[Review] Innovation You

I just finished Jeff DeGraff's book, "Innovation You: Four Steps to Becoming New and Improved," and I really enjoyed it.  I'd heard about DeGraff before  -- that he had good techniques to help people come up with creative solutions to life's challenges -- and I've learned a lot more about him through this well-written book.

In "Innovation You," DeGraff provides some very practical advice for how to approach problems and go beyond your "default" approach for innovation. The notion is that we all have preferred ways of handling various situations, but that we don't always do well at adapting our approach to better fit the situation.  The result? We stay in our comfort zone too long, while our situation fails to improve.

Why do we do this?  I think it's mostly habit and fear of trying the unfamiliar.  As DeGraff says so well, "To grow requires that we temporarily suspend our need for certainty and control."

Four zones - where's your comfort?

At the heart of this book is a model that DeGraff uses to articulate the most common approaches to innovation and problem-solving.  The model is known as the "Innovation You Model," which is what is represented by  the 4-color circle inside the letter 'o' on the cover (at right).  Each of the pie slices represents a different approach or bias for solving problems or pursuing innovation:

• Yellow is "Collaborate," which means you are most likely to team up with (or tap into) others as a default method for solving problems.
• Green is "Create", which means you are most likely to try to create your own new and innovative solutions to a problem.
• Blue is "Compete," which means you have a need to 'win' and are going to try to find a tangible goal within the problem space and doggedly pursue it.
• Red is "Control," which means you'll collect the facts, figure out the rules, and be very systematic in solving the problem.

if you're like me, you can easily figure out which one of these is your dominant approach, which ones you can use effectively, and which one you have the most trouble applying (green is my favorite, I'm good at yellow, I am handy with red in a crisis, and blue is my least natural position).

Throughout the book, DeGraff uses interesting and relevant stories to share how these approaches can be used to solve problems.  This includes some analysis techniques & tools you can use to try to figure out the best innovation approach to use, or diagnose why your current approach isn't working.

It, we, or I?

Another model used in the book is one that DeGraff describes as a sort of 3-layer Russian nesting doll.

• The outermost layer is the "universal" layer, or the "it" layer.  Things at this layer sort of happen to us and are not really within our direct control. Think natural phenomena, market forces, etc.
• The middle layer in is the "communal" layer, or the "we" layer.  Things at this layer involve our relationships with others, whether at work, in clubs, churches, and our family.
• The innermost layer is the "personal," or the "I" layer.  This is the layer that defines us as people - our values, health, intelligence, motivations, etc.

The interesting notion here isn't that we need to "pick a layer" when we solve problems or try to innovate - it's that we need to "consider other layers."  In other words, trying to find solutions that work on multiple layers - not just solve for a local optima at a single layer.

Again, DeGraff provides some great examples and stories (I think of them as mini case studies) to help you internalize what this really means.

Become new and improved, a step at a time

This book is an easy read - the concepts are straight-forward, the chapters are short, and the stories are engaging.  I think the thingI like most about "Innovation You" is that it is both prescriptive and practical.

This book would be a great gift if you know someone who feels stuck or overwhelmed by a difficult problem.  One line I liked from the book: "Where is the pain so high that trying something new would be an improvement?" - if that hits the mark, get them a copy of this book!

It is also the sort of book that would be great for a book study group, particularly if you wanted to go through the book with an intact team (at work, in an organization, etc.) that needs to work together to solve problems.

What if you *are* what you want to be when you grow up?

[Note:  Corrected broken link to Seth Godin's blog 6-April-2011]

I was just reading a post on Seth's blog about resisting the urge to conform to other people's expectations for you.

He talks about a chef who resists the pressure to open other restaurants, get a TV show, and that sort of thing - in favor of sticking with one, popular restaurant location.

This reminds me of some of the conversations I've had with people during career planning sessions.  How many times to we, as managers, try to push people to do more, get promoted, take on a lot more responsibility, etc?  And how many times is that the right thing to do?

In many cases, it's probably the best thing for the person and the company, but it is worth asking if it's OK for that person to stay in their current role and only stretch within that role.  For some people, staying put will be better than pushing them to the next level where they may not be well-suited for the job.

What do you think?  Have you been promoted beyond where you should've been? Have you ever pushed an employee to do something more grand and regretted it?

I'd love to hear your perspectives.

Connecting Top Managers

A couple of months ago, I received a copy of "Connecting Top Managers: Developing Executive Teams for Business Results," written by Lisa Haneberg and Jim Taylor.  I read it weeks ago but am just getting around to posting this review due to a busy schedule.

"Connecting Top Managers" is a tremendous resource for any organization that wants to build a more effective management team, or would like to address dysfunction or ineffective teamwork at the managerial level.  One of the things that makes this book particularly impactful is the research behind the text.  Haneberg and Taylor engaged with a variety of organizations through direct observation, project work, surveys, and other means and learned a lot about the ins and outs of executive teams.  Those learnings fed the recommendations and techniques presented in this book.

Be and be perceived

One aspect of the book I really liked is that it not only deals with how executives interact with their peers in the management team, it also addresses how the management team can improve or repair its image with the rest of the company.  Of course, some of the root causes of poor perceptions of management are a direct result of ineffective relationships within the management team, so it's not surprise both of these are dealt with in the book.

One of the sections in the book, "Dysfunction Reverberates," sums it up nicely: "...leaders [can't] expect their management and employees to be any more committed and passionate about the business than they demonstrate through their own actions. The same goes for teaming. You cannot expect the rest of the organization to work well together if the leadership team itself does not seem to care enough to work well together."

This book contains a lot of practical advice and strategies that you can apply within your own team, as well as some techniques you can apply personally to effect change even if the rest of the exec team is not on board.

