failure of any innovation effort or any entrepreneurial effort is really all about the people. If you are successful it’s going to be because of the people and if you fail it’s because of the people.
I start with definitions and the reason I start with definitions of basic concepts is because looking at the literature on these topics I see a lot of inconsistency. I define innovation in terms of creation and value and I define entrepreneurship as anyone trying to innovate. I felt we needed to rethink our concepts of innovation and rethink our whole approach to how we are trying to innovate. From there we move into talking about why it’s so difficult. The reality in the world of innovation is the vast majority of innovation efforts fail to deliver the desired results.
The seven sins are looking at the fundamental reasons underlined the failure of most innovation efforts. And of course with every sin there is a corresponding virtue. After going through the various sins of innovation I get into specific prescriptions for how to succeed.
The first key sin of innovation is pointless purpose. Pointless purpose can come in many different forms but it is fundamentally all about an entrepreneur not having a really strong connection to a purpose. One of the most common forms of that is what I call the technology push. This is when really clever technologists come up with a so called solutions and conceptually throw it over the wall and say I have the solution now where is the problem. What are you trying to do as an entrepreneur to make the world a better place? If your innovation isn’t connected to some fundamental purpose than in my view it is pointless.
The second sin we talk about is impaired vision. Your vision for success is fundamentally connected to purpose but takes it a step deeper in terms of understanding the specifics of what you’ll achieve.
The third sin is an inability to articulate what you are trying to do. This sin I call apathetic miscommunication. This is miscommunication that can be the result of apathy or lack of the ability to articulate and the inability to express the value that you’re trying to deliver. And to express it in a way that attracts, excites, and influences your potential customers.
The fourth sin is about ambivalent disengagement and failure of relationship.
The fifth sin I call frightfully disempowered followership. In other words the opposite of good leadership is followership and the opposite of empowerment is disempowerment. The virtue as an innovator is to responsibly empower the resources that are required to drive innovation. So if we fail to appropriately empower those resources than fundamentally we are being irresponsible. One of the key things we need to do as leaders of innovation is to appropriately empower and that often means making very tough choices.
The sixth sin I call painfully boring uncreatively.
The seventh sin I call comfortable complacency and it’s related to the realm of motivation. It’s were we implement strategy and it’s the realm of performance and results. In that realm of human behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and motivation, complacency is the big killer for motivation.
The book ends with some specific prescriptions related to different types of enterprises. One of them looks at revitalizing an enterprise which I think a lot of organizations need to look at. I personally believe that leaders in government need to be far more innovative than they are and we need a step change in terms of the ability of public enterprises to deliver value.
“If you’re not living, leading, learning, and loving on the edge you are taking up too much space.” – Dave Richards
I live in the UK but I’m an American and Canadian. I’ve got five great kids, two relatively little ones and we live on the South Coast of England. I work all over the world, I enjoy public speaking, plus I work with a variety of organizations ranging from startups to multinationals essentially helping people create more success.
Essentially it represents a lifetime of learning and an effort to understand why the vast majority of innovation efforts fail.
The Mandala of Being by Richard Moss
Buy The Seven Sins of Innovation by Dave Richards
Visit DrDaveInnovation.com to learn more about Dave and his book
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: The Innovative Entrepreneur by Daniel Spulber | The Innovator’s Method by Nathan Furr | From Idea To Exit by Jeffrey Weber
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Steps to Promote Innovation in the Workplace
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]]>Latest Books For Entrepreneurs in October 2014 The Entrepreneurs Library presents the latest books for entrepreneurs in October 2014. These books are brand new to the market and the authorsRead More
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]]>Latest Books For Entrepreneurs in October 2014
The Entrepreneurs Library presents the latest books for entrepreneurs in October 2014. These books are brand new to the market and the authors are in line to share their insights with me. Stay tuned this month for the release of the interviews with these great books and the authors.
In Scaling Up, Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. These approaches have been honed from over three decades of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives and helping them navigate the increasing complexities (and weight) that come with scaling up a venture.
Scaling Up is the first major revision of this business classic. The goal of this book is to help you turn what feels like an anchor into wind at your back — creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money. To accomplish this, Scaling Up focuses on the four major decision areas every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash.
