The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict

by Jeff Degraff, Staney Degraff

The Innovation Code
The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict

Harmony is sublime in music but deadly to innovation. The only way to create new, hybrid solutions is to clash. Innovation happens when we bring people with contrasting perspectives and complementary areas of expertise together in one room. We innovate best with people who challenge us, not people who agree with us.

It sounds like a recipe for chaos and confusion. But in The Innovation Code, Jeff DeGraff, dubbed the "Dean of Innovation," and Staney DeGraff introduce a simple framework to explain the ways different kinds of thinkers and leaders can create constructive conflict in any organization. This positive tension produces ingenious solutions that go far beyond "the best of both worlds."

Drawing on their work with nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies, the DeGraffs help you harness the creative energy that arises from opposing viewpoints. They identify four contrasting styles of innovator--the Artist, the Engineer, the Athlete, and the Sage--and include exercises and assessments for building, managing, and embracing the dynamic discord of a team that contains all four. You can also figure out where you fit on the continuum of innovator archetypes.

Using vivid examples, The Innovation Code offers four steps to normalize conflict and channel it to develop something completely new. By following these simple steps, you will get breakthrough innovations that are both good for you and your customers. This is a rigorous but highly accessible guide for achieving breakthrough solutions by utilizing the full--and seemingly contradictory--spectrum of innovative thinking.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Audiobook

160 pages, Hardcover

Published August 7, 2017

About the author

Jeff DeGraff is the Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He teaches MBA, EMBA, BBA, and Executive Education courses on leading creativity, innovation and change. Jeff’s research and writing focuses on innovation strategy, change and innovation competency development, creativity and innovation practices and methods, creativity communities and innovation networks, and leadership development.

He is an author and co-author of the books Innovation You, Creativity at Work: Developing the Right Practices to Make Innovation Happen, Leading Innovation: How to Jumpstart Your Company’s Growth Engine and Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations. His book, Making Stone Soup, is a finalist for several book awards. In his newest book Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict, he argues that diversity of thoughts is an essential to innovation. He urges everyone to practice constructive dialogue and work in diverse teams to find hybrid solutions and develop unique approaches to solve difficult problems. In “The Creative Mindset: Mastering the Six Skills that Empower Innovation,” he and his wife, Staney, give all readers practical techniques and tools to be creative. It will be published in September 2020.

Jeff’s mission is “the democratization of innovation.” He brings innovation to everyone, every day and everywhere through his books, his public television program (Innovation You), columns (Inc.) and radio program (The Next Idea). His articles and thought leadership on contemporary business matters have been covered by Business Week, US News and World Report and the Wall Street Journal, to name a few.

Jeff’s client list reads as a ‘who’s who’ within the world of innovators, including, among many others, General Electric, Coca-Cola, American College of Surgeons, and Google. In working with these prominent firms, he has developed a broad array of widely used change and innovation methodologies and tools. Jeff’s creative and direct take on making innovation really happen have made him a world renowned thought leader and have prompted his clients and colleagues to dub him as The Dean of Innovation.

Jeff is a Managing Partner of Innovatrium, an innovation center and consulting practice that specializes in helping organizations make change and innovation happen. He serves as an advisor to think tanks and governments. He has worked all over the world, with significant experience in Europe and Asia, and in most industry and market segments.

Jeff was a member of the executive team at Domino’s Pizza when it was one of the fastest growing businesses in the world in the 1980’s. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For more information visit www.jeffdegraff.com.

Reviews

[Hugh Griffiths]

I think the interesting content here is really just constructive conflict management, with a Buzzfeed style "which of these management styles are you" concept on the side. Can we please stop trying to explain the universe by dividing people into a small number of fixed, disjoint categories? And if we must, I suggest the following mappings:
the Artist - Gryffindor
the Engineer - Ravenclaw
the Athlete - Slytherin
and the Sage - Hufflepuff

[Marc Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read Jeff has a long history in Innovation and has the code figured out and knows how to explain it to everyone in a nice way.

“Everyone is creative,” Jeff says. “We are just creative in different ways and in a wide variety of situations. Believing you are creative is the first step to mastering a creative mindset. Once you do that, you can make innovation happen anywhere and anytime.”

I had Jeff as a guest on Inside Ideas podcast so for more insights and specifics, you can watch the video podcast episode 42:
https://youtu.be/Pry7kqcYoIY

Or check out the links below:
https://www.innovatorsmag.com/how-to-...
https://www.innovatorsmag.com/inside-...
https://medium.com/inside-ideas/jeff-...

[Curtis R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book on a shelf in a hostel in Manila. It was a really nice shelf in a really nice hostel, and it looked like a pretty nice book. It was. It also (as other reviewers have said) would be a really nice blog post. (Its not necessarily content-heavy, but the paradigm shift it introduced makes it worth checking out.)