Change begins at the top

Another element that is discussed very effectively in the book is how to influence the culture of the organization overall.  Much of this comes through willingness to address conflict rather than avoiding it, and setting a tone of constructive engagement and accountability throughout the organization.

Of course, all of this works best when there is consistent "tone at the top," which begins with the executive team. In other words, leading by example is not just a saying - it's a mandate.

Another notion in the book with which I am in enthusiastic agreement:  the most effective organizations are open to learning, and encourage learning as a part of how they do business.  What better way to make this real than to embrace learning as an executive team and tackle the challenge of becoming a more effective, high-functioning team?

I loved this book.  If you want to improve your executive team's effectiveness, I highly recommend Connecting Top Managers as a tremendous resource.

Shift: 13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want to Be

I've just finished a new book called "Shift," by Takumi Yamazaki.  I hadn't heard of the author before, but apparently he is a very well-known Japanese author who's sold over 800,000 books and is a self-made millionaire.

The subtitle of Shift is "13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want To Be," and I think that's a very appropriate description of what you'll find inside.  This book is essentially a set of guided thought sessions to help you identify your goals and set specific plans in motion to achieve them.  In each section of the book, you will find a set of stories and advice, accompanied by short (but very deep) exercises to focus your mind and get you to write your thoughts down.

SHIFT

Each section is described in terms of a "Shift," through which you change your outlook on life.  For example, the Shift 2 deals with thinking about how your perspective and preconceived notions can limit your success.  Shift 2 is accompanied by an exercise in which you examine situations in which you feel you weren't able to do something - one example given in the book is:

• "I had plans so I wasn't able to go to the party on Sunday."

You then rewrite the statement in which you describe it in as a choice:

• "I didn't want to go to the party - I chose not to go."

Pretty simple, right?  This exercise is similar to ones I've done before, and I always find it a bit jarring, yet empowering to realize I really do choose what I will or won't do over 90% of the time in my life.  This reminded me of a saying from a friend of mine: "Pretend you create everything that happens to you. Now, decide you will create better things for yourself."  It really changes how you approach life to think of things this way.

The other 12 Shifts are compelling, too.

Exercise your mind

The point of Yamazaki's book is to help you reframe your approach and (hopefully) achieve better outcomes that align with what you really want.  I have been trying to get back on the Getting Things Done (GTD) bandwagon, and I find that Shift puts me in a frame of mind where I'm able to come up with better Next Actions.

Also, this book is a good reminder that you don't have to go it alone - one of the cool things about this book is that many of the exercises include special instructions on how to apply the Shifts in this book as part of a group.  I think this would be a fun book to explore with a book club or a group of friends.

Shift is easy to read and has a lot of interesting visuals.  The exercises are the main attraction, though, and I highly recommend Shift to anyone who wants to take control of what's going on in their life.

Looking for a job? Preparation can make a difference

A post from Jason Womack on "being ready" made me think of the importance of doing your homework before a job interview.  I've been interviewing a lot of candidates recently, and you can really tell the difference between those who take the time to not only become familiar with your company, but also spend time thinking about how they would integrate with your company.

This is more than figuring out what they key products are, what messaging is on the web site, or what recent press releases have hit the wire.

For me, the candidates that really stand out go beyond cursory research.  For example, I've encountered candidates who have prepared a document with their thoughts on our company's strategy versus our key competitors' - with recommendations for how to make our company more competitive.  I've also run across people who have called our company asking for information from our Sales team to see how we position ourselves, what business problems we solve, and how we engage with prospects.

The difference wasn't in what these folks knew or that they'd put forth the extra effort (though that tells you something about a person).  No, the key difference was in their ability to engage in a meaningful discussion during the interview process.  They behaved like informed members of my team, which made it even easier to envision what it's like to work with them.

So, if you are interviewing and want to stand out, get beyond a scan of the web site, engage with the company you want to work for, and bring informed passion to your interview.

Be Bodacious: Improve your career with cowboy wisdom

Just finished reading Steven D. Wood's "Be Bodacious: Put Life In Your Leadership" and I must say I am impressed.

This book is solid theory for personal leadership development, presented in the form of a story about a guy who learns  some powerful lessons from his boss.  The boss is a colorful character nicknamed "Cowboy," who teaches through a series of stories from a Journal he's assembled during his life.

To be transparent, I avoided this book for a little while because I'm kind of tired of these "leadership fables" - there have been a lot of them in the past several years, and they sometimes take too long to get to the advice.  Now, I wish I'd jumped right in.

I'm happy to report that "Be Bodacious" doesn't waste time in getting to the point - with just a little story setup, you get to the meat of the learning pretty quickly.

This is an easy, entertaining book to read and it goes quickly (it's only 150 pages).  In this book, you'll learn:

• How to get out of crappy jobs and into jobs you really enjoy and feel passionate about;
• How to lead a team by igniting their drive and spirit;
• How to get to know your team as individuals so you can give them what they need to be challenged and successful;
• And a whole lot more.

Some other things you'll learn are just as important - like how to get out of the trap of comparing yourself to others, which can really mess with your confidence and limit what you can achieve.  Closely related to this are some good techniques to help you identify when you are hanging on to old habits that are preventing you from being successful (the chapter "Rocket Fuel" was very relevant to me).

The book also deals with some proven "sharpen the saw" techniques to make sure you spend time on yourself, so you can improve your own skills.  There are some thought-provoking elements on this topic.

This book is a quick read, and I think it's perfect for anyone who's a business leader or aspires to be. You can find out more at Be-Bodacious.com including seeing the "Be Bodacious" movie (it's short, but good), and you can download a sample chapter.

You might also check out Wood's blog, where you can get a taste of his writing style, philosophy, and leadership mojo.

So, 'nuf said - Be Bodacious, and put some life in your leadership.