The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict

Written by Venkadesh Narayanan | Jun 19, 2020 3:32:00 PM

Harmony is sublime in music but deadly to innovation. The only way to create new, hybrid solutions is to clash. Innovation happens when we bring people with contrasting perspectives and complementary areas of expertise together in one room. We innovate best with people who challenge us, not people who agree with us.

It sounds like a recipe for chaos and confusion. But in The Innovation Code, Jeff DeGraff, dubbed the “Dean of Innovation,” and Staney DeGraff introduce a simple framework to explain the ways different kinds of thinkers and leaders can create constructive conflict in any organization. This positive tension produces ingenious solutions that go far beyond “the best of both worlds.”

Drawing on their work with nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies, the DeGraffs help you harness the creative energy that arises from opposing viewpoints. They identify four contrasting styles of innovator—the Artist, the Engineer, the Athlete, and the Sage—and include exercises and assessments for building, managing, and embracing the dynamic discord of a team that contains all four. You can also figure out where you fit on the continuum of innovator archetypes.

Using vivid examples, The Innovation Code offers four steps to normalize conflict and channel it to develop something completely new. By following these simple steps, you will get breakthrough innovations that are both good for you and your customers. This is a rigorous but highly accessible guide for achieving breakthrough solutions by utilizing the full—and seemingly contradictory—spectrum of innovative thinking.


The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict | Jeff DeGraff | Berrett-Koehler

         

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Tell Me Your Biggest Weakness

Chapter 2: What Is the Innovation Code?

Chapter 3: Constructive Conflict

Chapter 4: Dwelling in the Conflict

Chapter 5: The Artist

Chapter 6: The Engineer

Chapter 7: When Artists and Engineers Meet

Chapter 8: The Athlete

Chapter 9: The Sage

Chapter 10: When Athletes and Sages Meet

Chapter 11: The Innovation Code Within 

LINK FOR THE BOOK

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Code-Creative-Constructive-Conflict/dp/1523084766