"TELL ME AND I WILL FORGET. SHOW ME AND I MAY REMEMBER. INVOLVE ME AND I WILL UNDERSTAND." - Ancient Chinese Proverb

I know things have been awfully quiet around here lately...sorry about that.  But I do have a good reason...really!  You see, I've been working on another book...The Innovation Manager's Playbook!  In fact, most recently, I have been working with a local graphic designer on the cover art and wanted to share that with you at the same time I announced that another book was on the way.


So what's the premise of this next book you ask?

Sports teams have playbooks to organize and orient team members to the strategies and techniques that have been proven to be effective, more often than not, in winning the game.

A business or organization is not that much different from a sports team.  They have strategies, techniques and tools that help to generate sales, profit and competitive separation.  In most business schools, that is the definition of “winning.”  

Sometimes the “plays” are geared toward reaching a particular goal.  Other times, the “plays” are designed to stay ahead of the competition.  In all cases, an organization holds their collection of strategies, tactics, goals, tools and trade secrets (their “playbook”) very close to the vest.  Your organization probably has something similar to a playbook.  It might be called the Strategic Plan or the Strategic Roadmap or another similar fancy “business-school-ese” title.

The strategic and growth-focused concept of innovation management is also highly effective when using the playbook approach.  There are numerous processes, tools, techniques, exercises, models and strategies that have been proven to be effective, more often than not, in winning the game.

In my previous book, The Innovation Manager’s Desk Reference, I leveraged a more “show and tell” approach to innovation and innovation management.  That book, as the title suggests, is a compendium of current thinking, definitions, bodies of knowledge and thought leadership that might be helpful to someone working in the innovation management space.  It was designed as a primer or instructional basic training manual.

This book, in contrast, will involve (and hopefully engage) the reader by “doing” rather than “reading.”  As the ancient Chinese proverb that precedes this entry suggests, I hope to provide the deeper understanding that comes with becoming involved in the process, rather than the simple remembering (and sometimes forgetting) that quickly manifests itself from a “show and tell” style. 

As of right now, I am still about two months out from final publication and release.  I'll be providing you with regular updates via this blog on the progress along with little bits from the book and maybe even a book give-away as the release date nears!  In the meantime, I'll do my best to carve out additional time to keep the blog up to date with my thoughts and information from the cutting edge of innovation management.  I'll also be more active on Twitter so follow me (@prwpmp) there as well!

Finally, if there are any bloggers or thought leaders out there that would be interested in receiving a free advance copy of the book in exchange for a review and mention on your webpage, blog or Twitter stream, please email me at: paul DOT williams AT thinkforachange DOT com.

Thanks and MUCH more to come!!!