"The Myths of Innovation" by Scott Berkun Book Review

“The Myths of Innovation” by Scott Berkun

Acquiring the Book

    “The Myths of Innovation” by Scott Berkun was a book that I happened to stumble across while trying to return another book to a mentor.  We will call my mentor Mr. C for referencing purposes.  He had this book and another sitting on his desk.  He had admitted that he hadn’t read it yet and was interested in its contents but offered me the first go.  I took the opportunity of being the first human to read this copy of the book and quickly grabbed it up and made my way back to my office with it.

    You can easily purchase this book from outlets such as Ebay.com, Amazon.com, and Walmart.com for prices ranging between ten and twenty dollars.  I have a few relationships in my workplace where we actively trade books for a prolonged period of time because we spend so much of our time at work that it makes reading and digesting books a costly pastime.

Overview

    Like the book’s title infers, it is written around the subject of innovation.  This writing delivers a lot of facts about historical innovators and the challenges that they faced long before they were known as innovators, inventors, or even successful persons.  The flow of this book started out pretty exciting for me.  I felt its invitational pull that drew me back strongly in the beginning.  This leveled off through the middle portion of the book but then returned as strong as ever towards the end.

    I often found that the book would influence me to want to pursue my dreams as an entrepreneur and inventor.  It had me comparing some of my travels and journeys with those of historically famous innovators that were the subject of the read.  I spent quite a few hours lying on my back on my living room floor looking up at the pages and thinking of how I would apply the knowledge contained in the book to my own life.

     In tandem to reading this, I was also studying business law.  My studies and the contents of the book fit together perfectly.  I have this knack for tying various things going on in my life simultaneously together to provide a good jolt of purpose and drive to whatever it is that I am trying to accomplish.  I will forever remember this book for this chunk of time of my life.

Annotated Bibliography

    The first thing that really surprised me and sold me about this book was that it contained a complete annotated bibliography that covered the entire span of the book.  Literally every page donned reference material to whatever it was that author Scott Berkun was writing about.  This was impressive as I am weak for scholarly articles and citations.   Seeing them at the bottom of every page just made me happy inside.

    Being surrounded by all the reference material gave way to the feeling that what I was reading was true.  I knew with a little bit of further research that I could confirm what it was that the author was saying and follow up on what I was reading.  I embarrassingly admit that I did not do this much, rather, I took the book for face value and absorbed the content within it without using the referencing material more than two or three times.  Upon finishing the book, it had a larger complication of the bibliography’s references.  I didn’t take too much time to look through these as I had already had the book an unwelcome length of time, however, it still made me feel good that the author had taken so much time to provide sources for what he was writing about.

    This was especially helpful in the subject matter.  The author used references to point to the validity of his claims as they pertained to historical innovators, their innovations, and their life stories.  I do wish that it contained more faction research on the process of innovation and invention and followed up by pointing to journals and articles that he based his information on, but nonetheless, any reference is better than no reference at all.  The biggest benefit of the annotated bibliography is the feel of what you were reading.  It did not feel like you were reading some quickly scribbled and pushed self help book, however, it really felt like you were holding a tome of knowledge.

Towards the End

    Things really turned up towards the end of the book.  The author skillfully twists historical inventors, inventions, their strategies, and their stories together for you and allows you to look through their eyes and think how they think for a good bit before giving you some real gems.  Towards the end of the book Scott Berkun delves into very applicable tactics and methods that the modern person can use towards improving their skills as an innovator and as a person.

    The author wrote two excellent chapters on motivation and pitching ideas.  I previously hadn’t realized how important pitching an idea was for an innovator.  I hadn’t tied innovation to salesmanship.  I also hadn’t realized all the little things to keep in mind when bringing an idea to someone else.  I am truly enlightened for having read these two chapters alone.  I admit that I wish that the book was packed full of these gyms, and I imagine how exciting it would be to read had I felt the excitement of reading the entire book as I had felt during reading and digesting these two chapters.

    The author breaks down the sales pitch of an idea in one of the later chapters into various components.  He then explains that anyone delivering a sales pitch needs to have the same pitch in various time-length formats.  What I took from this is that anyone pitching an idea needs to have a ten second pitch, a one-minute pitch, and a ten-minute pitch for the same idea.  He then gives strategies for applying each and going from the first to the last in a progressive fashion.

