Innovation is a State of Mind

Book description

A modern framework for practical innovation—from individual ideas to an innovative organisational culture

Everyone says that innovation is important. The problem is that no one tells you how to be innovative. Innovation is a State of Mind sets out a step-by-step guide to creating innovative ideas and putting them into action. You'll learn how to generate more ideas with greater potential, how to grow and evaluate them, test their effectiveness and then implement the ones that are going to improve your business.

Author James O'Loghlin has worked with over a thousand of Australia's best inventors and innovators in the eight years he hosted ABC-TV's The New Inventors. He studied what they do differently and how they are able to identify and take advantage of opportunities that the rest of us miss. Packed with engaging stories and a good dose of humour, this insightful guide helps you to make innovation a part of what you do every day.

  • Change your thinking and identify overlooked opportunities
  • Step around common roadblocks to innovation
  • Generate better ideas, and find the ones that will improve your business
  • Create a culture where innovation is part of everyone's job
  • Harvest innovative ideas from the entire staff and find the ones that will make a difference

Innovators see things differently. They solve problems that the rest of us can't, and create solutions to problems that we never noticed we had. Getting stuck in routine and procedure is the death knell for modern business. Most companies undervalue and underuse the creative potential of their people, because they underestimate the impact of continuous innovation. Innovation is a State of Mind shows you how to think like an innovator and create a culture of innovation, so you can stay out in front of the future of business.

Table of contents

  1. About the author
  2. Preface
  3. Introduction: What is innovation and why do we need it?
  4. Part I: A process for innovation
    1. Chapter 1: Think
      1. Prioritise thinking
      2. What do you think about? Identifying opportunities for innovation
      3. Habitual thinking
      4. Eight ways to break out of habitual thinking
      5. Four reasons why we don't think enough
    2. Chapter 2: Value
      1. Ideas are like balloons
      2. Hold the phone
      3. Listen sometimes, don't listen sometimes
    3. Chapter 3: Use
      1. Do the next thing
      2. Find the end point of each idea
      3. Bring in other people
      4. Sometimes you need to persist
    4. Chapter 4: How to pitch an idea
      1. Why a pitch is important
      2. Who should pitch?
      3. What are you trying to achieve?
      4. What you say
      5. How you say it
    5. Chapter 5: Innovation in your own life
      1. Think
      2. Value
      3. Use
      4. What about you?
  5. Part II: Creating an innovative organisation
    1. Chapter 6: How success and growth can discourage innovation
      1. The role of management
      2. Outsourcing creativity
    2. Chapter 7: How do you get people to think?
      1. Make it clear it's part of the job
      2. Quantity not quality
    3. Chapter 8: If you think innovation is important, act like it's important
      1. Innovation campaigns
      2. Tell people what you want them to do
      3. How much direction do you give?
      4. What if someone says ‘I can't'?
    4. Chapter 9: Valuing ideas
      1. Pitch ideas to a person, not an email address
      2. Thank people for bad ideas
    5. Chapter 10: Using ideas
      1. Set up a process
    6. Chapter 11: Reach right down
  6. Conclusion: The adventure of innovation
  7. Notes
    1. Preface
    2. Introduction
    3. Chapter 1
    4. Chapter 3
    5. Chapter 4
    6. Chapter 5
    7. Chapter 7
  8. Acknowledgements
  9. Index
  10. Advert
  11. EULA

Product information

  • Title: Innovation is a State of Mind
  • Author(s): James O'Loghlin
  • Release date: May 2016
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780730324393