Are you working on something BIG?
Or, maybe you feel like you should be bigger and bolder than you are today.
If you’re feeling somewhat cynical or out of sorts and out of ideas, maybe you ought to pick up a copy of The Innovator’s Book: Rules for Rebels, Mavericks and Innovators by Dr. Max McKeown.
The Innovator’s Book is what I’d call an inspirational gift book. It’s a book you can gift to yourself and if you like it enough, you might choose to give it to members of your team, folks you work with, customers or anyone who could use a little inspiration in the innovation department.
I have to admit when I first received the book to review, it was what I’d call a #MehMoment. Nice book, nice thoughts. So what. More on that later.
Then I decided to dig into the author.
Over the years, I’ve learned that when something strikes me as “meh”, that there’s usually a nice bit of goodness just beyond it. As expected, I was not disappointed,
The Magical Dr. Max
To appreciate The Innovator’s Book you have to appreciate the author first. His name is Max McKeon, and he goes by Dr. Max.
Dr. Max is a strategic advisor to many of the world’s most admired companies and a popular speaker all over the world. He’s written several best selling books; The Strategy Book, #NOW, and Adaptability. He has a Ph.D. and an MBA with a specialty in strategic change and an MSc in Psychology. His research focuses on the relative effectiveness of different approaches to innovation.
Dr. Max also has a terrific YouTube channel where you can see him in action. I highly recommend checking out a few videos before you read the book. Why? Well, you’ll get to see and hear him for yourself and then you can superimpose his energy and lovely accent over the book content. Seriously — it makes a difference.
With that, you have some context from which to enjoy this book.
A Peek Inside The Innovator’s Book
The Innovator’s Book looks like it’s designed to provide inspiration. It’s a small book about 4 x 6 with fun images to introduce the concepts and relatively large print that makes it a joy to read.
It’s a book you pick up, randomly open to a page, read and then reflect on how the wisdom on the page can be applied to your life and your business.
Like all good psychologists, Dr. Max breaks the book into three overarching jobs that an innovator should be focused on:
- Making new ideas useful
- Building a bigger brain
- Winning with new ideas
Then he breaks each job into a key question:
- How can new ideas be made useful?
- Can we build a bigger brain?
- How can we win with innovation?
What to Do With The Innovator’s Book
Give it as a corporate gift: The book is a unique size and super easy to read. It’s an ideal gift for clients to place in their offices, waiting rooms, anywhere folks could use an injection of optimism and creative thinking.
Use it as a meeting starter: If you pride yourself and your team as being innovative or having a goal of increasing innovative thinking, this is an ideal book to use as a meeting starter. Simply open to any page, read the content and have a quick discussion. Here’s an example of one of my favorite quotes in the book —
“New ideas are like babies: beautiful, ugly, and not finished yet.”
The meeting facilitator might simply read this quote and start the meeting by discussing the idea behind the quote.
Imagine how differently a brainstorming meeting might proceed with this at the start!
Share with a young person: If you have high school, college or young employees in your midst, consider this an “innovator’s starter kit” that will help them differentiate themselves and stand out from the crowd.
Conclusion
It’s easy to say that you’re committed to innovation. It’s more difficult to actually do it. The Innovator’s Book is the fun, easy way to make innovation a living, breathing element of your business.
Image: Amazon
This article, "The Innovator’s Book Shares Inspirational Thoughts for You and Your Team" was first published on Small Business Trends
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Ivana Taylor, Khareem Sudlow
