2020 Book Excellence Award Winner

How any leader can deliver business-changing innovation now.

Any leader in any size company, no matter the size or sector, feels the pressure to innovate, find new ideas and business models, and create enduring customer value. There is no one formula or set process to find and execute the ideas that achieve these goals; customers set moving targets, shareholders are unforgiving and demanding, and society expects companies to care about much more than the bottom line.

The fast and furious forces of change stimulated by technology, demographics, lifestyles, and economic, environmental, political and regulatory impacts -- or any number of these in combination – are easy to see. They are easy to talk about. They are easy to intellectualize. The problem? The answers are hard to execute and require nuanced combinations of leadership, skills, strategy and tactics. On top of that, innovation has moved from an abstraction that will matter at some distant date to a front-and-center deliverable that must show evidence of impact in the space of the calendar quarter. 

In the stories, tools, techniques and advice inside The Change Maker’s Playbook, leaders will find tangible steps to find and safeguard the plans that will deliver the sustainable business-changing impacts – new customers, new relationships, new sources of value and growth— their businesses need.

Separated from the pack of academic and consultant innovation theories, Radin’s approach stems from her own experience sitting in the innovation hot seat at some of the world’s most demanding companies and is bolstered by interviews with 50 corporate executives, founders and startup investors representing media, e-commerce, payments, healthcare, government, professional services, and not-for-profit sectors.

The book walks readers through Radin’s adaptive, 9-part framework, engaging them in ready-to-apply techniques. Her work shows leaders how to find the big ideas that will meaningfully address customer needs, take the insight from idea through implementation in a way that delivers in the short and long-term for the organization, and lead effectively through the obstacles that tend to derail or diminish innovation. Three phases – Seeking, Seeding and Scaling – organize the framework within an intuitive, logical and useable format, with concrete actions outlined every step of the way.

The answer to the dilemma every business faces today is that innovation is exhilarating, rewarding and even fun when it is approached as a unique challenge, but it can also be polarizing, unpredictable, and scary. Success requires that leaders rethink how they lead innovation. Leaders know they must set aside preconceived notions of what works, and look to those who have already walked in their shoes. This is why The Change Maker’s Playbook was written, and why it will become an ongoing resource for any innovation leader. 

Table of Contents:

Foreword

The Change Maker’s Framework (image)

Introduction

Part I: Seeking

• Chapter 1: Discovering Real Problems That Matter
• Chapter 2: Purpose, Passion, Promise and Positioning
• Chapter 3: The Art Of Being Resourceful

Part II:  Seeding

 

• Chapter 4: Prototype, Test, Learn, Iterate
• Chapter 5: Business Model Linchpins
• Chapter 6: The Green Light Moment

Part III: Scaling

 

 

• Chapter 7: Launch
• Chapter 8: Testing and Experimenting
• Chapter 9: Anticipating and Adapting

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

 
 
 
 

Amy J. Radin is a nationally recognized Fortune 100 Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, advisor and investor, board member, and thought leader on how to deliver innovation for sustainable, business-changing impact. She has been at the forefront of rewiring brands for growth, and now applies her expertise working with executives to reduce the uncertainty, ambiguity and uncertainty, and realize the benefits of innovation. She built a track record of success moving ideas to performance at Citi, American Express, E*TRADE and AXA.

The Change Maker’s Playbook: How to Seek, Seed and Scale Innovation in Any Company is Amy’s first book and captures her field-tested experience as the top executive accountable for achieving innovation results under varied, complex and rapidly changing conditions.Amy is a graduate of The Wharton School and Wesleyan University. She serves on the Board of the AICPA where she is advising on marketing strategy and the impact of technology and workforce disruption on accounting and financial advisory services for 650,000 member professionals across the globe. She established and sponsors an annual social impact fellowship at the NYU Stern Graduate School of Business, benefitting students, not-for-profits and government agencies in the New York metro community for over a decade.