From the Inside Flap
Is it possible to manage the creative professionals within your organization without stifling them? That’s the million-dollar question for those trying to help their companies develop the kind of breakthrough innovations that result in unique products, improved processes, and creative advantages that competitors can’t copy. The challenge lies in striking the right balance between unleashing your creative people’s energy and channeling it into tangible business results.
Drawing on Lina M. Echeverría’s considerable experience assembling and nurturing cutting-edge teams at Corning Incorporated, one of America’s leading technology companies, this book shows you how to become an Idea Agent: a catalyst for releasing your people’s creativity, their advocate within the company, and also the person who keeps them focused and productive.
Containing practical methods for pulling strong-minded, visionary individuals together to solve incredibly complex problems, Idea Agent reveals seven proven principles to help you nurture—and follow through on—innovation. You’ll learn how to:
Embrace creative conflict
Conflict is an inevitable challenge, often put aside and left unaddressed. Learn its causes and how to productively confront fiery conflict and transform it into creative engagement.
Let the best take flight
Your role as leader—in recruiting, hiring, and managing—lies in understanding what it takes to preserve the space for discovery and invention. Give your creative team the freedom to guide you in how you can best help them to deliver break- throughs.
Demand excellence and enrich lives
Create a way of life based upon high expectations and full engagement by clearly communicating expectations and commitments and continually expecting adherence to them.
Live values that liberate creativity
Set innovation free by highlighting values that honor and respect the passion of creatives, balancing freedom with rigor and integrity with flexibility.
Structure a clear organization
Set up functional and project structures with clearly delineated roles, links, and responsibilities so your organization can benefit from the liberated drive of its individuals.
Create a culture
Provide unconstrained forums and inviting physical settings that allow for a culture of innovation involving group celebrations, autonomous time, and a rich oral tradition.
The challenge involved in leading fast-paced innovation teams requires passion and detachment in equal measure. Filled with fascinating real-life examples, this illuminating book gives you all the guidance and wisdom you need to propel innovation across your entire organization.
LINA M. ECHEVERRÍA is an innovation leadership consultant with 25 years of experience in science and technology. At Corning, Echeverría created an environment where scientists were both creative and productive, and where teams balanced the ability to explore the edges of possibility while delivering critical new technology on time and on budget. From scientist to vice president, she helped drive new products that now underpin our technology-based economy, from faster optical fiber that powers the Internet to flat-panel glass used in everything from smartphones to LCD TVs.
From the Back Cover
“Timely, insightful, and practical…. A must-read for anyone serious about stoking the flames of innovation in their company.”
— Rob Kaiser, President, Kaiser Leadership Solutions, Senior Partner, Kaplan DeVries Inc., and author, The Versatile Leader (with Bob Kaplan) and The Perils of Accentuating the Positive
“Idea Agent is the perfect book for anyone managing smart, creative, energetic people ….You’ll come away from this book with a whole set of tools and examples to give your own teams both creativity and focus.”
— Charles Fishman, New York Times bestselling author of The Wal-Mart Effect and The Big Thirst and long-time staff member at Fast Company magazine
“With her unassailable credibility as someone who has done it in an American powerhouse of innovation, who knows what it is like, and who was extremely successful, Echeverría …shows us the way.”
— Clint Sidle, Director, Roy H. Park Leadership Fellows Program, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, and author, The Leadership Wheel and This Hungry Spirit
“Innovation is not a question of just assembling talent and providing resources, but of creating an environment where the individuals’ entire selves can be leveraged in a collaborative process ….I have watched the insights articulated in this engrossing book in action, and they work!”
— Peter L. Bocko, CTO, Glass Technologies Group, Corning Incorporated
“A deeply personal, authentic, and moving chronicle of one woman’s quest for innovation in one of the most creative places in the world.”
— Susan M. Cantrell, Research Fellow at Accenture’s Institute for High Performance Business and author, Workforce of One
“Idea Agent is a beautifully written and highly engaging exploration of innovation leadership ….I know of no other book that better deals with the human side of
innovation.”
— Dean R. Spitzer, Ph.D., innovation expert and author, Transforming Performance Measurement
About the Author
LINA M. ECHEVERRIA is an innovation leadership consultant with 25 years experience in science and technology. From scientist to vice president, she helped drive new products at Corning Inc. that now underpin our technology-based economy, from faster optical fiber that powers the Internet to flat-panel glass used in everything from smart phones to LCD TVs.
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