"The Ten Faces of Innovation" ROCKS!!!

I just finished reading The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, the general manager of IDEO in Palo Alto, California. IDEO is the wildly creative design and consulting firm that has been responsible for any number of innovations over the past two decades including the original Apple mouse, the Palm V and the Handspring Treo.

The Ten Faces of Innovation is one of those books that you can read on several levels. One level is an overview of how IDEO organizes its people and identifies their specific strengths. This helps them pull together teams that are both very creative and innovative. On another level, it is a guide for helping you identify your own personal work style, areas of strength and how best to contribute to a team. It is this second level that I found most interesting and engaging.

As a manager, the ability to pull together the most effective and creative teams fast is critical in today's business environment. If you understand and accept that the most creative ideas and solutions come from the right mix of people, this book can be very useful. You don't necessarily want all of the "best" people working on a project, but you want to be able to identify the best of the right kind of people who can pull together and each contribute in a unique and creative way.

Essentially the book breaks the innovation personas into three broader categories; The Learning, Organizing and Building Personas. Each of these areas has three or four specific persona types that more clearly identify how individuals within teams contribute most effectively. When you get the mix right, the results can be breath taking.

Reading the book, I was struck by how easy it was to not only identify the one or two personas that best fit my work style, but also how it helped me better understand the other personas and where each of us fits in an innovation team.

If you are in a business that relies on teams to get things done, I highly recommend The Ten Faces of Innovation. It will help you better understand how to build and contribute to an innovation team.