Mapping Innovation: A Playbook for Navigating a Disruptive Age

by Greg Satell

Map the innovation space - and blaze a path to profits and growth.

Countless books, articles, and other advice promise leaders solutions to the complex challenges they face. Some offer quick, silver-bullet remedies - a straight line to success! - and some are so technical that audiences get lost before they begin.

Now, there's Mapping Innovation, a refreshing alternative in the crowded business innovation space. Engaging and informative without sacrificing substance and expertise, this groundbreaking guide provides thorough background on some of the greatest innovations of the past century. It details the processes that advanced them from inception to world-changing products - and shows you how to replicate their success.

Business innovation expert Greg Satell helps you find your way by revealing the four models of basic research, breakthrough innovation, sustaining innovation, and disruptive innovation. One size does not fit all, so he provides a framework - the Innovation Matrix - for discovering which “type” of innovation process best suits the problem you need to solve. It's about asking the right questions, so that you can apply the right strategies to the problems you need to solve.

In the end, you'll have a crystal clear model for disrupting the marketplace, scaling your efforts to propel your enterprise forward, and leverage digital platforms to your advantage.

Mapping Innovation offers a simple and accessible but powerful approach to developing a strategy that will put you light years ahead of the competition!

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Design, Leadership, Technology

Audible Audio

Published August 7, 2021

Reviews

[Moshe Mikanovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can read just the last chapter as it summarizes the entire book and gives the example highlights as well as the innovation map. Reading all previous chapters will give you deeper background and in depth examples, but there is a lot of repetition across the book.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful, thought-provoking and brilliant guide. Enjoyable and a must-read!

"Big thoughts are fun to romanticize, but it's many small insights coming together that bring big ideas into the world." -Scott Berkun

"You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." -Alvin Toffler

"The message is simple: you need to disrupt to survive."

"Start-ups spend far too much time trying to develop products and not nearly enough to develop customers."

70/20/10 Rule
70%: Existing market currently served; Existing capabilities already deployed
20%: Existing market not served; Exisitng capabilitied not yet deployed
10%: New market; New capabilities

Disruptive Innovation: "solutions looking for a problem."

"Today, collaboration is no longer an option, but an absolute necessity."

[Boni Aditya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely one of the best books I have read this season. I wish I could give it more than Five Stars. This books radically changes the way you look at innovation. The author has successfully created an extremely simple framework for innovation across all spheres of life. I am definitely impressed with this amazing but seeming simple work. The entire book can be summed up with a simple four quadrant diagram. But the book is much more about the spirit of innovation and understanding innovation at an explicit level than throwing dice on the innovation board and expecting it to work out. I am very impressed with the way the author beings from Alexander Flemings paper, and the discovery of penicillin to the sequence of events that had to take place in one fortuitous accident after another, over a few decades for the idea to actually become a product i.e. POLIO VACCINE, the number of researchers, number of research labs, number of institutions and the eco system that supported these great institutions that were behind the simple POLIO VACCINE is mind boggling. No one person can create any useful product, is the RULE, it is not an EXCEPTION. Only thousands of people spread across geographies and millions of people spread across time can come together with their ideas, deeds, resources, actions to create one useful product.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR ANY PRODUCT MANAGER, GOVT OFFICIAL TRYING TO PROMOTE INNOVATION, OR A CORPORATE EXECUTIVE SETTING UP AN INNOVATION CENTER to understand HOW NOT TO DO INNOVATION and how to choose the segment that fits the best for you. Again I wish that I had access to this book or the ideas in this book a decade earlier. But, given that the book was only written in 2017, I don't blame my lethargy or laziness for this mishap.

The best part about the book is that the author has recognized business models for disruptive innovation. The author has segmented innovation into four quadrants -


Undefined problem and domain - basic research - PhD academic and govt 

Defined problem and domain - sustaining innovation - core

Defined problem but undefined domain -   break through innovation - crowdsourcing - multi disciplinary skills - complex problems - 

Skunk works

Undefined problem but defined domain - disruptive - Business Model Innovation , solutions looking for a problem

THIS BOOKS IS ABOUT INNOVATING THE WAY WE INNOVATE - IT IS EXTREMELY RADICAL!