This book essentially emphasizes each individual's identity as a mix of four different traits, with one being the overwhelmingly predominant aspect of decision-making, interaction, and goal-setting behavior. The four types are the Artist and the Engineer (along a sort of spectrum, with respect to the extent of the innovation being done), and the Athlete and the Sage (along another spectrum, regarding relationships and timing to the goals). Each individual has a bit, but each person is mostly one. So it goes.

The first few chapters stress the necessity of conflict in creating new solutions - this alone would be an important lesson for many. The next half of the book went into detail and descriptions concerning each Type, and how they would interact with each other. I found this extremely helpful as an individual, because as an Athlete, I don't generally care about others. Reading this helped me to understand different approaches of the people I do interact with, both personally and professionally. Unfortunately, my immediate context isn't who stretching towards significant innovation or growth in general, so the practicality was not as timely as I'd have preferred. However, the book also stressed personal success by being able to balance each of these traits within oneself, and knowing when to emphasize which.

It also helped me see projects in the long view. As an Athlete (I think we have the most shortcomings...), I tend to barrel through obstacles and look for immediate wins; however the long game is critical for community development, a cohesive team, and long term gains. Some of the charts and breakdowns really demonstrated how to properly pace things to maximize ideas for innovation. Well-marked and much appreciated, I intend to keep this book on my shelf for future reference.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

buy this book and try this book!

Learning more about "The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict" from The Innovation Code has been even more helpful than I'd imagined. Is your work style and mode of interaction usually artist, engineer, athlete, or sage? What does your company or organization require at this point? Do you recognize colleagues' and coworkers' strengths and weaknesses (I know, that hackneyed terminology)? I ordered this book because it sounded just right for any small for-profit or not-for-profit entity. I mainly had churches in mind, but I hoped my future work and board membership in other non-profits would benefit. The book's case studies dynamically demonstrate how an organization needs a particular type of worldview and action at life stages that may include startup, stagnation, decline, and revitalization. As individuals who also possess a dominant style, we each have traits of others we can summon into our own situation(s) when necessary. The online version of Let's Find Your Dominant Worldview didn't load the times I tried, but according to the 9-question quiz on pages 24-26 in the book I'm equal parts artist and athlete—as I'd have guessed. However, the wise sage in me strongly tends not to flaunt my artistic abilities or push ahead with my athlete's desire to succeed and excel. Sometimes to the extent I don't get to contribute or participate. Engineer? Not my default response, but I can see that aspect when I drive myself and maybe others bit crazy with what I call "the technical truth." Am I down to my final $10 in cash? No, that would be a lie, because I have only $9.54 in my wallet right now. I also notice the engineer when I digitize my analog art and go for unnecessary detail instead of claiming the literal big picture to create a pleasing presentation.

I highly recommend you get this book and share it with others!

[N Rizkalla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Innovation is the commercialization of inventions and this is an innovation playbook. Its premise is that there are 4 dominant worldviews- individual or organizational identities, or a business value proposition, each contributing to innovation differently:

1. Artist: they create vision by transcending above the conventional. They seek innovation by experimentation and produce the highest leaps forward but with the greatest risks.
2. Engineer: they create what is functional through process. Discipline is their strength. They produce innovation by small incremental improvement with little risk.
3. Sage: Seek harmony through reflection and integrity. They slow innovation, but create a lasting and sustainable value.
4. Athlete: they value winning and will set measurable goals and challenge everyone to achieve. They bring speed to innovation and produce fast wins.

Each of this views is a point of strength but potentially could be the point of weakness if not supplemented by people possessing the other- often conflicting- worldview. So, innovation happens when the 4 different world views (usually as individuals) dwell in a constructive conflict!

Highly recommended for teams engaged in the innovation process.

[Farhana Faruq · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty interesting. It's based on four types of individuals - how they work and interact with others. You have the Artist, the Engineer, the Sage and the Athlete. I highly recommend you take this quiz (https://www.qzzr.com/c/quiz/419072/9c...) BEFORE you start the book. You'll be able to do the quiz in the book too (but if it's an audio book it means keeping score and adding things up). You can't guess at this, I'm in the creative field and would have thought I land there, but I'm actually an Engineer type.

This is a three hour audio book. It might actually work out better to buy the hard copy since it's easier to reference back to the information that fits your style.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I did contract work for the authors at Innovatrium decades ago. I follow their work because it has high value. I used the insights I gained when working with political advocacy groups.

This is the first book which easily translates to solopreneurs, as I now work, although its intended audience is small business to workgroups within large enterprises. I previously tool a Gallup Clifton Strengths test, which showed my capacity for creative thinking and estute planning. It also showed dirth of execution skills, "Athlete" in this book.

