To disrupt and innovate, we have to explore, learn, and challenge ourselves. One key method is to incorporate a variety of perspectives and challenge our thinking. This is why I started my book reviews – where I explore a variety of books around the topic innovation. Last week, in my blog post I reviewed the following books: Serial Innovators, Adaptability & Ideas Are Free. (Click to read the other book reviews.)

In ProVoke, I talk about the necessity of the Ecosystem of Disruption, in order to execute innovation in a meaningful way. In other words, it is not sufficient to have a great idea/innovation, rather we need to have the supportive ecosystem in place for our ideas to lead to great innovation. Technology, by itself is never enough, unless the Innovation-Enabling-Ecosystem is in place. This requires planning, vision and execution as well as knowing all the players we need to bring into the ecosystem.

Think about the following examples:

1. Why has Apple succeeded with the iPhone but Nokia failed?
2. Why is Tesla winning over other battery operated technologies?
3. Why has Google succeeded over other internet browsers?
4. Why iPods have succeeded over the much less expensive Walkman alternative?

Technology, patents and IP by itself is never enough. In the journey of vision to execution, we need to have a supportive Innovation-Enabling-Ecosystem in place.

This brought me to the my next book review.

Innovating in context: The Importance of Innovation Ecosystems

In The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation (2012), Ron Adner effectively argues that innovators need to see themselves and their innovations as part of a broader innovation ecosystem, with roles and relationships that need to be managed. In our increasingly collaborative world, it is not enough to just produce a brilliant innovation. We are acting within a broader innovation ecosystem, and our success depends as much on the efforts of other actors as it does on our own product. Especially in the field of technology, we are never innovating in a vacuum; as a result, the challenges that co-innovators are facing matter just as much as our own challenges. Adner insightfully analyzes examples of brilliant innovations that nonetheless failed because their creators failed to understand the innovation ecosystem on which their product depended. Whether we are collaborating on technologies, vision, or direction, we need to be attuned to the interests and capacities of the other players with which our product interacts before it even reaches the customer. Adner suggests the ecosystem is a puzzle that must be assembled, with payoff coming to the person who puts down the last piece, not the first one. This requires willpower to resist the natural urge to rush to market prematurely – balanced with the risk of coming in too late. Adner’s main point is that we must widen our lens from focusing solely on our product, to aligning the necessary ecosystems which the product’s success depends on. At times, we may need to reconfigure the existing ecosystem or create an entirely new ecosystem for our innovation. In sum, by understanding the ecosystem in which we wish to integrate, we can invest in more successful innovations, reduce our chance of failure, and maximize our odds of success. I found this a highly useful and interesting read!

Rock and roll! More book reviews coming soon! Stay tuned.

Let’s disrupt to innovate!