The Innovation Booster #1

The Innovation Booster is a monthly periodical bringing you five great reads on innovation, strategy, and growth that will inspire you to act, kick off your creativity, and challenge you to think differently.

In the inaugural issue of The Innovation Booster I feature great reads on desire for humanity, learning strategy, three types of corporate innovation teams, 20 ways to create space for focus, and getting out of the building:

1. AI and the Human Condition by Ben Thompson. A whiff of fresh air amidst all the cacophony about large language models and artificial intelligence replacing humans. Ben makes a compelling arguments about humans desiring humans and what it might mean for the future.
2. Lessons from Porsche: Why Strategy Must Be Built to Learn, Not Just to Declare by Dan Toma. A strategy—and especially an innovation strategy—should never be set in stone. On the contrary, we should be able to learn from the market and course correct as needed.
3. Architects, Builders, and Enablers: Choosing Your Innovation Team's Role by Susie Braam. Broadly speaking, innovation professionals in the organisation can be drivers or enablers. The former are usually in business units and are expected to create results in term of new revenue, margins, and profits. The latter are commonly found in support units, and help others innovate. Susie shares her taxonomy in which she calls drivers "builders" and breaks enablers into "architects" and "enablers."
4. Creating Space by Jason Cohen. Focus is the ultimate force multiplier. Jason writes about 20 simple, but effective, ways to focus on critical business matters. Yes, innovation is about exploration, but the focus must always be on creating value and the smallest next thing to do. Otherwise doom looms behind every corner.
5. On Importance of Interaction by Bruno Pešec [subscriber exclusive]. Innovation is about creating value for someone. Quickest way to create value is to interact with that someone—to learn what they value, and how might you deliver more of what they value. Oh, and remember, observing is not interacting.