"When the economy hits hard times, most companies respond by cutting costs and streamlining operations until things pick up.  But this downturn is different.  Its not just a recession.  It's not even the Great Depression.  It's an environment the likes of which managers have never seen - a "Great Disruption" in which the old rules for success become the recipes for failure, and "doing more with less" will not be nearly enough to survive." - From the front inside cover of The Silver Lining by Scott D. Anthony, President of Innosight and frequent contributor at Harvard Business Online.

Thanks to Renee Hopkins-Callahan, I received a copy of this great innovation book for review.  It reinforces the old axiom that "good things come in small packages."  In fact, this little (180 pages) book is jam-packed with some extremely solid advice on preparing for the changes coming soon to "business as usual."  I was able to read the book in one sitting and found myself folding corners, taking notes, and writing reminders to follow-up on certain concepts.  As you know, as a fellow innovation consultant, I can be a pretty tough critic on people who only "talk the talk" instead of "walking the talk."

No worries here...Scott Anthony provides real-world examples that illustrate and prove the concepts and advice within his "playbook" for disruptive innovation.  Here are a few concepts that I found particularly useful:

• Innovation Portfolio Checkup
• Boosting your Innovation Batting Average
• Innovation Capabilities Audit
• Bottom-Up Cost Cutting
• Constraints on Consumption
• Making Innovation Repeatable (my personal passion!)

Underlying the specific examples and how-to's that are sprinkled throughout the book is a framework or "playbook" of concepts:

• Prune Prudently
• Refeature to Cut Costs
• Increase Innovation Productivity
• Master Smart Stage Experiments
• Share the Innovation Load
• Learn to Love The Low End
• Drive Personal Reinvention

Those who wish to explore these concepts beyond this book review and even the book itself should head on over to:

SilverLiningPlaybook.com
Scott Anthony's Innovation Insights Blog at Harvard Business Online

My advice...get the book, read it, participate in the discussion and become a smart and savvy manager within the "Great Disruption!"