Best Practices Are Stupid

What if almost everything you know about creating a culture of innovation is wrong? What if the way you are measuring innovation is choking it? What if your market research is asking all of the wrong questions?

It's time to innovate the way you innovate.

Stephen Shapiro is one of America's foremost innovation advisrrs, whose methods have helped organizations like Staples, GE, Telefónica, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and USAA. He teaches his clients that innovation isn't just about generating occasional new ideas; it's about staying consistently one step ahead of the competition.

• Hire people you don't like. Bring in the right mix of people to unleash your team's full potential.
• Asking for ideas is a bad idea. Define challenges more clearly. If you ask better questions, you will get better answers.
• Don't think outside the box; find a better box. Instead of giving your employees a blank slate, provide them with well-defined parameters that will increase their creative output.
• Failure is always an option. Looking at innovation as a series of experiments allows you to redefine failure and learn from your results.

Shapiro shows that nonstop innovation is attainable and vital to building a high-performing team, improving the bottom line, and staying ahead of the pack.

Stephen M. Shapiro is an expert on innovation, a popular speaker, and the author of Personality Poker. He previously led a twenty- thousand-person process and innovation practice during a fifteen-year tenure at Accenture. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Investor's Business Daily, Entrepreneur Magazine, and The New York Times. Visit stephenshapiro.com.