Humor

    I think that it is worth it to mention that a lot of the fluidity and ease of reading this book comes from the passive humor that the author possesses.  He’s able to weave a very natural feeling humor in his writing that leaves you smiling when you come across it.  This is not a forced humor or a book so injected with humor that you have to look for the content, rather, it is genuine and imaginable that this is how you would experience communicating with the author in real life.

    A lot of whether I mesh with these types of non-fiction writings depends on if I find that through reading the book that the author’s personality is compatible with mine.  In this case, it very much was.

Overall Rating

    I feel like a pretty hard critic in giving book a 3.5 out of 5.  This writing really explored historical innovators and their challenges.  I feel like it spent a lot of time pounding on history and not enough time delivering unique technique to overcome.  I do like the level of encouragement to be an inventor, but a lot of it came from pointing to the persistence of other inventors who struggled a lot instead of pointing to ways to overcome these struggles.  Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend others read it if they are interested in business, inventing, innovation, and changing the world.

My Headspace at the Time

    During this time, I had been doing a lot of dreaming in my spare and not-so-spare time.  I had crafted an idea of a licensing business based on research and innovation.  This is a hard sell in real life, because of the inherent risk in hoping that research transforms into profitable substance.  Nevertheless, the book had me thinking and dreaming in ways that I hadn’t thought or dreamt of before.  I think it is these influences in our emotions and thoughts that really make books hang with us over the course of our lifetimes.  I only hope that my next series of reads provides me with the same type of interface to my life as I am currently experiencing it.

2 Key Questions a Leader Should Ask Themselves Before Leading

2 Key Questions a Leader Should Ask Themselves Before Leading

    Sometimes we reach a point in our group, team, or organization where we want to identify an opportunity to step up and lead.  Sometimes it may not be formal or permanent.  It may be a passing thought, or a notion to help the current situation progress along for a short time.  In any case, potential leadership is very thought provoking.  Earlier in my career I would say that it reminds me of going out on a date for the first time, awkward and forced.  As time has passed, I would say that it becomes natural and easy, sometimes making what would be an awkward situation one more bearable for all involved.

    I joined a collegiate organization some time ago where I was required to complete multiple steps before induction.  There were maybe a dozen steps to complete.  Towards the end of this period of induction, I was randomly paired with a group of people.  Among ourselves we had to develop a team complete with assigned jobs and self-prepared meetings.  I feel that this was in a lot of ways a test, because in our first scheduled meeting, we all showed up having no idea what to do.  While my group members and I sat around a table staring at each other and talking it became clear that there was a lack of leadership.  A few members had left early, some other broke off and began talking about life in general, and some were scoffing about how poorly ran the organization was.

     We were all in the dark.  We had no clue what to do or what we were even meeting for aside from us understanding that it was a requirement for induction.  Through this first painful meeting, I had gotten only one thing, someone had to make the next one less painful, assuming anyone even returned.  I decided to take the position of facilitator and prepare for the next meeting, hoping that if nothing else we would have something to do besides gossip about politics.

     Sometimes it takes being placed in an awkward situation with others before it is clear who the leader may be, and sometimes it will be surprising to see who that person is.  Whether it is a blindly assembled group, or a department in an organization, there should be only a few unorganized gatherings before it becomes clear who the leader is.  Here we look at some key questions to ask ourselves to determine if we have identified an opportunity to lead.

    

1.  Do we have the functional or technical knowledge required to lead?

    Having the functional knowledge to lead a group is a key question to ask yourself.  It is not a black and white barrier that should direct whether you pursue a leadership role.  It should, however, give you the direction that you should take if you do decide to pursue that leadership role.  If you conclude that you do not have a lot of functional knowledge of the group that you want to lead, then we must understand this if we decide to push forward.

    Function or technical knowledge is the boots-on-the-floor know how of getting a job done and demonstrating successful action against the task.  A leader that has a load of technical knowledge and the skills related to successfully obtaining the goals will approach leading a team a bit differently than one who has little technical knowledge.  To this leader I would suggest a teaching and mentoring strategy.  A lot can be gained, and relationships can be developed by a leader who has knowledge to distribute among a group of peers.

    A lack of functional or technical knowledge does not mean that we should avoid pursuing leadership.  It should be a factor in your decision though, as opting to lead without having a broad span of knowledge of the tasks at hand does make the job more difficult.  To the leader without technical knowledge, I would advise taking a learn together approach, and never shy away from the opportunity to learn from a team member.  There is great value in allowing a team member the opportunity to teach you something.

