From our bookshelf

THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION
By Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
(Random House, $29.95)

The author’s thesis is that most businesses have too many people playing devil’s advocate and that is the fastest way to kill innovation and squash new projects and ideas. He proposes new role models.

The author looks at a corporation or any business as having key players who exhibit specific personas. These personas build on ideas and creativity and actually work to infuse innovation into any business environment.

Tom Kelley describes ten roles that people can play in an organization to promote innovation. Among the roles are the Anthropologist, the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products; the Storyteller, who inspires support for new ideas by evoking emotional responses and creating heroes out of real people; and the Experimenter, who fearlessly makes ideas tangible through insight, observation and repeated prototyping and testing—all while making the process of discovery faster, more efficient and more fun.

The other roles are The Cross-Pollinator, The Hurdler, The Collaborator, The Director, The Experience Architect, The Set Designer, and The Caregiver.

The book shows how Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, Eli Lilly and others have incorporated these role models to help nurture and grow a culture of innovation and renewal in all that they tackle.

The author is general manager of IDEO, a design firm that creates products and services, spaces and “experiences” for Pepsi-Cola, Samsung and other giants. Since 1991, IDEO has topped Business Week’s list of winners of the annual Industrial Design Excellence Awards and, in 2005, the magazine identified IDEO as one of the 20 most innovative companies in the world. For more info, visit www.ideo.com.

IT’S WHAT WE DO TOGETHER THAT COUNTS
By Earl Heard
(BIC Publishing, www.bicpublishing.com)

Earl Heard is not a wildcat oil driller, but he has struck gold. This book is the story of his company (BIC Alliance) and his personal journey. Heard’s company, with offices in Houston and Baton Rouge, is one of the nation’s largest multi-industrial, multi-departmental strategic marketing firms.

Drawing on 63 years of experience, Heard demonstrates through his words and actions that any form of adversity can be overcome through hard work, perseverance and kindness to others. Having progressed from a journeyman carpenter in early adulthood in his hometown of Baton Rouge to an industrial fire and safety trainer for Ethyl Corp., Heard first set out to become an entrepreneur in 1980. Thus began his journey to the top, a path filled with detours and setbacks including business failures, divorce, employee betrayal and near-death experiences.

The book also includes insights into success from more than 100 executives and entrepreneurs representing different businesses and sectors of industry including Valero Energy Corp., The Shaw Group, and the New Orleans Hornets.

Copies of the book may be ordered directly through the BIC Corporation. Visit their website or send an email to Brady Porche: brady@bicalliance.com. Brady’s phone number is 800-460-4242.