A framework for overcoming the six types of innovation
killers

Everybody wants innovation--or do they? Creative People
Must Be Stopped shows how individuals and organizations
sabotage their own best intentions to encourage "outside the box"
thinking. It shows that the antidote to this self-defeating
behavior is to identify which of the six major types of constraints
are hindering innovation: individual, group, organizational,
industry-wide, societal, or technological. Once innovators and
other leaders understand exactly which constraints are working
against them and how to overcome them, they can create conditions
that foster innovation instead of stopping it in its tracks.

The author's model of constraints on innovation integrates
insights from the vast literature on innovation with his own
observations of hundreds of organizations. The book is filled with
assessments, tools, and real-world examples.

* The author's research has been featured in the New York
Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian and San Jose
Mercury News, as well as on Fox News and on NPR's
Marketplace

* Includes illustrative examples from leading organizations

* Offers a practical guide for bringing new ideas to fruition
even within a previously rigid organizational culture

This book gives people in organizations the conceptual framework
and practical information they need to innovate successfully.

DAVID A. OWENS is professor at Vanderbilt's Graduate School of Management. He specializes in management, innovation, and product design, and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and NPR's Marketplace. Recently he served as CEO of Griffin Technology Inc.

While most organizations give lip service to promoting innovation and creative ideas, they all too often sabotage outside-the-box thinking among the rank and file. In this book, David Owens has identified the six dominant types of constraints (individual, group, organizational, industry-wide, societal, and technological) that can keep creative new ideas from being formulated, developed into marketable products and services, or adopted by the intended users. Creative People Must Be Stopped organizes these innovation killers into a conceptual framework that demystifies what innovation is, how it happens, and how we stop it without even trying. This proven framework has been used to diagnose the primary causes of innovation failure within hundreds of organizations that have gone on to develop strategies that foster innovation rather than stopping it in its tracks.

Filled with illustrative examples from real-world organizations, the book explores each type of constraint in detail and shows how it operates and why. This analysis is followed by a discussion of ways that particular constraints can be overcome. Every chapter concludes with a Constraints Diagnostic Survey. These asessments are based on Owens's research and consulting work, and they provide a pointer to the most urgent and potentially limiting constraints an organization may be facing. In addition, Creative People Must Be Stopped contains an exercise tool designed to help move leaders toward action to overcome the constraints that have been identified. Owens also explores the big-picture issues that can arise when spearheading an innovation team and discusses the steps needed to help organizations become more strategic about innovation.

Creative People Must Be Stopped gives leaders the tools they need to foster an atmosphere of creativity and innovation.

Zusammenfassung
A framework for overcoming the six types of innovation killers

Everybody wants innovationor do they? Creative People Must Be Stopped shows how individuals and organizations sabotage their own best intentions to encourage "outside the box" thinking. It shows that the antidote to this self-defeating behavior is to identify which of the six major types of constraints are hindering innovation: individual, group, organizational, industry-wide, societal, or technological. Once innovators and other leaders understand exactly which constraints are working against them and how to overcome them, they can create conditions that foster innovation instead of stopping it in its tracks.

The author's model of constraints on innovation integrates insights from the vast literature on innovation with his own observations of hundreds of organizations. The book is filled with assessments, tools, and real-world examples.

• The author's research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian and San Jose Mercury News, as well as on Fox News and on NPR's Marketplace
• Includes illustrative examples from leading organizations
• Offers a practical guide for bringing new ideas to fruition even within a previously rigid organizational culture

This book gives people in organizations the conceptual framework and practical information they need to innovate successfully.

Introduction: Creative People Must Be Stopped! 1

1. The Context of Innovation: Why Everyone Wants Innovation but No One Wants to Change 3

2. Why Most of Us Are More Creative Than We Think: Individual Innovation Constraints 25

3. Why a Brainstorm Meeting Can Be Worse Than No Meeting at All: Innovation Constraints in Groups 57

4. Why You'll Never Be a Prophet in Your Hometown: Organizational Innovation Constraints 95

5. If It's Such a Great Idea, Why Isn't Our Competitor Doing It? Industry Innovation Constraints 125

6. Why My Innovation Means You Have to Change: Societal Innovation Constraints 157

7. How to Take a Really Hard Problem and Make It Completely Impossible: Technological Innovation Constraints 187

8. When Failure Is Not an Option: Leading an Innovation Strategy 223

Appendix A: Using the Assessment Results 249

Appendix B: Innovation Team Contract Guidelines 255

Appendix C: An Innovation Bookshelf 259

References 261

Acknowledgments 267

About the Author 271

Index 273