So says Hall of Fame quarterback and hugely successful serial entrepreneur Fran Tarkenton. Don’t get him wrong—there’s no one more competitive or keener on winning than Fran. But in his inspiring and insightful new book, The Power of Failure, Tarkenton illustrates with hard, real-life examples why the most successful entrepreneurs are those with the courage, the resilience, the intelligence, and the competitive spirit to fail often, fail faster, and fail better—to achieve ultimate success. Candid, concise, quotable, and realistic, Fran Tarkenton is the best possible guide to finding success through the power of failure.
This book develops a systematic approach to the role of failure in innovation, using the laboratory notebooks of America's most successful inventor, Thomas Edison. It argues that Edison's active pursuit of failure and innovative uses of failure as a tool were crucial to his success. From this the author argues that not only should we expect innovations to fail but that there are good reasons to want them to fail. Using Edison's laboratory notebooks, written as he worked and before he knew the outcome we see the many false starts, wrong directions and failures that he worked through on his way to producing revolutionary inventions. While Edison's strengths in exploiting failure made him the icon of American inventors, they could also be liabilities when he moved from one field to another. Not only is this book of value to readers with an interest in the history of technology and American invention, its insights are important to those who seek to innovate and to those who employ and finance them.
This book will shock you and forever change the way you see innovation. As a serial innovator, I ruthlessly expose the real problems and give proven solutions. You can halve your R&D spending and still get far better results. Here's some of what you will learn. Hear why the tools you use now are your enemy Learn how to get 1000% more return on your R&D dollar Uncover the reasons why large companies stumble and fail The value of open innovation finally quantified How misguided targets lead to unwanted results A shocking examination of the risk: reward balance This book is the missing piece of the puzzle. You will hear the real problems holding you back and the get answers directly from a serial innovator. There is a chapter for aspiring innovators, advice for managers, CEOs and board members. This book has something for all parties involved in the quest for innovation. Praise for Innovation Abyss "This book is an essential reference for anyone interested in how Innovation really happens. It explains the balanced role of free- and out-of-the-box thinkers, creative mavericks and visionary leaders who lead their people instead of managing them. You will find loads of great examples, thought provoking ideas and the book is full of helpful insights." Rob Kirschbaum CEO, SakuragiConsult & former VP Innovation at DSM "Dr. DeArmitt has written an engaging, thoughtful, and provocative book about innovation. He has drawn on his extensive personal experience at companies both large and small, recent research, and many other innovators' experiences. The result is a framework of how companies actually operate in practice today, how that often hampers instead of helps innovation, and a set of suggestions and practical recommendations useable by individuals up to company directors." Micah Yairi, Co-Founder and CTO, Tactus Technology "I just finished reading this book on a flight back from Asia, and it was so engaging that I couldn't put it down. Chris's insights on the innovation process, and the corporate hurdles to producing new products, was right on the mark. As someone who has spent his career working for both small and large companies in the US, and who has had to work around these obstacles to invent new products, I can attest to the validity of his arguments. I give this book two thumbs up!" Philip Jacoby, Founder Jacoby Polymer Consulting LLC "Chris DeArmitt enjoyably relates his adventures as a true innovator in a substantially automated world. He identifies all those structures and procedures we have installed that prevent progress from happening: it is a call for all of us working in any position in a larger organization to get our targets straight. Reading this book will make you laugh and cry. It invites you to start thinking and may even make you act...if you dare...like Chris." Professor Gerrit Luinstra, University of Hamburg
From computers to body scanners, from hovercraft to monoclonal antibodies, British researchers have been among the world's leaders in scientific discovery and invention. But British business has failed repeatedly to exploit these discoveries. This first in-depth history of the early British computer industry provides a valuable case study in the implementation of public innovation policy with lessons for any country trying to compete for sales in international high-technology markets.The birth of modern computers in Great Britain coincided with the establishment in the late 1940s of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), which was charged with assisting commercial development of new technologies. John Hendry details ten years of effort by the NRDC to establish a British computer industry able to compete internationally, particularly with IBM. He examines the reasons for their failure to achieve this and explores the consequences and implications of this failure.Focusing on the creation, implementation, and management of government sponsorship policies and the responses of businesses to those policies, Hendry discusses the broad issues of government policy and the exploitation of technology in the United Kingdom the commercial development of computer technology in post-World War II America and Britain, the genesis and impact of NRDC policies for commercializing the new technology, and the conflict between national competitiveness and the ideals of fairness and consensus.John Hendry is Lecturer in Strategic Management and Director of the Centre for Strategic Management and Organizational Change at the Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield Institute of Technology, England Innovating for Failure is included in the History of Computing series edited by I. Bernard Cohen and William Aspray.