    In my case, I chose the latter approach.  I knew that I had the ability to publicly speak, as well as research and present information that I had acquired, so I contacted my group and let them know as long as no one opposed it that I would have something prepared for us to review at our next meeting.  After scheduling the day with everyone, I was nervous about what may happen.

   

   

2.  Do we have proper relationships established with our team?

    One of the most difficult situations that a leader can face is being thrust into a new team with the expectation of leading them.  Success isn’t guaranteed, goals are not understood, and the people can sometimes be strangers.  It is much more favorable to lead a team that you have already had the opportunity to develop relationships with.  Developing relationships is one of the key tools of a leader.  It is arguably one of the most important things that a leader can do, and the flavor of these relationships will often determine the level of success that a leader will experience.

    To a leader that has had the opportunity to develop proper relationships with his team, I would suggest that he search those relationships and make certain that they are facilitating good communication as well as mutual respect.  If these two qualities of a relationship aren’t present, then the leader should be doing things to foster the growth of them.  Without these qualities in the relationships, success will be very difficult.  If good communication and mutual respect are present, the ability to lead will be readily available and from here it is simply undertaking the task.

    After being thrust into an environment with strangers, and attending a dry pointless meeting, I knew that we had to turn it around.  It seemed clear that we were all good communicators that had adequate mutual respect; however, our little organization just required some leadership.  In this informal situation, it was as simple as standing up and doing it.  I didn’t believe it should be a forceful or delegatory thing, rather, I first communicated that I had done some research on how our group should be put together and suggested that if no one else had any material, that I be allowed to present what I had learned.

     After playing a presentation that I had found on my chapter’s website, I outlined what I thought the meeting should include and led the discussion.  I asked questions and listened to answers.  As we continued and time passed, we all became more familiar with each other and felt exactly what it was that this challenge was about.  This wasn’t some formal take-charge-and-conquer test, rather, it was a test of our ability to come together as a team and hold each other accountable to being team members.

 
The Take Away

    I believe these are two key questions we should ask ourselves before we decide to venture into the idea of leadership in any situation.  Regardless of our direction of thought, or where we end up after pondering all the information, I believe that the task of asking ourselves the questions better prepares us to lead.  We can further analyze and break this down, however the idea itself is intended to spark the thinking that a potential leader should be doing before undertaking the task.

    In some instances, we may decide that leadership in the current situation isn’t for us, or that there is someone better suited.  To that I would say, even a leader knows when to follow.  A good leader knows when to be led.  It should not be taken as a failure when it becomes apparent that there is someone more qualified to lead a team than ourselves, rather, we should still fulfill our obligation to be team members and continue to strive to achieve the organizations goals, however big or small.

    It is important as leaders that we continue to think about these things as we travel through life and come across different situations that require different things of us.  It is important that leaders identify situations where we believe that our service as a leader will affect the outcome of the group for the better, and to allow ourselves to be a special part of the group, for the better of the group.  There is no more fulfilling thing to be than a servant leader, and that will be a topic of future discussion.

   

Fumbling Leadership

Fumbling Leadership

    I was nervous.  I had been given the knowledge that I was a new front-line manager of my team.  I had just been promoted to team leader.  I felt that I had to come out swinging, after all, this is what leadership was right?  I mount my powered industrial truck, turn it on, take off, and then crash.  How embarrassing.  I had an accident.  I dropped materials and fumbled the entire gig.  I didn’t just little fumble, I realized that my introductory day as a leader would be putting together a team to pick up a mess that I had just created.  I was sure that my boss, who was just happy to promote me, would be taken aback and beating himself over the head for what a silly decision that he had help make in my promotion. 

    If you find yourself in this position, and you will, although it may not be as immediate as my experience, this is where you get to show your leadership potential.  Follow my actions through my first big fumble and walk through the lessons that I learned in order to unlock your leadership potential.  

Assessment

     Any time there is an issue that needs addressed during operations, take time to assess the situation.  It is important not to allow yourself to act with emotions.  Acting emotionally will be clearly apparent to everyone around you and give a visual display of a lack of control of the situation.  This is exactly what we do not want as leaders.  Instead, allow others to see you collecting information about what is going on.  Allow your team to bare witness to you taking in metrics and information so that you can complete the problem-solving process and work on a solution.  If others engage you, they are probably trying to help.  At this point it is in your best interest to allow them to.

