Contents

Copyright

Preface

Introduction    How to Make Innovation Happen

Ideas are only beginnings

Conflict between innovation and ongoing operations is inevitable

Innovation initiatives require a special team and a special plan

Part I: Build the Team

  One    Divide the Labor

Define a partnership between a Dedicated Team and the Performance Engine

Understand the Performance Engine’s limits

The Performance Engine must sustain excellence in ongoing operations

  Two    Assemble the Dedicated Team

Don’t build a Little Performance Engine

Act as though you are building a new company from scratch

Expect discomfort

Three    Manage the Partnership

Be positive, persuasive, and collaborative

Get help from senior executives

Anticipate conflict and act in advance

Part II: Run a Disciplined Experiment

  Four    Formalize the Experiment

To get great results, focus on learning, not results

Talk about what you don’t know

Make formal but routine revisions to the plan

  Five    Break Down the Hypothesis

Draft a crystal-clear hypothesis of record

Focus on great conversations, not great spreadsheets

Create a custom scorecard

    Six    Seek the Truth

Understand sources of bias

Expect your predictions to be wrong

Create a framework for accountability

Conclusion    Moving on, Moving Up

Assessment Tools

Scholarly Foundations

Acknowledgments

About the Authors