There aren't many hours in the day. Sometimes I try to drain the day to its dregs, reading or writing until I drift asleep. It's thus important that we are intentional with the things we read; that we get the information we need at the right time for the right purpose. Innovators are readers--period.
In these times of rapid change and complexity, there are more books coming out on the importance of innovation and the garnering of new ideas. In a previous post, I laid out 5 books that will give you a leg up on the future. These next five might give you a leg up on new ideas. Of course, as each of us approaches a book from his or her unique vantage point, you may glean other insights than simply about new ideas--that's my hope, at least.
1. Abundance
Peter Diamandis is one of those radical entrepreneurs. And Steven Kotler is co-founder of Singularity University, along with mega-inventor Ray Kurzweil and the Google founders. When you watch Diamandis speak, his confidence in future technology holding out a cornucopia of wealth is no less than contagious. This book lays out and examines a series of emergent technologies that will open up the possibility for enormous wealth, advancement, and well-being: robotics, artificial intelligence, infinite computing, etc. You see, according to Diamandis, the world isn't going to get any simpler, and indeed there will be economic crises, pandemics, and other bumps along the way of human development; nevertheless, as technology grows, standards of living grow, and with a growing population of educated and technologically enhanced people, those problems will become tremendous business opportunities. Again, Diamandis is a radical entrepreneur. Indeed, he maintains a maxim I heard once during a meeting at the World Economic Forum: A pessimist sees a threat in every opportunity; an optimist sees an opportunity in every threat. If you're an entrepreneur, business owner, or thinking about launching your own enterprise, you've got to read this book. It's followed up with a sequel, entitled "Bold," which is number two on my list.
2. BOLD
What sold me on the book as one to read--not necessarily agree with these people, but certainly be piqued by them--are the endorsements. Check these out: "Bold is a visionary roadmap for people who believe they can change the world. . ." -- Bill Clinton. Here's another one from Ray Kurzweil, whom I mentioned above: "If you read one business book in the twenty-first century, this should be the one. Bold clearly explains how to apply exponential technologies to change the world." And here's Eric Schmidt who not only helped run Google, but also sat on the board of Apple for a time: "Abundance showed us where our world can be in 20 years. BOLD is a roadmap for entrepreneurs to help us get there." Whether you agree with these people or not, these are very bold endorsements of the book. What these and others understand more so than most is that to be on the right side of change means you position yourself on the right side of emergent technologies and business practice. In fact, Diamandis uses the term "exponential entrepreneur" for those who leverage emergent technologies for entrepreneurial and world-changing objectives.
3. The Idea Factory
This book challenges the status quo on innovation and innovative thinking. The Bell Labs of the 1920s right up to the 1980s was a dazzling centre of innovation and invention. It was known for attracting the greatest minds of America and even Europe. It was known for putting scientists on salary as pure researchers to do experiments and play with inventions that were completely unrelated to telecommunications. What astounded me was the intellectual culture of the the labs. In fact, it had its own department called the Institute of Creative Technology for which not only were the best and brightest scientists and engineers required, but also a "critical mass of people to foster explosive ideas." One of the ways the Labs did this was to train their employees beyond their advanced graduate degrees, even to the extent of creating and offering its own graduate-level classes in house. As well, the institute for creative technology needed to house all the engineers and thinkers in the proximity to one another to allow the ideas to bump into each other, not unlike the idea factor of the Manhattan Project at MIT. And, the institute needed to have all the finest tools. This book is a wealthy 'how to' for collaborative innovation and the explosion of new ideas within a corporate setting.
4. Innovation to the Core
This is a great book out of Harvard Business Press that lays out the basic blue-print for creating an innovation department in your company or among a nascent group of collaborators around a new idea or enterprise. It is a highly informative and at times technical book, given that it's put out by Harvard Business Press of the Harvard Business School; nevertheless, it's very well laid out that a non-academic lay person can understand it and put its ideas to work. The book does a nice job in providing a series of 'case studies' of companies that have had to amp up its innovation to remain competitive and maintain leadership in the marketplace, such as Nike, Proctor, IBM, and Whirlpool. This is a great book for entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives who are on the hook for growing innovation in their enterprises.
5. Mindset
This is a favourite of mine simply because it impacted me to a great extent about the power of the mind. Carol Dweck is a professor of psychology at Stanford University, and was a collaborator with the renowned psychologist Albert Bandura. The point of Dweck's book is there are two kinds of mindsets: fixed and growth. A fixed mindset believes that change cannot happen, that one cannot become better, that life happens to one rather than one happening to life. A growth mindset, conversely, maintains that one can do anything one puts one's mind to, that change is possible, that through hard work and persistence one can accomplish anything. One of the stories I found amazing was of the Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner Kersee who when running one of her olympic races felt herself going into a seizure. Instead of buckling under it, she kept her mind focused on fighting the seizure and persisting to the finish line--not only did she prevent herself from going into the seizure, she won the race! You can change. If you are in a situation right now that seems dire or overwhelming, you are not alone. The brain is a muscle: it grows the harder we try and the harder we work at something. Don't give up. Pick up this book.
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