     In my case, I had just dumped some valuable product from the forks of my lift.  Inside, I was panicked.  I knew that I had to come up with a solution and a million thoughts raced through my head.  I first thought of how I could cover this up so no one would know, and my boss would not find out.  I decided that this wasn’t reasonable, as it happened at a busy intersection inside of the factory.  Contingency plan?  Yes.  I had to come up with a solution to this situation that entailed taking ownership of what had happened as well as repairing the damages and returning the high traffic area back to normal operating conditions.

The Problem

    Any time that we encounter a situation that needs our attention, it is important to first identify the problem.  Once we have identified the problem and assessed the situation, we must allow ourselves to think freely in order to sift through potential solutions to find the best solution.  In any case, we shouldn’t be spending a large amount of time during a crisis determining what we should do.  We must act and sometimes this is where we must engage in an area outside of our comfort zone and take risk.  Risk is associated with further possible failure as well as possible success and reward.  Adopting a good strategy for assessing risk is essential in order to be able to project the likelihood of countering a catastrophe.

    Positioned in a tough situation, I had the availability of a partner and trainer.  I admit I sought guidance and learned what to do in this specific situation.  As a newly promoted leader of my team, I was not aware of all the tools that I had available to me or the possible strategies to fix the problem that I had created.  Sometimes utilizing others, including partners or other team members for their knowledge is one of the most powerful tools that we have.  In many cases, even other team members can help us navigate tough situations and find the best solutions when we find ourselves stumped and without direction on what to do.

The Solution

    Often when we find ourselves in a pickle or an operational disaster, the solution is right in front of us and is a matter of some technical know how and relying on others.  In almost all situations a team effort is required to bounce back from a disaster or other unfortunate circumstance.  If we do not know the action steps to take in order to solve a problem, the important part is that we know how to get them.  If we cannot rely on our own knowledge to remedy an issue or situation, we need to be able to find that information from another source.  Once we understand the problem that we are facing and how to solve it, we can begin implementation of a solution to that problem.

     My partner advised me on the technical aspects of the solution.  We needed to involve quality, acquire the materials needed to clean up the mess, and then perform the groundwork in order to do it.  Once we had the steps understood we began the work and soon returned the area to normalcy.  It involved getting our hands dirty and doing some manual labor, but in the end, all was well, and we continued our night through until the end. 

    I went home that night feeling a little defeated and overwhelmed.  I had questioned whether I had it in me to continue leading the team.  After all, I created that disaster and felt that I couldn’t take care of it myself.  This is a core lesson that we can all learn in leadership.  Regardless of the situation or circumstance, our solution to any problem isn’t in ourselves, it is in the ability of us to lead our team to a solution.  Even in appealing for help, which may be difficult in certain circumstances, we are acting as leaders.  If we were able to do everything ourselves in all situations, then we wouldn’t need to lead anything, would we?

The Take Away

    I had to report this situation to my superior.  I had to report everything.  This included the root cause, that I had been in a hurry and caused the incident.  I also had to report the steps that I had taken to remedy the incident.  In the end, this was a display of leadership.  Even in difficult circumstances that seem to have a net negative outcome, we can display leadership and learn.  The important part of any circumstance is that we learn from the happenings so that we are better equipped to deal with them at a future time.  This identical situation has happened many times since this incident, with the difference being that I was not the cause of the accident.  One thing that I can assure everyone is that I knew how to respond.  Sometimes we attain knowledge by our own misfortunes.  It is important that we take away from our own misfortunes the same as we would take away from misfortunes of others.  It is equally important that we allow ourselves to be leaders through these events so that we can learn and apply solutions to future events based on the outcomes.

    My mentor in this situation is still a dear friend and helps me whenever I come to him.  I have had many opportunities to help him as well as both of us have furthered our development as leaders in our organization.  This catastrophe turned into an opportunity to build a relationship with a partner that has been long lasting and mutually beneficial.  I believe that this is the true take away from any unfortunate event, and if we miss our opportunity to further our relationships with our team, we miss the opportunity to grow as leaders as well as people.  I find myself now collecting situations like this as trophies in my history as a leader.  I use catastrophes as tools for growing and enabling others to grow while allowing myself to be led as well as lead others to learn new things.