“The idea of guiding a company from the small tide pools to the big seas of business can be exhilarating, but also daunting without a detailed set of directions. Scaling Up provides those directions, along with a remarkably detailed map for how to get there safe and happy.” – Robert B. Cialdini, best-selling author of Influence
“Fast-growing companies — not small ones or big ones — create almost all the jobs and innovation in our economy, and Verne has been an invaluable guide to leaders of such companies, like me. Scaling Up helps us put in place the disciplines critical to building a significant business.” – Graham Weston, Chairman and CEO, Rackspace
Learn more about Verne Harnish | Buy Scaling Up on Amazon
In this groundbreaking book on high-stakes leadership, Co-founder and CEO of Team Rubicon and former Marine Sniper Jake Wood, shows how to apply hard-learned lessons in leadership and teamwork from the battlefield and disaster zone to your professional life.
While most of our jobs don’t involve leading a tour of Marines through an ambush, or rushing into a relief zone just decimated by a hurricane, in today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive business environment, we are ALL on the front lines.
And in an entrepreneurially-minded world where technology is constantly reinventing how we work, global competition is fierce, and industries are being disrupted overnight, success requires a new kind of leadership. This book is about how to become the kind of leader who gets results when the stakes are at their highest—how to take command.
“There are leaders everywhere. Parents. Entrepreneurs. Warriors. Executives. And people with big ideas. Wood relates to all of them with a humility and confidence that its uniquely American. If there is one book on leadership to read, it is this one. From his hometown to the battlefield of Iraq to Haiti and untold other natural disasters, to the boardroom and the factory floor, Wood gets it: the kind of leader you are shapes your outcome.” – Christine Romans, CNN chief business correspondent
“A must read for every aspiring leader. Filled with powerful stories and simple, straightforward guidelines, this is the new roadmap for leadership from the front lines.” – Dave Kerpen, NY Times Bestselling Author, Likeable Social Media, Likeable Business & The Art of People
Learn more about Jake Wood | Buy Take Command on Amazon
From Idea To Exit is an excellent summation of Jeff Weber’s entrepreneurial journey that should be a reference guide book on the bookshelf of all entrepreneurs. It is filled with insights that help organize familiar concepts in a logical way, and can be used again and again through all stages of building a startup. Jeff distills his learnings and catalogs them with the precision of a surgeon in the OR.
While most small business books cover niche components of the start-up model, From Idea to Exit takes a more comprehensive approach, tackling the entire entrepreneurial journey from the initial seed idea through a well-planned exit strategy. Through a persuasive narrative, the author draws from his own success a practical call to action for those who dream of taking that first big step.
By following the entertaining and informative true story of Jeffrey Weber, you’ll learn his proven methodologies for entrepreneurial success.
Learn more about Jeffrey Weber | Buy From Idea To Exit on Amazon | Listen to my interview with Jeff here
Crazy Is A Compliment by Linda Rottenberg
Rottenberg draws on her unrivaled experience to show you the proven techniques to achieve your dreams: from overcoming fear to facing down critics, from stalking supporters to exploiting chaos. Crazy Is A Compliment combines inspiring stories, original research, and practical advice to create a road map for getting started and going bigger.
She brings to life iconic entrepreneurs like Walt Disney and Estée Lauder and reveals how companies like MTV, GE, and Burberry found their best successes by breaking the corporate mold and embracing the entrepreneur mind-set. She also introduces us to some of the one thousand entrepreneurs she’s advised, like Leila Velez, who started a hair-care company in her kitchen sink in Rio that now earns $80 million a year. As Linda writes:
“Every day I meet people with a dream. Maybe you’re serving coffee and fantasizing about launching a microbrewery; maybe you’ve skipped college and yearn to start your own design firm; maybe you’re sitting in your cubicle and brainstorming a new idea that can improve your company.”
“Call me crazy, but I think Linda is onto something big here. She delivers powerful insights with her legendary wit and candor to show how everyone can think and act like an entrepreneur.”— Michael Dell, founder and CEO, Dell Inc.
“Crazy is what they call people who don’t fit in. And we need a lot more crazy like Linda is crazy. She is generous, curious, connected and driven to make a difference in the world. And this book captures all of that and more. Buy it, read it, live it.” — Seth Godin, author of Linchpin
Learn more about Linda Rottenberg | Buy Crazy Is A Compliment on Amazon
This is the story of a man who, despite a difficult family life and professional setbacks, developed the determination, drive and skills to create a successful business and happy life. Geoff’s skills and self-motivation gave him the drive, determination and tenacity to continue a journey through hardship to reach self-fulfillment and, ultimately, success.
