Book Review

Building a Culture of Innovation: A Practical Framework for Placing Innovation at the Core of Your Business - Cris Beswick

Does the world really need another innovation book? As someone who daily helps CxOs battle through the pain of making innovation happen, I’d say, “Yes!”

As Beswick’s book makes clear, you can’t sugar-coat innovation: it’s an argument with today which means that someone somewhere is going to dig in their heels — to defend a comfort zone, a budget, a power base or just plain old ego.

But when the future is coming at us at a faster rate than ever, companies can’t afford to be driving with the ‘people handbrake’ on any longer.

That’s what makes “Building a Culture of Innovation” such a helpful book for any executive wanting to make meaningful progress in innovation. I often tell people that the process side of innovation I actually quite straightforward. When you inject people into that process the outcomes can be magic, tragic and everything in between.

Beswick and his co-authors have done a great job at breaking down the innovation process and showing how to unlock focus, motivation, creativity and action through that process.

The book is a terrific blend of research and first-hand experience of working with a broad range of organisations. Beswick’s “no-nonsense” style also makes it stand out from many books on the market — cutting through the waffle and zoning in on the issues that matter most.

If you’re looking for a down-to-earth, hands-on guide to innovation, this book is worth a look. I tread very similar paths to the authors across a broad range of industries and know that turning these ideas into action will get you further along the innovation road than most organisations are able to venture.

Elvin Turner is Director of Organisational Innovation, DPA, speaker at Henley Business School, and an MBA Lecturer at Surrey University.