Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The Discipline of Innovation," by Peter F. Drucker)

Sort by

Filter by

150 total ratings, 29 with reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Translate all reviews to English

From Canada

Robert Morris

"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there will be no hope for it." Albert Einstein

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 20, 2016

Fond as I am of Einstein's observation, I think it refers to ideas that require massive disruption of a status quo, if not a complete replacement of it. Innovation can also be incremental, each idea involving a relatively minor -- albeit significant -- refinement or improvement.

This is one in a series of anthologies of individual articles that the editors of Harvard Business Review consider to be the "must reads" in a given business subject area, in this instance innovation. I have no quarrel with any of their ten selections, each of which is eminently deserving of inclusion. Were all of these article purchased separately as reprints, the total cost would be $60 and the value of any one of them exceeds that. Given the fact that Amazon now sells this one for only $14.70, that's quite a bargain. The same is true of volumes in other series such as "Harvard Business Review on...." and "Harvard Business Essentials." I also think there is great benefit derived from the convenience of having a variety of perspectives and insights gathered in a single volume

In all of the volumes in the "10 Must Read" series that I have read thus far, the authors and HBR editors make skillful use of several reader-friendly devices that include "Idea in Brief" and "Idea in Action" sections, checklists with and without bullet points, boxed mini-commentaries (some of which are "guest" contributions from other sources, and graphic charts and diagrams that consolidate especially valuable information. These and other devices facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review later of key points.

Those who read this volume will gain valuable information, insights, and counsel that will help them to decide which ideas are worth pursuing, innovate through the front lines -- not just from the top, adapt innovations from the developing world to wealthier markets, tweak new ventures along the way using discovery-driven planning, tailor their efforts to meet their customers' most pressing needs, and avoid classic pitfalls such as stifling innovation with rigid policies and processes.

Here are three brief passages that are representative of the quality of the articles from which they are excerpted as well as of the quality of the other seven articles in this volume.

From "The Customer-Driven Innovation Map," co-authored by Lance A. Bettencourt and Anthony W. Ulwick: "The goal of creating a job map is not to find out how the customer is executing a job -- that only generates maps of existing activities and solutions. Instead the aim is to discover what the customer is trying to get done at different pints in executing a job and what must happen at each juncture in order for the job to be carried out successfully." Bettencourt and Ulwick then introduce and explain an eight-step process by which to do that, adding an ancillary step: troubleshooting.

From "Innovation: The Classic Traps," written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter: "To innovate successfully, replace common mistakes with potent remedies." For example, process mistakes:

o Strangling innovation with the same tight planning, budgeting, and reviews applied to existing businesses

o Rewarding managers for doing only what they committed to do -- and discouraging them from making changes as circumstances warrant.

The remedy?

"Add flexibility to planning and control systems. For instance, reserve special funds for unexpected opportunities."

From "The Discipline of Innovation," written by Peter Drucker: "Most innovations result from a conscious, purposeful search for opportunities -- within the company and the industry as well as the larger social and intellectual environment. A successful innovation may come from pulling together different strands of knowledge, recognizing an underlying theme in public perception, or extracting new insights from failure.

"The key is to know where to look."

If you read nothing else on inspiring and executing innovation, read these ten classic articles from Harvard Business Review.

Helpful

From other countries

Kindle Customer

Buy this book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

Seriously, if I had one book on innovation that explains what it is simply and concisely, this would be the book. I've jumped between approaches without understanding the fundamental questions and assumptions surrounding this discipline. Now, I'm an informed consumer of all things innovation because I understand what it is and what it is not... BUT THIS BOOK

Dr.Stephan Teichmann.

A good overview on managing innovation

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on April 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

This collection of 10 previously published HBR articles contains the Peter Drucker’s classic article „The Discipline of Innovation“ from 1985 but also a few more recently published pieces. Re-reading some of the older pieces on "Innovation Portfolio Management" for example but also the "Six Myths of Product Development (the most recent article in this collection) helps to see, where the real challenges in innovation and product development are and how you can cope with them. More or less missing is the whole topic of Open Innovation. Some of the older articles also float in the World Wide Web. Therefore 3 to 4 stars only.

4 people found this helpful

Maria

Everybody needs a copy of this

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Interesting book for newcomers on innovation. Key ideas are: discovery-driven planning and its process, reverse income statement, entrepreneurship and innovation, and why legacy tools as npv and dcf are not the only criteria for assessing innovation projects, but how looking at eps during all project life cycle managers can control other important company variables that can affect overall company performance.

Jennifer

Great condition

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

Product came on time and in excellent condition.

Tkpower

イノベーションのポイントの理解

Reviewed in Japan 🇯🇵 on June 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

明快にテーマ別の作者を編集していて分かりやすい

Translate review to English

Matt

Great to jump start the innovation process

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Lots of helpful information about innovation in the workplace that goes deeper than lots of the articles I found online. Many of the chapters have helpful processes that make thinking through innovation easier. The examples and industries are varied which makes it more applicable to different people.

One person found this helpful

Ralph

For innovation purists it is a very valuable resource. ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

For innovation purists it is a very valuable resource. We are using it as the bedrock document for a program we are running on innovation. Each participant will receive a copy and over the life of the process we will use various sections as background reading.
Very well presented and as HBR would say, they are all must reads.
Ralph Twombly
Priority Learning

2 people found this helpful

Marco Augusto

Es bueno el contenido y se lee facil porque son articulo de la revista, pero son articulos mas o menos viejos.

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on February 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Es bueno el contenido y se lee facil porque son articulo de la revista, pero son articulos mas o menos viejos. Sin embargo para alguien como yo comenzando a entender innovacion esta muy bien. Tiene muchos estudios de casos.

Translate review to English

Steve Gladis

Good read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 3, 2013

Verified Purchase

A worthy read of some leaders in the field. Provides a quick overview of the state of innovation. Wishing Bezos and some other industry leaders had pitched in to give it commercial balance. Nonetheless, HBR always provides reliable, valid info. Thumbs up.

2 people found this helpful

Need customer service? Click here

‹ See all details for HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The...

5 star		68%
4 star		21%
3 star		7%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	Amazon Business Everything for your business	Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands

Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust	Blink Smart Security for Every Home

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The...

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The Discipline of Innovation," by Peter F. Drucker)

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Canada

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The... › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The Discipline of Innovation," by Peter F. Drucker)

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Canada

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (with featured article "The...

›

Customer reviews