This book will get you thinking about how (or if) you and your organization are significantly and purposefully fostering creativity and innovation. In between some heady and academic, but intriguing segments I found pearls of wisdom that apply to today’s innovation-starved healthcare settings. Hoque’s caricatures of roles was one of them. Here, he defines the value of key players, not by position in the org chart, but rather by role in fostering innovation. They include: ideation, guiding, improving, and building. For instance, he describes the guiding role as: a person with a ninja-like sense for bypassing the pitfalls of organizational ossification.
The case examples used include many industries but include healthcare, air travel, e-commerce and others. In each case example, Hoque connects the creative process to measurable results. He connects the dots in a unique and powerful way.
One important takeaway for healthcare leaders is the need to create a safe environment for idea generation. When people feel their jobs are threatened, it’s nearly impossible for them to push the envelope and stretch their performance, let alone idea generation. Other key concepts include the need for cultivating curiosity and learning about individual motivations and those of the organization. This of course, parallels one of the Baird principles of connecting to purpose, but I found many parallels to the Baird Model throughout.