Books Mentioned in this work:


The little black book of innovation The Little Black Book of Innovation: How It Works, How to Do It

Structure of scientific revolutions The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Innovators dilemma The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business

Lean launchpad Steve blank Steve Blank

The four steps to epiphany The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Startups That Win

The lean startup The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Business model canvas Business Model Canvas, Penerapan di Indonesia

Business model generation Business Model Generation

Open innovation Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm

Profit from the core Profit from the Core: A Return to Growth in Turbulent Times

The alchemy of growth The Alchemy of Growth: Practical Insights for Building the Enduring Enterprise

How Google works How Google Works

The Maverick and his machine The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

Who says elephants can't dance Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround

Economy and society Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology

Competitive advantage The Competitive Advantage of Nations

The good job strategy The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits

Humans are underrated Humans Are Underrated: Proving Your Value in the Age of Brilliant Technology

Surely you must be joking Mr Feynman "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Good to great Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't



Keywords:

Undefined problem and domain - basic research - PhD academic and govt 

Defined problem and domain - sustaining innovation - core

Defined problem but undefined domain -   break through innovation - crowdsourcing - multi disciplinary skills - complex problems - 

Skunk works

Undefined problem but defined domain - disruptive - BMI, solutions looking for a problem

Mother of all demos

Technology product managers

Surviving success

Jim Allison immunotherapy

Innovation is combination

Darwin, einstein, watson and Crick

Borrow from multiple fields - stone soup

Well defined problem and domain area

Basic research, sustaining innovation, breakthrough innovation, disruptive innovation

Basic research vs applied research vs exploratory research

Appropriability

Culture of discovery

Disruptive innovation - new business models with existing technology

Innovation portfolio

Innovate how we innovate


Innovation strategies categories

Business model innovation - Open innovation - Innovating the core - Innovating at scale



Lean launchpad - Steve blank -  Customer development - mvp - pivot - hinge

Webvan vs Zappos

Valley of death - sbir commercialization grant

Commercialization of technology

Business innovation factory

Linus's law



Core innovation

Three horizons framework



Moonshots factory



   Disruptive innovations, solutions searching for markets - new business model

Open innovation - connect and develop

Innocentive, 9 sigma, your encore

 febreeze

  

IBM innovates at scale



Search costs

Elance, odesk upwork

Bluemix, tide mark



Bloomreach platform



Effective groups

Social sensitivity, speaking and spoken, women in group

Ivory tower syndrome



Diversity of skills



Discovery propogates at the speed of publication.



Innovation playbook

Cargo cults

[Alan Hanssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very educational, tonnes of examples that make it a playbook - Although, for a playbook, it is not as instructional. The examples are for understanding the differences between basic innovation, disruptive innovation, breakthrough innovation and sustaining innovation while addressing an opportunity.

It does invite you for a lot of reflexions but nothing compared with Clayton M. Christensen on his books or courses.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was tough to get through. Satell does a nice job of illustrating the point that innovation is a pretty messy endeavor, but he does very little to show you exactly how to map your innovation strategy.

Well, I should say, the map he illustrates with various examples does little to help me know how to innovate.

The Map is an X/Y axis with the Y-axis being Problem definition going from least to most defined and the X-axis being the domain definition of least to most defined. You then end up with four quadrants in which you can place your activities:

- Breakthroughs: well-defined problems, not well-defined domains
- Sustaining Innovation: well-defined problems and domains
- Basic Research: neither the problem nor the domain is well-defined
- Disruptive Innovation: the domain is well-defined, but the problem is not.

His final chapter outlines how to "build your innovation playbook" and offers these six principles:


Actively Seek Out Good Problems
Choose Problems that Suit Your Organization's Capabilities, Culture, and Strategy
Ask the Right Questions to Map the Innovation Space
Leverage Platforms to Access Ecosystems of Talent, Technology, and Information
Build a Collaborative Culture
Understand that Innovation is a Messy Business


All in, this was just a tough one to push through. The stories are interesting, but if you've ready any other histories of innovation or disruption, you likely won't read anything new here. And as I said above, it really lacks something along the lines of actionable insights I can take and��well—act on.

