Manu Parashar would have completed 37 years yesterday. His book, "8 Steps to Building Innovating Organizations," which made it to bestseller lists was to have been reviewed by me last year for informing a wider audience about the book – I had read the book, took notes and discussed my observations with Manu. He was positive about the points made by me despite several of my remarks pointing out the shortcomings of his book. Given that various reviewers had already reviewed the book in major media outlets, I had decided not to go ahead with writing the review and Manu said that he was looking forward to address some of my concerns in the next version of the book. Today, as a tribute to Manu, I present my review of his book "8 Steps to Building Innovating Organizations."
"8 Steps to Building Innovating Organizations" is an interestingly written book in the sense that it does not try to use esoteric language to impress practitioners; nor does it dumb down their intelligence by quoting a string of high-profile yet unrelated examples with no theoretical framework in place. Comprising 8 chapters (corresponding to the "8 steps" in the title), the book is written in a Conversational and "directly addressing the reader" style, making the book racy. The book starts with the chapter titled "What is innovation?" with several types of scenarios presented to the reader so as to illustrate the multi-faceted nature of innovation. In the second chapter, innovation is defined as a capability with three components, viz., knowledge capability, attitudinal capability and creative capability. The next three chapters deal with each of these capabilities in detail. Having established the nature and the composition of innovation, the book proceeds to talk about the various building blocks of innovation at the level of individual, team and organization in the sixth chapter. The last two chapters deal with the importance of staying the course (especially in terms of vision) and the need for renewal.
Unlike most books on business management where the first chapter covers everything in brief and the remaining chapters just keep expanding the ideas from first chapter, this book gives an enriching experience even while going through each of the chapters – a quality that I found mostly only in Peter Drucker’s books, despite presence of several other stalwart writers on business management. What is also refreshing in the book is the operationalisation of some of the terms; for example, attitude is operationalised as consisting openness, awareness, curiosity and playfulness – especially as the last factor is ignored by most organizations. Similarly, the book stresses on importance of measuring impact of innovation – a point ignored by many people. At the same time, the author avoids the pitfalls of sounding theoretical; for example, he does not define creativity. Probably, it is only in trying to define new terms that he falters – for instance, the definition of attitudinal capability is made unnecessarily complex (pg. 78). Some of the ideas, while pretty resonant with the Indian context, could have been developed further – a case in the point being the inadequate attention toIndia
When academicians write for practitioners, it may so happen that they may not want to sound pedantic and hence, may not want to elaborate on some finer points. However, it may be important to explain the reasons for some of the pronouncements so that practitioners can be more easily convinced; for instance, chapter 2 talks of the importance of replicating optimal processes – the need for the same could have been elaborated. It would have been of greater utility to the practitioner if the types of knowledge such as technical vs. managerial knowledge, knowledge process vs. content etc. were distinguished; it could also be the case that managerial knowledge is explicated in creative capability – If so, it needs to be clarified. After reading the introductory chapter, it appeared as if episodic & continuous innovation seemed to correspond to quantum jumps & baby steps – however, it need not be the case and the relation between these could have been dwelt upon. Chapter 3, which deals with knowledge capability, should have also dealt with the notion that knowledge could also be embedded in “routines.” Again, some discussion on the elements of knowledge capability (pg. 65) would have helped the reader in understanding if these were complete and reinforcing, i.e., mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. The chapter on creative capability makes several interesting points – the most important being the need for deliberateness in creativity; invoking the need for discipline would have further enriched the discussion and complemented the need for deliberateness.
The sort of command displayed by the author in crafting the book resembles that of someone who belongs and not a novice. For instance, having a lead case for each chapter helped a lot in establishing clarity – especially for the individual chapters on knowledge, attitudinal and creative capabilities. While the book has a wealth of examples, they sound repetitive after some time probably because they are drawn from a small number of companies. Also, while the book can be read by any practicing manager, the tenor of the book has been set primarily set for an Indian audience and as such, I was a bit surprised with the incomplete treatment of the well-documented e-choupal case in the first chapter; more surprising was that the book lacked classic examples of Indian cases of innovation, such as sachet packaging or design of toothpowder. At the same time, the author appears to be in awe of companies such as the DuPont – What is the great difference between 33% and 35% (pg. 59)? Again, I do understand that first time authors are under tremendous pressure trying to understand the publishing process and meeting the dead lines with little help as most of the publishers’ resources typically cater to established authors. Which is why, the appropriateness of the title to the contents of the book or the evidence of 8 steps is something that need not be questioned to be informed by the book; the same applies to the strange section title, “The Indian angle” for Indian case studies. The only serious of error of commission, if I may say so, is found on page 83 – “An aware organization is one that is always aware of its surroundings.” Huh?!
Despite minor limitations such as the above, Manu does quite well in ensuring that the structure and flow of the book are reader friendly – an impressive feat for a first time author. I am certain that the book would be of immense help to practicing managers for times to come.
