Ban the Humorous Bazooka - Hardcover

Sebell, Mark Henry; Yocum, Jeanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0793141087 ISBN 13: 9780793141081

Publisher: Dearborn Trade Pub, 2001

Synopsis

A recent survey by Robert Half Associates indicates that 89% of executives believe that employers are doing more to encourage employees to be creative and innovative now than five years ago.

Notwithstanding a giant corporate commitment to innovation, roadblocks abound, creating an unacceptably high failure rate for new products. But what if someone could show businesses how to overcome the obstacles, roadblocks and speedbumps? What if there was a proven way to move from creative ideas to actual marketable innovations? What about a way around those "humorous bazooka" comments that often shoot down fresh ideas--leaving roadkill instead of innovation?

Sharing the proven and practical methods that have helped Fortune 500 companies power through blocks to bring breakthrough products and services to market, innovation consultant Mark Sebell offers insights for every company grappling with the "dark night of the innovator."

Defining the obstacles that impede innovation then proposing successful strategies to overcome them, Ban the Humorous Bazooka uses case studies from Sebell's premier client companies to examine strategies that really work to bring successful innovations to market. It also:

*Speaks to the heart of people's fears about failing at their next innovative effort *Offers techniques to discover usable insights out of the information overload *Outlines how companies can assemble cross-functional innovation teams to achieve real breakthroughs

About this title

About the Author

Mark Sebell is the founder and president of Creative Realities Inc., a Boston-based consulting firm specializing in corporate innovation. With a 30-year track record helping top companies innovate, Sebell counts among his clients such firms as Compaq Computer, Campbell Soup, AT&T, PepsiCo, Citigroup, Starbucks and Dewar's Scotch. A dynamic speaker and seminar leader, Sebell is also regularly tapped as an expert source by the business media, with coverage by Nation's Business, Industry Week, and The Wall Street Journal. Jeanne Yocum is an award-winning professional writer, and a founder of the South Shore Women's Business Network. Her work has appeared in such media as The Boston Globe, US Banker, and Promo Magazine.

From the Inside Flap

This is not a book about creativity in business. Creativity is the act of generating new ideas which happens almost every day in business. This is a book about innovation in business turning new ideas into reality.

Studies show that over 75 percent of the revenue of today s top-performing companies is generated from products that didn t exist five years ago. Innovation is the lifeblood of any organization s success, but few understand how to achieve it.

Given the messy and unpredictable nature of innovation, the challenge is not to create a clean, predictable process. The challenge is to introduce skills and procedures that will help people deal with the ambiguities and paradoxes that are part of every innovation effort.

In Ban the Humorous Bazooka, Mark Sebell fills the need for practical, experience-based advice on how to overcome the obstacles on the road to innovation.

Sebell identifies the Innovation Speed Bumps, or behaviors and attitudes that impede the innovation process in any organization. One of these Speed Bumps is the Humorous Bazooka, or the wisecrack, joke, or put-down that greets a new idea put forth in a brainstorming session (or any meeting for that matter). While seemingly benign and light-hearted, the Humorous Bazooka has the devastating effect of killing ideas, and also leads to withdrawal, not only of the person who proposed the idea in the first place, but of other participants as well. A fresh idea turned into roadkill.

Sebell also identifies the Innovation Roadblocks which, in contrast, are group-based norms and behaviors. Roadblocks can only be addressed through process skills that help manage group interactions, and require cooperation, teamwork, and alterations in fundamental attitudes and behaviors.

Ban the Humorous Bazooka is the culmination of the author s 30+ years experience working with Fortune 500 clients and organizations of all sizes to turn their creative ideas into reality. Now it s your turn.

Reviews

The "humorous bazooka" identified by Sebell (who heads Creative Realities Inc., a consulting firm specializing in corporate innovation) is a joking comment designed to shoot down a colleague's idea. As Sebell explains, that's all too often what happens to new ideas: "We make fun of them. We point out every single problem." Such "innovation killers" are especially troubling in today's competitive global marketplace, the author declares, since innovation is now so crucial to a company's very survival. Sebell, whose clients have included AT&T, Citigroup and Starbucks, recommends that employees use a toy bazooka to fight back against criticism and force critics to explain their resistance to a new idea. As difficult as launching new ideas can be, Sebell points out that implementing them is even more difficult; just as individuals may deride unfamiliar approaches, organizational structures, too, tend to resist change. One of Sebell's more acute insights about overcoming organizational inertia is that the bazooka wielders are often the smartest people in the organization; if they aren't allowed to derail an idea, they can play a crucial role in its implementation. As the long, awkward title suggests, Sebell's style can be choppy, though most of his points are lucid and accessible. Cartoons, graphs and chapter summaries will help readers focus on key concepts, but too much of the text is abstract. The most concrete advice is buried in brief appendixes, which include rules for effective group interaction and exercises for fostering creativity.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The "humorous bazooka" is what people use to shoot down ideas and proposals within an organization--often by belittling or making fun of a new suggestion or the person offering it. Organizations where people are freely armed with such weaponry are organizations where innovation is stifled, according to Sebell.^B He is the founder and president of Creative Realities, a Boston-based "idea development" consulting firm. Distinguishing between creativity and innovation, Sebell identifies the three levels of innovation and examines the five phases of the innovation process. He details the critical success factors that must be present in each phase and warns of the common mistakes that cause innovation to fail. Warning that innovation is "messy," Sebell emphasizes that organizations must discourage the firing of bazookas and "create a culture that nourishes ongoing innovation." He then provides tools and techniques that will help to do so. David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Dearborn Trade Pub
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0793141087
• ISBN 13: 9780793141081
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 262