Innovator's DNA

by Jeff Dyer

  In the business, government, and social enterprise world, many executives were particularly generous with their time and talents related to nurturing my evolving insights on innovation. Stefan Bauer at Eli Lilly has been a dedicated collaborator and constant source of wisdom and insight. His ideas and his life have helped transform my own. Similarly, Schon Beechler, an academic, consultant, and executive coach, has done the same while working with me on numerous innovation-centered projects. Others include David Breashears (filmmaker, photographer, adventurer); Larry Kacher at ADIA; Fadi Ghandour at Aramex; Gillian Holden and Naomi Graham; Ahmet Bozer at Coca-Cola; Andreas Heinecke and Orna Cohen at Dialogue in the Dark; Mark Ruiz at Hapinoy; Pat Stocker at Marriott; David Daines and Denice Jones at Nu Skin; and Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood at RBL (Results-Based Leadership).

  Now I give deep thanks to my incredible coauthors, Jeff and Clay, for their contributions to this book and to my life. When Jeff joined BYU, he brought along his father’s “institution builder” mentality. Jeff not only worked tirelessly to support colleagues’ creative efforts in the strategy group; he reached beyond that group to collaborate with me on an experimental MBA class, Creative Strategic Thinking. We hoped to merge a strategic perspective on how companies innovate with a psychological perspective on how individuals innovate. This merger created a perspective-changing classroom experience that continues today, with Jeff at the helm. The unexpected side benefit of that course was an increasing level of collaboration with Jeff around where innovative ideas come from and how they successfully move forward. Our collaboration has been powerful, both professionally and personally. Jeff’s capacity to craft clear ideas and to exert discipline onto a project when it might otherwise drift is exceptional. These gifts proved invaluable during the decade from 2001–2011, which rocked the Gregersen family in many unexpected and difficult ways. Through it all, Jeff not only kept the project on track, but even more important, he provided steady personal support in the midst of difficult life challenges. I will always be grateful to him for his professional excellence and his personal friendship.

  Almost twenty-five years ago I first met Clay Christensen. I still remember the conversation as though it were yesterday. We talked in depth about the transforming power of questions in our lives, at home, and at work. It was a dialogue steeped with insight and a precursor to the disruptive questions—disruptive in a good way—that Clay would come to pose throughout the project. However, little did any of us know that Clay (and his family) would tackle a series of serious health challenges in the coming years: his heart attack, then cancer, and then a stroke. Each took a heavy toll on Clay’s health, and with each he faithfully clawed his way back to well-being. Through it all, I stand amazed at his capacity to continue taking on work with characteristic kindness. When we discussed innovator’s DNA ideas with Clay, he would often reset a theoretical framework for the book or a chapter that almost always made it better. His passion for theory and his capacity for building good theory left indelible marks on the innovator’s DNA. No wonder he’s the author of disruptive innovation. Most of all, I express gratitude to Clay that during his own challenges he still finds the time to supply energy-giving support and insight into my own family’s ups and downs.

  Finally, my gratitude comes full circle back to home. Our grandchildren, Coco, Madysen, Kash, Brooklyn, Stella, Rose, Henry, Eva, and Oliver endlessly surprise me with innocent nuggets of insight about the subtle and often unseen nuances of life. Our children, Kancie, Matt (and Emily), Emilee (and Wes), Ryan, Kourtnie (and Guy), Amber (and Brent), Jordon (and Brandy), and Brooke continue to roam the world, literally and symbolically, in pursuit of ideals and actions that make a difference. Collectively and individually, their resilience through difficult times inspires and encourages my own hope in a brighter future—and with good reason. Sixteen years ago my wife, Ann, bravely took on the frightening challenges of breast cancer. Unfortunately, two years later, physicians acting on automatic pilot completely misdiagnosed the rapid return of her cancer and, as a result, she passed away suddenly and perhaps unnecessarily. Out of that tragedy, though, another miracle walked into my life: Suzi Lee, who grabbed my hand and heart to start a global journey that neither of us expected. We married and later left the United States to experience more cultures and people than I ever thought the world could dish up. Living and traveling with Suzi always includes unplanned excursions that create wonder, awe, and, at the core, a restoration of the heart. On those journeys, it’s inspiring to watch her completely engaged with sketching and sculpting her keen observations of the world. Her counterintuitive take on life and her deeply intuitive sense of direction are solid anchors in my sometimes topsy-turvy world. Indeed, “forever and always” have taken on even deeper meaning as we face the joys and sorrows of earthly experience (including Suzi’s own experience with breast cancer). What a gift it is to be married to your best friend. Nothing better—especially when so much time and energy went into writing this book. So thank you, Suzi, for joining me on the journey and infusing it with such joy. I have never seen blue like that before.