Aside 1: After I first posted on this blog about Manu, I found other friends of Manu paying their tribute as well - here (two posts) and here. I also found a blog reviewing his book in a short yet succinct manner.
Aside 2: Due to a variety of reasons, I could not be active on the blogosphere. From now on, I hope to increase the frequency of my posts and probably reduce the length of posts.
"8 Steps to Building Innovating Organizations" is an interestingly written book in the sense that it does not try to use esoteric language to impress practitioners; nor does it dumb down their intelligence by quoting a string of high-profile yet unrelated examples with no theoretical framework in place. Comprising 8 chapters (corresponding to the "8 steps" in the title), the book is written in a Conversational and "directly addressing the reader" style, making the book racy. The book starts with the chapter titled "What is innovation?" with several types of scenarios presented to the reader so as to illustrate the multi-faceted nature of innovation. In the second chapter, innovation is defined as a capability with three components, viz., knowledge capability, attitudinal capability and creative capability. The next three chapters deal with each of these capabilities in detail. Having established the nature and the composition of innovation, the book proceeds to talk about the various building blocks of innovation at the level of individual, team and organization in the sixth chapter. The last two chapters deal with the importance of staying the course (especially in terms of vision) and the need for renewal.
Unlike most books on business management where the first chapter covers everything in brief and the remaining chapters just keep expanding the ideas from first chapter, this book gives an enriching experience even while going through each of the chapters – a quality that I found mostly only in Peter Drucker’s books, despite presence of several other stalwart writers on business management. What is also refreshing in the book is the operationalisation of some of the terms; for example, attitude is operationalised as consisting openness, awareness, curiosity and playfulness – especially as the last factor is ignored by most organizations. Similarly, the book stresses on importance of measuring impact of innovation – a point ignored by many people. At the same time, the author avoids the pitfalls of sounding theoretical; for example, he does not define creativity. Probably, it is only in trying to define new terms that he falters – for instance, the definition of attitudinal capability is made unnecessarily complex (pg. 78). Some of the ideas, while pretty resonant with the Indian context, could have been developed further – a case in the point being the inadequate attention to
When academicians write for practitioners, it may so happen that they may not want to sound pedantic and hence, may not want to elaborate on some finer points. However, it may be important to explain the reasons for some of the pronouncements so that practitioners can be more easily convinced; for instance, chapter 2 talks of the importance of replicating optimal processes – the need for the same could have been elaborated. It would have been of greater utility to the practitioner if the types of knowledge such as technical vs. managerial knowledge, knowledge process vs. content etc. were distinguished; it could also be the case that managerial knowledge is explicated in creative capability – If so, it needs to be clarified. After reading the introductory chapter, it appeared as if episodic & continuous innovation seemed to correspond to quantum jumps & baby steps – however, it need not be the case and the relation between these could have been dwelt upon. Chapter 3, which deals with knowledge capability, should have also dealt with the notion that knowledge could also be embedded in “routines.” Again, some discussion on the elements of knowledge capability (pg. 65) would have helped the reader in understanding if these were complete and reinforcing, i.e., mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. The chapter on creative capability makes several interesting points – the most important being the need for deliberateness in creativity; invoking the need for discipline would have further enriched the discussion and complemented the need for deliberateness.
The sort of command displayed by the author in crafting the book resembles that of someone who belongs and not a novice. For instance, having a lead case for each chapter helped a lot in establishing clarity – especially for the individual chapters on knowledge, attitudinal and creative capabilities. While the book has a wealth of examples, they sound repetitive after some time probably because they are drawn from a small number of companies. Also, while the book can be read by any practicing manager, the tenor of the book has been set primarily set for an Indian audience and as such, I was a bit surprised with the incomplete treatment of the well-documented e-choupal case in the first chapter; more surprising was that the book lacked classic examples of Indian cases of innovation, such as sachet packaging or design of toothpowder. At the same time, the author appears to be in awe of companies such as the DuPont – What is the great difference between 33% and 35% (pg. 59)? Again, I do understand that first time authors are under tremendous pressure trying to understand the publishing process and meeting the dead lines with little help as most of the publishers’ resources typically cater to established authors. Which is why, the appropriateness of the title to the contents of the book or the evidence of 8 steps is something that need not be questioned to be informed by the book; the same applies to the strange section title, “The Indian angle” for Indian case studies. The only serious of error of commission, if I may say so, is found on page 83 – “An aware organization is one that is always aware of its surroundings.” Huh?!
Despite minor limitations such as the above, Manu does quite well in ensuring that the structure and flow of the book are reader friendly – an impressive feat for a first time author. I am certain that the book would be of immense help to practicing managers for times to come.
Aside 1: After I first posted on this blog about Manu, I found other friends of Manu paying their tribute as well - here (two posts) and here. I also found a blog reviewing his book in a short yet succinct manner.
Aside 2: Due to a variety of reasons, I could not be active on the blogosphere. From now on, I hope to increase the frequency of my posts and probably reduce the length of posts.
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