“The Innovation Zone”

Thomas Koulopoulos’ “The Innovation Zone” serves as a practical companion to “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by taking the ideological foundation established by Clayton Christensen, and expanding it into a more pragmatic how-to guide. Numerous present-day examples and case studies drive Koulopoulos’ instructions, giving the reader a solid basis for his argument.

One of the first and foremost tenets of the book is the notion that innovation is not invention. Koulopoulos distinguishes between the two by stating that “while you need invention to get to innovation, invention on its own creates volume—not value.” Since he cites Steve Jobs throughout, an appropriate example for this statement would be the iPod. Apple ‘invented’ the iPod, but has maintained their status as an ‘innovative’ company through the constant reform and refinement of the initial iPod concept—from the big, bulky original model to the sleek iPod Touch of today. Koulopoulos is quick to dismiss silly concept ‘inventions’ such as the steering wheel laptop (um, dangerous?) and the toaster that monograms your bagel. Yeah, we didn’t know those existed either.

Koulopoulos doesn’t just preach. Instead, he includes precise methodology and a particularly useful worksheet in the back of this book, where a company can test their ‘Innovative Capability.’ These questions allow you to see where you’re at, why you’re lacking (or doing well) and what you can do to improve (because you can always improve). Through these detailed measures, Koulopoulos helps a company to see whether or not it is as truly ‘innovative’ as it believes. He communicates that an innovative idea does not equal an innovative company. In fact, an innovative CEO does not even equal an innovative company. Innovation has to be embraced companywide. A quirky assessment of this: if a grassroots idea had come from the accounting department, would your company have considered it?

Innovative companies must ‘abandon the success of the past,’ be willing to ‘fail fast,’ and ‘challenge conventional wisdom.’ It will not happen overnight, and it will not change with one PowerPoint. Rather, it is a culture shift—a new way of practice for a company to adopt. Real innovation will enable each and every employee to be innovative, and will result in a company with Koulopoulos’ stamp of approval.