Collective Genius The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation

Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation explains that one might assume that the secret to innovation is attracting talent of an exceptional level or making calculated investments or breaking down an organisational stronghold. All of these things could be contributing factors but the only way to achieve true innovation is to lead it. This book aims to show readers how to make innovation happen.

Linda Hill, a popular innovation scholar, Greg Brandeau, a tech specialist from pixar, Emily Truelove, a researcher from MIT and Kent Line back, the co-author of Being The Boss, all found among people the common misconception that a good leader in other fields inevitably means a good leader of innovation. However, in reality, to be a leader of innovation requires a special set of skills, skills that can recognise and harness the collective genius of the organisation's human resource.

Using real examples of companies like Volkswagen, Google, Pfizer and eBay and also numerous non-profit and international government agencies, the authors show how innovation is not brought about by creating a model for progress and having the employees work towards it. Instead, innovation is brought about by creating, encouraging and sustaining an environment that encourages individual and thereby collective innovation to take place on a regular basis. This book, will not simply serve as an inspiration but will also serve as a guide and model to use while building and developing a business.

The key points that this book discusses are the role of the leader in fostering innovation and the factors that cause innovation to flourish.

Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation was published in 2014 by Harvard Business Review Press. It is available in hardcover.