A Science “Reading List for Uncertain Times” Selection “A must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in the present and future of higher education.” —Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed “A must-read for the education-invested as well as the education-interested.” —Forbes Proponents of massive online learning have promised that technology will radically accelerate learning and democratize education. Much-publicized experiments, often underwritten by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, have been launched at elite universities and elementary schools in the poorest neighborhoods. But a decade after the “year of the MOOC,” the promise of disruption seems premature. In Failure to Disrupt, Justin Reich takes us on a tour of MOOCs, autograders, “intelligent tutors,” and other edtech platforms and delivers a sobering report card. Institutions and investors favor programs that scale up quickly at the expense of true innovation. Learning technologies—even those that are free—do little to combat the growing inequality in education. Technology is a phenomenal tool in the right hands, but no killer app will shortcut the hard road of institutional change. “I’m not sure if Reich is as famous outside of learning science and online education circles as he is inside. He should be...Reading and talking about Failure to Disrupt should be a prerequisite for any big institutional learning technology initiatives coming out of COVID-19.” —Inside Higher Ed “The desire to educate students well using online tools and platforms is more pressing than ever. But as Justin Reich illustrates...many recent technologies that were expected to radically change schooling have instead been used in ways that perpetuate existing systems and their attendant inequalities.” —Science
The definitive history of America’s greatest incubator of innovation and the birthplace of some of the 20th century’s most influential technologies “Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review “Compelling . . . Gertner's book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” —The Wall Street Journal From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born.
Success in Innovation tackles its subject from a novel perspective: instead of focusing on factors for success, it specifically examines the factors for failure. Similar books often attempt to stimulate more effort on innovation with success stories and methods. But innovation is risky business and most innovative ideas fail. By understanding the typical pitfalls and hurdles in the process, and how to avoid or manage them, readers can significantly improve their chances of success. Success in Innovation is broad in scope and useful to managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, tech start-ups — anyone with a stake in new and powerful ideas, products, businesses, or methods. This book helps readers work smarter, not simply more. Provides guidelines for assessing innovative ideas Includes methods for valuing innovation Discusses the danger points in the innovation process Explains the planning and development processes Includes innovation models Discusses the methods for risk assessment
Surprising rules for successful monetization Innovation is the most important driver of growth. Today, more than ever, companies need to innovate to survive. But successful innovation—measured in dollars and cents—is a very hard target to hit. Companies obsess over being creative and innovative and spend significant time and expense in designing and building products, yet struggle to monetize them: 72% of innovations fail to meet their financial targets—or fail entirely. Many companies have come to accept that a high failure rate, and the billions of dollars lost annually, is just the cost of doing business. Monetizing Innovations argues that this is tragic, wasteful, and wrong. Radically improving the odds that your innovation will succeed is just a matter of removing the guesswork. That happens when you put customer demand and willingness to pay in the driver seat—when you design the product around the price. It’s a new paradigm, and that opens the door to true game change: You can stop hoping to monetize, and start knowing that you will. The authors at Simon Kucher know what they’re talking about. As the world’s premier pricing and monetization consulting services company, with 800 professionals in 30 cities around the globe, they have helped clients ranging from massive pharmaceuticals to fast-growing startups find success. In Monetizing Innovation, they distil the lessons of thirty years and over 10,000 projects into a practical, nine-step approach. Whether you are a CEO, executive leadership, or part of the team responsible for innovation and new product development, this book is for you, with special sections and checklist-driven summaries to make monetizing innovation part of your company’s DNA. Illustrative case studies show how some of the world’s best innovative companies like LinkedIn, Uber, Porsche, Optimizely, Draeger, Swarovski and big pharmaceutical companies have used principles outlined in this book. A direct challenge to the status quo “spray and pray” style of innovation, Monetizing Innovation presents a practical approach that can be adopted by any organization, in any industry. Most monetizing innovation failure point home. Now more than ever, companies must rethink the practices that have lost countless billions of dollars. Monetizing Innovation presents a new way forward, and a clear promise: Go from hope to certainty.
Just because it's a great idea doesn't mean it will succeed. Drawing on the expertise and first-hand experience of inventors, financiers, market researchers, psychologists and sociologists--using examples as diverse as the Classic Coke, Napster, and more. A witty, compelling and informative read.
