We live in turbulent times and if we want to survive we have to make innovation a way of life. That’s the message which Gary Hamel brings us in Leading the Revolution: How to Thrive in Turbulent Times by Making Innovation a Way of Life, and it is an important message. The book is written in a brash, opinionated style which appeals to some readers but not to others. Hamel says the age of progress is over; we are now into a new age of revolution. Somewhere out there is a bullet with your company’s name on it. Every company must become an opportunity-seeking missile. Only stupid questions create new wealth.
When I read a business book, I look for principles that I can apply. This book has plenty of principles, but I am not sure how useful they are. For example, chapter 8 sets out 8 design rules for innovation: unreasonable expectations, elastic business definition, a cause not a business, new voices, a market for innovation, low-risk experimentation, cellular division, and connectivity. I think that some of these might be useful for some businesses, but I have met plenty of managers with unreasonable expectations and elastic business definitions whose businesses were not going anywhere.
I do not usually complain about a book’s typography, but whoever did the layout for this book spends too much time downloading free fonts from the Internet. Can’t decide which ugly chunky font to use to highlight random sentences? Why not use them all?
The book does contain a number of interesting stories about innovation in different companies, and it is worth reading for the inspiration. It really is important for businesses to have an innovation strategy, but I am not sure that you will find one to meet your needs in this book.
A video review is available on my new site, BusinessLessons.org.