Freedom After The Sharks shows how, even in a declining economy, a business can survive and even succeed. It covers some real-life experiences and offers some suggestions for dealing with problems and issues. It provides a guide to finding your way in the business world.
The book is suitable for entrepreneurs who might not be sure of the path to take or who want to benefit from other people’s mistakes and failures.
Learn more about Geoff Hudson-Searle | Buy Freedom After The Sharks on Amazon
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]]>Q: Will you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you personally? (0:33) A: I live in the Chicago area, married with three kidsRead More
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]]>Q: Will you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you personally? (0:33)
A: I live in the Chicago area, married with three kids who are 21, 18 and 13. I currently have two online startup businesses after founding and running a company for 10 years and then selling it to Fortune 100.
Q: What was the inspiration behind writing From Idea To Exit? (1:38)
A: I had a lifelong yearning to become on entrepreneur and having accomplished that is really what gave me the spark. I dreamed of being an entrepreneur since high school and survived years of goofy ideas that I never acted on and just prior to my 30th birthday I was able to start my first company, Technology Resource Center. It was after running that company for ten years and selling it that the book came to me and I wanted to share that experience with other entrepreneurial dreamers as well as people who were already running businesses.
Q: What makes your book different from others regarding the same topic? (2:42)
A: I think most entrepreneurial books fit in two categories, one being via graphical tales, and the other instructional tales. I wanted to create content for the entrepreneurial dreamer that took them through each stage – the idea, startup, running and exit. I weave my personal stories and examples but what separates my book is the core question that I set out to answer which is why do some people seem to effortlessly act on their idea and create something while others turn ideas constantly and fail to take action.
Q: How would you suggest the reader engage with this book? (4:18)
A: I suggest the reader read it from cover to cover because my story flows from beginning to end.
Q: Will you give the reader a great explanation of what they are going to get out of this book? (5:12)
A: The book takes the reader through a journey – the four stages of the entrepreneurial lifecycle which are the idea, the startup, running and exit stage.
In the idea I define what an entrepreneur is and how he or she is different from a business owner. I think it’s critical that people understand what an entrepreneur is because it is a very over used business title. I show the history and evolution of entrepreneurism and how it pertains to the readers’ journey. I also try to relate to the entrepreneurial dreamer what it’s mentally and physically like to be an entrepreneur. I go into ideas in innovation and answer a burning question of how to activate your ideas. The first part of the equation in the entrepreneurial formula is the word IDEA – Innovation, desire, effort, ability. This is what an entrepreneur needs to go through the startup phase.
The book then progresses from IDEA to STARTUP which is when you actually become an entrepreneur. I touch on the pitfalls that entrepreneur startups run into. Also what is required and what happens physically and mentally at this stage. And mastering your funding, resources and what the primary role of an entrepreneur is. I end this section talking about partners and employees.
In the next section, running phase, I focus on demand fulfillment. Making your company known and running a business you are constantly adapting and changing as you learn more about your customers and business. You know you have entered this running phase when you start to get orders and you are doing fulfillment. I focus on leadership, culture, evolving as a leader, the art of selling, maintaining a culture of innovation and scaling growth.
The last section I talk about the entrepreneurs exit plan. I like to say that every entrepreneur is going to exit their business either standing up or lying down. Ignoring this reality is irresponsible to yourself, employees, customers, investors and family members. I talk about knowing the signs when it is time for you to move on. If you are selling I give tips on how to put your company on the market and how to negotiate the sale.
I supplement all this through my experiences just as informational and examples to help add some vision into the experience.
Q: If the reading could only take one concept, principle or action item out of the entire book what would you want that to be? (10:53)
A: My sales formula is really the most relevant. Learning what to look for when a sales person is struggling is the key. And I believe you can use this formula to target improvement and I believe it is a universal formula.
Q: Besides your own book is there another book that you would recommend to the readers out there that are looking for that next big paradigm shift? (14:39)
A: Awakening the Entrepreneur Within by Michael Gerber and The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote from your book? (16:04)
A: “Don’t try to build a better mousetrap if you don’t know how to make mousetraps.” – Unknown
Q: What is the best way to get more information on you and From Idea To Exit? (17:25)
A: The best way to find me is at Linkedin where I post blogs and I encourage invites.
Are you interested in Jeffrey Weber’s book From Idea To Exit?
Buy it now on Amazon OR if you’ve already read it, let us know your thoughts and opinions about it in the comments below.
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1) What is the title of the book?
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