  From Clayton M. Christensen

  I feel the same sense of gratitude to the many individuals Jeff and Hal have already mentioned. I add to these my wife, Christine, who takes over most things when writing a book takes over my life.

  In addition I wish to thank the hundreds and hundreds of managers—some senior executives, but most in the middle ranks—who also taught us profound lessons about how to be innovators, because they have repeatedly failed at it. Few of these managers will find their names in this book even though they shaped our thinking profoundly. But I hope that they hear their voices within its pages—not attributed, unfortunately, because there literally are too many to mention. Great theories only emerge from work in which researchers repeatedly try to find anomalies that the theory can’t explain—which is why I am so thankful for those who were willing to explain to us why things don’t always work as expected.

  I am grateful for the opportunity Jeff and Hal gave me to work on their team. Hal taught me the value of asking the right questions. Jeff taught me how to get the right answers. My role on our team was to stand in the coach’s box by third base. I would wave Hal and Jeff on to home plate, chapter after chapter. I hope that we can play again.

  About the Authors

  Jeff Dyer is the Horace Beesley Distinguished Professor of Strategy at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He earned his PhD from UCLA in 1993. He worked previously as a manager at Bain & Company and later co-founded Innovator’s DNA, a consultancy designed to help companies build innovation capabilities. His previous books, The Innovator’s DNA and The Innovator’s Method, are bestsellers, and his first book, Collaborative Advantage, won the Shingo Prize Publication Award. His new book, Innovation Capital, features insights from the world’s most innovative leaders. Dyer is the only strategy scholar to have published at least six times in both Strategic Management Journal and Harvard Business Review. He was ranked the world’s most influential scholar (among those completing PhDs after 1990) by the Academy of Management Perspectives based on citations and Google searches on his name. He has written multiple cover stories for Forbes, and his research has been featured in the Economist, Fortune, Businessweek, and the Wall Street Journal. He regularly delivers keynote speeches and workshops on strategy and innovation to prominent clients such as Adobe, AT&T, Dell, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft.

  Hal Gregersen is Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center and a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He received his PhD from the University of California, Irvine. Before joining MIT, he was a professor at the London Business School, INSEAD, Dartmouth College, and Brigham Young University. He also served as a Fulbright Fellow at the Turku School of Economics in Finland. As an inspirational speaker and executive coach, Gregersen has worked with such reno
wned organizations as Chanel, Disney, Patagonia, UNICEF, and the World Economic Forum and has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s most innovative minds. He has authored or coauthored ten books, including his most recent bestseller, Questions Are the Answer. He is a co-founder of the Innovator’s DNA consultancy and founder of the 4-24 Project (www.4-24project.org), which is dedicated to strengthening the questioning capacity of adults so they can pass this crucial skill on to the next generation. Gregersen and his wife, Suzi Lee, lived in England, France, and the UAE before settling on Boston’s North Shore, where he pursues his lifelong avocation of photography and she works as a sculptor.

  Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on the management of innovation and technological change. Christensen holds a BA in economics from Brigham Young University, an MPhil in applied econometrics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with highest honors as a George F. Baker Scholar. His publications on the management of technological innovation have received numerous academic awards, including the McKinsey Award and the Global Business Book Award. He is the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller How Will You Measure Your Life? and the recently released The Prosperity Paradox. In addition to his academic pursuits, Christensen is the founder of three successful companies: CPS Technologies, Innosight, and Rose Park Advisors. He is also the founder of the Christensen Institute, a nonprofit think tank whose mission is to apply his theories to vexing societal problems such as health care and education. During President Ronald Reagan’s administration, he served as a White House Fellow.