Sunday, June 23, 2013

Book Review - The Circle of Innovation - Entertaining and Provocative Read

5.0 out of 5 stars

This book is pushing 15 years old. Many of the companies that Peters holds up as pinnacles of performance, such as Sears and Saturn, are a shadow of their former selves - or gone completely. Why, then, does the book still hold relevance? Simple. The principles that Peters spends 500 pages of pictures, crazy fonts and swear words getting you to notice are tried, true and near timeless. Even Peters may disagree on the timeless piece, but the book will certainly provoke creative and innovative thinking among the ossified executives who dare to open the cover.

Peters espouses 15 principles of innovation - circles within circles - and then proceeds to expose, shout, cajole and exemplify these very principles over a quick reading but somewhat lengthy 500 page treatise on innovation. Some of the key 15 principles which resonated with this reader included:

* You can't live without an eraser
* All value comes from the professional services
* The intermediary is doomed
* Become a connoisseur of talent
* Little things are only things
* We're here to live life out loud

Each of these, plus the remaining 9 elements, are entertainingly presented in such a way as to force the reader to think, while enjoying the entertaining, light and colloquial writing style that Peters is known for. The book is an outstanding edition to any manager's library, and should be a must read for anyone working in one of my organizations.

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