I melded the my strength test and the book together to identify areas I need to shore up (training and tech) until I have steady funds to contract the aspects of execution out.

[Jer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unclear basis for “types” that follow the general “it takes a bunch to succeed and they’re all inside you” path of many other frameworks.

You could substitute “business” or “decision making” or “life” (or just about anything) for the word “innovation” and it would be just as true (or untrue - no research for the types is provided).

Some interesting stuff, but ironically, it’s mostly a reflection of what the book references: a narcissistic tendency in all of us manifested through “external” self-evaluation.

Not saying it’s not good… just temper your expectations and retain whatever in it you find helpful.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, being a conflict management specialist myself, this book gives it a good try but misses on how innovation comes about. The authors tell what one must do (gather different minded folk), but not how to navigate such dynamics. Bringing the four world views together creates conflict, and the authors say this is good...which is CAN be. But this conflict must be understood, analyzed, and managed properly. This book does not provide insight in doing this, and therefore innovation will be fleeting.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read that explores people's individual strengths and weaknesses and how best to figure out what yours are and how to maximize the first and minimize the latter in yourself and others and also how to communicate with people that have different strengths/weaknesses. It can seem a bit simplistic at first, but I actually found it to be super helpful when thinking about my personal strategies as well as how best to work with my collaborators and colleagues.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much new here: indeed, innovation and creativity are borne from constructive conflict, and many groups have talked about how having a team comprised of multiple strengths, and capitalizing on the creative tension between those strengths. As other reviews have said, this could easily have been a blog post.

If you are completely, totally new to the above concept, this is an easy, quick overview. Everyone else can pass.

[Jonathan Z. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A self-help book that plays on the idea of the Four Lenses. It has good ideas on using conflict of a group's personalities to cover blind spots and get innovations moving. I met the author in a class - the book is a microcosm of his ideas in whole. If reading this, I recommend finding a speech on YouTube or University of Michigan's website. He was a great speaker.

[Marcell Nimführ · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG. How about reducing humans to four arbitrary, non evidence-based categories; adding attributes and characteristics without any basis, mix it with a few silly and unspecific stories and create a mumbo-jumbo of kitchen sink-psychology tips for communication and just throw in the word innovation for kicks.

[Gladys Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

after reading surrounded by idiots, this is the book I would recommend to put in action what you learned about different personalities and how to get innovation out of conflict.

I discovered why some athletes can be perceived selfish and how I’m more an artist than a sage (as I originally thought).

Really good read!

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was very interesting in its discussion of interpersonal conflict. Although it is hard to read this book and not see the corollary to popular culture representations. TMNT perfectly fit the four personality types.

[Alexander K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could have been a blog post.

[Daniel Gresly · Rating 1 out of 5]

It comes across as a leaflet turned into a book. Started 4* and after the first hour it kept on dropping! Much better books on the market.

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me a lot of four lenses training.

[Nishanth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review has spoilers, but I don't think reading this spoils the reading of the book. Essentially, the book suggests four stereotypical or archetypal personalities, which can be grouped into two pairs of personalities which are in constructive conflict : Pair 1 - the "sage" who builds consensus and is good for building culture, the "jock" alpha male who pushes things through no matter what the barrier ; Pair 2 - the creative "artist" who finds innovative solutions and the "engineer" who improves processes, and stabilises the prototypes and concept solutions built. There are a few central ideas from this:
0. Different personalities are needed at different points of an organisation. Artists at the beginning, engineers to scale. the athlete jock when new sales are to be made, the sage when the company grows. And these personalities can benefit from the conflicts they bring to the table.

1. Figure out what your personality type is, and give away all other jobs to others.

This review is being written a couple weeks after reading the book. I found myself applying this in various different settings, and I think is a good way to look at the world of processes and organisations.

[Magdalene Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you really need another personality test? YES, I DO. If you are a fan of the Myer Briggs, DISC or other other random personality test, here's the new kid on the block. In the Innovation Code, there are 4 main personality types:
- Artist
- Engineer
- Athlete
- Sage

Upon completing a short personality test, you will see which of the 4 types you are. The crux of the book is that Artists clash with Engineers, and Athletes clash with Sages, but these clashes create the best type of innovation. The book also gives you some tips on how to work with the various personality types. Faiirly useful.

SO, as I said, if you're the sort who likes the MBTI, you'd probably like this too. If you like Facebook personality quizzes (something of the distant past) - What colour are you? What is your spirit animal? Then I am sure you will enjoy learning whether you are an artist, engineer, athlete or sage.

An enjoyable read to me. Prolly a 3.5* rating instead of 3. :D