"Permanent Innovation" the Perfect Primer

In a recent post entitled “Innovation 101” Jeffrey Phillips said he was meeting many people at innovation conferences that “could really use an introductory program just to introduce the various concepts and approaches for innovation“

Those folks could do themselves a favor by reading “Permanent Innovation” by Langdon Morris (which you can buy or download for free from the Permanent Innovation website). The books subtitle “The Definitive Guide to the Principles, Strategies and Methods of Successful Innovators” is not hot air. In my view it’s probably the best book out there covering (in engaging style) the core concepts of innovation. There are many excellent books on innovation (and their number seems to increase almost daily) but the vast majority focus on some specific form of innovation – such as disruptive innovation, open innovation or innovation culture. Permanent Innovation provides a foundation that you can work with today while providing a context for some of those other works.

Some highlights from the book from my perspective were:

• “The Innovation Table” (p.38) illustrating the four different forms of innovation (incremental, product/service, business model and new venture) across a variety of industries

• “38 +2 Ideas To Get Started” (Chapter 12) including ideas such as:

• “If your firm is large enough you may want to consider designating a Chief Innovation Officer” (had to agree with that one!)

• “Create an Innovation Advisory Board and invite five outsiders who know your industry to give you their candid feedback about your firm and it’s innovation initiatives.”

• Identify a company that you admire that’s outside of your industry. Study that company in detail to learn why it’s so good, and figure out how to emulate its strengths in your own organization.

• And my favorite “Innovation Principle #5 – Innovation without methodology is just luck.”

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