Innovation Is a Social Process

I’ve been reading The Game Changer by Proctor & Gamble CEO, A. G. Lafley, and expert business consultant and author, Ram Charan. I was first introduced to Lafley through an article a couple years ago in FastCompany. I was impressed with his commitment to creativity and design, and his installation of a vice president of innovative design and strategy.

I’m only 100 pages into the book but I’ve been making notes and reading when I can really focus. (With a three year-old and an eighteen month-old at home, I figure I should finish the book in 2011.) The book is about innovation. Here are a few of my favorite passages from the first thirty pages.

“The consumer—not the CEO—is boss.” (For us, it’s the reader.)

“Delight your consumers at two ‘moments of truth’: first, when they buy a product, and second, when they use it.”

“Seek out innovation from any and all sources, inside and outside the company.

“An invention is a new idea that is often turned into a tangible outcome, such as a product or system. An innovation is the conversion of a new idea into revenues and profits. Invention is needed for innovation to take place. But invention is not innovation.”

“To succeed, companies need to see innovation not as something special that only special people can do, but as something that can become routine and methodical, taking advantage of the capabilities of ordinary people.”
This week our operations team met to talk about ways we can more effectively run our warehouse at Cumberland House. Pictured from left to right are returns processor Christy Badger, warehouse manager Tracy Neddo, shipping manager Scott Hartsell, and finance director Linda Cobb.

“Innovation is a social process. And this process can only happen when people do that simple, profound thing—connect to share problems, opportunities, and learning.”

So I ask you, dear blog reader, what problems, opportunities, or ideas for innovation in the publishing industry will you share for us to discuss?