Breaking Away: How Great Leaders Create Innovation that Drives Sustainable Growth--and Why Others Fail

The blueprint for achieving growth and driving shareholder value by embedding support for innovation into every facet of your business

Breaking Away is one of the first books to bridge the gap between leadership and innovation by revealing what it takes to create both breakthrough ideas and the leaders who make them happen.

Written by the chief innovation officer for Coca-Cola and a leading recruiter of innovation leaders, Breaking Away provides a framework that executives, managers, and entrepreneurs can use to create an environment that drives REAL innovation, the breakthrough products or services that are: efficient to produce or deliver; in demand; and profitable.

Interviews and case studies of global giants like Burberry, Mastercard, Nestle, GE, HP, Nintendo, and others, show you how leaders put these principles into action: How Ford beat Toyota to the hybrid (and why everyone thinks the Japanese company got there first); how GE is changing the face of cancer treatment; how a self-confessed “snackaholic” drove Lesser Evil Snacks to 120% Y-o-Y growth-and a place among the INC. 500 “fastest growing companies” index.

Jane Edison Stevenson is Vice Chairman, Board and CEO Services at Korn/Ferry International, the world’s leading C-suite talent management firm, and has spent 25 years assessing and recruiting the world’s top innovation leaders.

Bilal Kaafarani is Senior VP, Global Research and Innovation officer of The Coca-Cola Company. He has held leadership roles with Frito Lay Tropicana, Proctor & Gamble, and Kraft, where he developed the technology resulting in the successful “Kraft Free” products. He holds several patents for breakthrough technologies in the food sector.