[Pablo María Fernández · Rating 2 out of 5]

Innovación disruptiva, abierta, Lean Launchpad: este libro abarca temas que me interesan y la portada me terminó de convencer. Mal hecho, habría que hacer como esa librería que cubre todos sus libros con papel madera para que el potencia lector no se deje influir por los encantos del diseño. Debajo una foto, para que me entiendan:

Varias de las frases que abren los capítulos (como la de William Gibson) y de los ejemplos y casos que trae son clichés de los libros de innovación. No profundiza a nivel teórico y tampoco me parece tan accionable su contenido. Probablemente la más rica de las tres partes sea la segunda, en la que da instrucciones sobre cómo mapear un espacio de innovación con una matriz, desarrollando nuevos modelos de negocios, abriéndola, y la regla 70/20/10 (70% incremental, 20% evolutiva y 10% y disruptiva asociándolo a tres horizontes de tiempo). Pero de nuevo, nada que se haya visto varias veces en conferencias, artículos y otros libros del tema.

En la contratapa tiene una reseña favorable de Steve Blank, uno de los padres de la nueva era de start-ups. Pero el contenido no está a la altura y hay otros libros bastante más prácticos o atractivos desde lo conceptual.

Fragmentos preferidos (traducción libre mía)
“Los grandes pensamientos son divertidos para romantizar, pero son muchos insights pequeños juntos los que llevan las grandes ideas al mundo.” (Scott Berkun)

“Si tuviese 20 días para resolver un problema, usaría 19 días para definirlo.” (Albert Einstein)

“El gran mito del administrador como conductor de orquesta (...) Administrar es más como conducir una orquesta durante los ensayos, donde todo va mal.” (Henry Mintzberg)

[Meg H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a really good book. I read this book for Graduate school, and didn't have high expectations knowing the course content I expected it to be dry and textbook-like. Instead it has a fantastic narrator who avoids being monotone, keeping me present as he reads the book. The book also introduces a concept then numerous examples, so multiple thinking styles and life experiences will find relevant information because the book will meet you where you are. This ended up being a really good read.

[Marek · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a definitely interesting book, comprehensive, with a lot of examples. However I will not give it 5 stars because it's quite high level, almost inspirational, not many actionable items. Another drawback, from a point of view someone who has read a few books in this area already, is how many times can you hear story of Google, Apple and others. There are many books out there build on similar if not the same stories.

[Doug Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep telling myself than I don't like business books. Do I learn? Apparently not. As always, I approached with high hopes. As always, I found blah, blah, blah....interesting point....blah, blah, blah....interesting point....blah, blah, blah. Lessoned learned? Probably not. This book was not for me.

[Sergio Masse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good, the bad and the ugly about innovation.

Great insights about the innovation path. Anyone interested with an entrepreneurial spirit should read this. Greg with his background has this amazing way to pinpoint pains and gains in each situation

[Skot Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of food advice and insights here based on research and not just the opinion of some guy you work for. Most of this applies to semi-mature companies and not early stage startups, but the principles apply to all.

[Mr D T Wavell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthy of it's title

Very interesting book that explains innovation well. Good use of case studies, well known examples and historical stories. Would recommend to anyone involved in innovation of any sort.

[Tagnahoor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another book with one chapter's worth of ideas fluffed into $20. What it did make me realize is that people want innovation and are utterly incapable of doing it. So, the books and classes don't actually have to deliver the goods, just the promise.

[Peter C Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innovation as a process

This is an excellent book for those of us that grew up on Professor Porter's work and are thinking about the implications of platform business models.

[Kathy Cowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

to be reviewed in the July-August issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence.

[Wally Bock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I’ve read on innovation in business. Greg Satell does a first-rate job of covering basic ground about innovation and innovation myths. Then he does two things that add special value and make the book unique. The Innovation Matrix gives you a quick way to sort out what kind of situation you’re facing, then the book describes tools and activities to use with different challenges. You’ll read about familiar tools, where they fit, and how to use them to great effect. Satell wraps up Mapping Innovation with a reasoned and insightful sketch of how he thinks innovation will change in the years ahead.

Read my complete review at http://www.threestarleadership.com/bo...

[Lloyd Fassett]

11/30/18 found it by Googling 'Lean Startup vs. Innovators Dilemma' because I'm listening to Imagine It Forward by Beth Comstock about GE. That lead to this article https://www.inc.com/greg-satell/its-t...