The World's Best Book Summaries
How did world travel inspire the concept of a smart home? Why did Tony Fadell end his relationship with Nest? In Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, entrepreneur Tony Fadell tells the story of his career. He talks about starting Nest—a smart home device company—and later selling it to Google for billions of dollars. Keep reading to learn about Tony Fadell, Nest, and the start of the smart home revolution.
Do you consider yourself a big-picture thinker? Do you try to understand every problem or situation holistically? When we’re faced with a problem or a difficult decision, we tend to resort to our usual cause-and-effect, detail-oriented type of thinking. While this type of thinking is useful in some situations, it can obscure the bigger picture. As a result, the optimal solution may evade us because it lies outside the range of ideas where we are looking for it. With this in mind, here are three ways you can apply big-picture thinking to solve problems and make decisions.
Why do so many innovation projects fail? What are the solutions that will fix all of your innovative problems? In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify a number of reasons that innovation projects fail. Just a few specific reasons they pinpoint are: A project can fail because it doesn’t incorporate enough types of innovation, tries to incorporate too many types at once, or focuses on the wrong types. Keep reading to learn why innovation failures happen and how to prevent them.
Why are innovation prototypes important for new projects? How should you test your products before putting them on the shelves? Innovation projects often fail when they focus on solving problems that customers don’t care about, and they implement solutions that work well on paper, but not in practice. This is why you need prototypes to test out what works and what doesn’t for customers. Find out why innovation prototypes are important and how to use them, according to Ten Types of Innovation.
Have you incorporated innovation project management at your company? What is a disciplined approach to innovation? The authors of Ten Types of Innovation assert that many companies don’t know how to practice innovation as a formal discipline. They treat it as something almost magical that can’t be predicted, and it undermines their ability to execute innovation projects successfully. However, anyone can turn a mediocre project into an innovative masterpiece. Continue reading to learn how to manage innovation projects that will turn heads.
How does a CEO impact every level of the organization? What should a CEO’s attitude be toward other companies? How should you go about selling or merging your company? In his book Build, serial entrepreneur Tony Fadell offers advice for succeeding in every stage of your career, whether you’re just starting out or a CEO. He draws on his experience as CEO at Nest and Build Collective as well as the journey he took to get to the top. Continue reading to learn Fadell’s advice on how to be a good CEO.
What is user interaction design? What is the importance of feedback on products? One of the most important components of product design is that it interacts with the user. The user should be able to receive feedback such as a beeping sound or flashing light when there’s a problem that needs to be attended to. Let’s look at how user interaction design helps consumers, according to User Friendly by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant.
What is customer-centric innovation? How can you make your customers satisfied with your product? The customer is the most important person to make happy when it comes to creating and distributing products. In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify four types of innovations that relate to how your customers perceive and interact with your company. Find out how to enforce customer-centric innovation in your company.
What’s the most important step when creating a product? How does a product’s story guide both the product and its marketing? Tony Fadell wrote a book called Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making. He says that the key to knowing what is actually worth making is in discovering your story. Your product story answers vital questions about your product, so it’s an indispensable step in the process. Read on to learn about product storytelling from Fadell, along with some related advice from Eric Ries, John Brooks, and Donald Miller.
Why do the overwhelming majority of innovation projects fail? And more importantly, what can you do to innovate successfully? In Ten Types of Innovation, Doblin Innovation firm co-founder Larry Keeley and his co-authors argue that the key to success often lies in knowing which types of innovation would most help a given project succeed. Understanding the ten types of innovation and the importance of combining them correctly can help you understand why most innovation projects fail and how to make your projects succeed. Here’s an overview of Larry Keeley’s types of innovation.