Alien Thinking: How to Bring Your Breakthrough Ideas to Life

Description

Unleash your imagination, catalyse original thinking and find counter-intuitive solutions How did a balloonist circumnavigate the earth without fuel? How did an inventor design a device that creates electrical power from human footsteps? How did the WHO figure out how to treat and reduce the transmission of Ebola? They all used alien thinking. For over a decade, innovation experts Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux and Michael Wade have studied individuals around the world who have made leaps of creative genius. Their research shows that they are five patterns of thinking that distinguish true innovators from the rest of us. These five patterns-Attention, Levitation, Imagination, Experimentation and Navigation-are marked by a flexibility and a freshness of approach that transcends conventional problem-solving. Alien thinkers know how to free their imagination and detect hard-to-observe patterns. They practice deliberate ways to retreat from the world in order to see the big picture underlying a problem. And they prototype ideas in systematic ways to reflect feedback and the constraints of reality. Alien Thinking will help you innovate better and develop world-changing ideas of your own.

Cyril Bouquet (Author) Cyril Bouquet is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD. He has published his research in the Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and the Academy of Management Journal amongst others. Jean-Louis Barsoux (Author) Jean-Louis Barsoux is a Research Professor at IMD. He is also the author of several books on management, including the award-winning Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome- How Good Managers Cause Great People To Fail. Michael Wade (Author) Michael Wade is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD and holds the Cisco Chair in Digital Business Transformation. He is the Director of the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation.

A sharp critique of the conventional wisdom around innovation with thought-provoking advice for how to do it better * Jake Knaap, inventor of the Design Sprint and New York Times-bestselling author * Apply ALIEN Thinking to go from early opportunity recognition to impactful innovation. I really enjoyed how this book offers compelling insights and powerful illustrations to enhance the innovation process * Alex Osterwalder, author of the two-million copy bestseller Business Model Generation * Stuck in innovation stagnation? Read this brilliant book, and you'll break free from it * Rolf Dobelli, author of the million-copy bestseller The Art of Thinking Clearly * ALIEN Thinking is an accessible approach to finding and implementing breakthrough ideas. The authors offer illuminating examples to introduce and illustrate the real-world efficacy of each of the major concepts. I recommend this book to anyone willing to do the hard work of generating and implementing breakthrough ideas * Bernard Roth, academic director of the Stanford School and author of The Achievement Habit * Compared to many innovation books, this one is unique in that it emphasizes the emotional side of innovation. Practicing innovators will find a sympathetic companion in this fascinating book * Keith Sawyer, author of Zig Zag and Group Genius * In today's fast-changing world, innovation is essential for success. The authors of ALIEN Thinking have drawn upon their extensive experience to provide a powerful new framework to dramatically improve the odds for innovative thinking and breakthroughs * Robert Rosenberg, retired CEO of Dunkin' Donuts and author of Around the Corner to Around the Worldv * I wish I had read this book years ago. A very pragmatic and eye-opening framework to help make innovation a game-changing reality, whether you are in a small start-up or a big multi-national corporation * Chris Johnson, executive vice president of Nestle, chief executive officer of Zone Asia, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa * ALIEN Thinking offers a business-oriented, applicable framework to innovate. It is a must-read for corporate innovators and intrapreneurs, to create true value for their customers and organizations * Esther Seidl-Nussbaumer, head of corporate innovation, SIGVARIS * A powerful formula for transforming businesses and shaking up industries * Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days *