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Innovation is one of the most important elements in a successful business, it can also be one of the most challenging. If you're looking for the best books on innovation, here are my top 5 recommendations.
This Is Marketing
The underlying theme of the book is that marketing is not about selling, it's about solving other people’s problems and creating value.
This is Marketing summarizes several key learnings from Seth Godin’s career. It's more of a high-level marketing overview than a step-by-step guide, which I think improves its ability to be applied across a range of circumstances and industries. As you read through the lessons, you'll be able to envision multiple scenarios where you can apply the key takeaways.
Creativity, Inc.
This autobiography, by the co-founder of Pixar, shares the story of how the company rose to fame and it also provides a glimpse "behind-the-scenes" into some of the challenges they had to overcome along the journey.
Discover the leadership and management techniques as well as the practices and philosophies that helped Pixar grow to be such a successful business in the movie industry.
The leadership principles in Creativity Inc. are extremely valuable because they can be applied in any industry that involves leading or managing creative projects.
Originals
In this New York Times bestselling book, Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist, shares his research on how original thinkers are able to change the world by championing new ideas.
With stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Adam describes how to:
- Speak up without getting silenced
- Build a coalition of allies
- Choose the right time to act
- Manage fear and doubt
Adam also shares how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children and how leaders can build cultures where 'Originals' can thrive!
Good to Great
Before any innovation can grow at scale, it requires a period of successful execution and high performance. Learn about this and several other high-level topics (such as strategy, leadership, and management) in this classic book by Jim Collins.
Good to Great summarizes extensive research on the topic of what separates the very best companies from the rest. Discover the seven characteristics that research has determined is responsible for outperformance and be prepared to uncover new ideas you didn't know you had as you flip through these invaluable pages.
Crushing It!
Although written with entrepreneurs in mind, this book will energize anyone who is looking for inspiration to innovate.
Four-time New York Times bestselling author, Gary Vaynerchuk, illuminates some lesser-known nuances and provides innovative tips and clever tweaks to enhance common strategies.
Crushing It provides a variety of success stories from people who successfully implemented the advice from Gary's 2009 book, Crush It, and showcases how anyone can apply creative strategies to innovate within their industry.
Looking for more information on innovative leadership?
Read this article on What an Innovative Leader Looks Like
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