The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation

by Peter J. Denning, Robert Dunham

Two experts show that innovation is a skill that can be learned and describe eight essential practices for achieving success. Innovation is the ruling buzzword in business today. Technology companies invest billions in developing new gadgets; business leaders see innovation as the key to a competitive edge; policymakers craft regulations to foster a climate of innovation. And yet businesses report a success rate of only four percent for innovation initiatives. Can we significantly increase our odds of success? In The Innovator's Way , innovation experts Peter Denning and Robert Dunham reply with an emphatic yes. Innovation, they write, is not simply an invention, a policy, or a process to be managed. It is a personal skill that can be learned, developed through practice, and extended into organizations. Denning and Dunham identify and describe eight personal practices that all successful innovators sensing, envisioning, offering, adopting, sustaining, executing, leading, and embodying. Together, these practices can boost a fledgling innovator to success. Weakness in any of these practices, they show, blocks innovation. Denning and Dunham chart the path to innovation mastery, from individual practices to teams and social networks.

Genres: Business, Leadership

460 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2010

About the author

Peter J. Denning is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He invented the working-set model, the foundation for managing virtual memory in computer operating systems. He is a past president of the Association for Computing Machinery. He co-founded CSNET, a key bridge between the early ARPANET and today's Internet. He relishes the enduring principles underlying computing, AI, and innovation. His books include The Innovator's Way (w Bob Dunham), Navigating a Restless Sea (w Todd Lyons), and Great Principles of Computing (w Craig Martell). His latest, Turing's Mistake, challenges a founding assumption of AI and argues that human understanding is not machine computable.

Reviews

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation expecting a heavy slog and got something way more readable. Peter J. Denning keeps the language plain and the stakes clear, which made the tough stuff easier to follow. A few sections repeat themselves, though. Good for anyone who wants to learn without feeling lectured, less good if you want fresh angles.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick verdict: smart idea, uneven execution. What worked: the central question in The Innovator's Way stuck with me for days. What didn't: Peter J. Denning buries it under too many examples. Recommend for curious people with patience, skip if you want the short version.

[Antonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book you do not ‘finish’ it will become one of my reference books there’s just so much good stuff in it and applies beyond innovation.
Yes, it’s not another innovation book full of anecdotes, there’s lots of practical things to keep you going for a long while.

[Samuel Lubell]

A business book that I read for the Futurist book club. I found it somewhat dull.

[Nico Macdonald]

Recommend by Nathan Shedroff.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The eight principles are very straightforward and are great practices for innovator's and others alike.