Jan
5
Written by:
SuperUser
1/5/2012 11:00 AM
A Book Review by Kendra Brosseau
In this ever-changing, competition based society, there are so many challenges and demands that an entrepreneur faces in order to succeed in business. The book, “How Stella Saved the Farm” by Chris Trimble and Vijay Govindarajan, is a “wild and wooly yarn about making innovation happen”. This parable helps you understand that your idea is only the beginning, and examines ways in which to take your thoughts, and make it into a reality. ”How Stella Saved the Farm”, delivers eight core ideas to guide your own innovation initiatives to success; and will help you avoid some of innovation’s most “toxic myths”. You will discover how to build the right type of team, and how to learn quickly from experiences as your initiative proceeds. In this short, 130 page book, you will examine different types of leadership abilities, evaluate your organizational history, review your company’s finances, employee attitudes, new product introduction, and organizational charts; learn the value of flexibility; understand how to make tough hiring and promotional decisions, and examine the cultural diversity that may exist within a company. By having the main characters as animals, it makes those difficult issues, somewhat less “bullying”, but still very realistic, and enjoyable to read. This book was a quick and amusing, and would really benefit anyone who currently has a business, wants to expand, or is just looking into an idea they have. It ultimately makes you look at your company’s next step(s) and who truly stepped up to “save the farm”.
A summary of the lessons to take away from the book….
A. For any innovation, the “idea” is only the beginning, and
B. Asking one leader to “go make it happen” is a very inadequate approach to moving an idea forward.
To make it happen, 6 steps are necessary, organized around building a team and then planning and managing progress.
Build a Team
1. Assign a dedicated team any activities that are beyond the normal capabilities of the existing organization (and these may be just time-related, such as fast prototyping)
2. Build the dedicated team as if you are building a new organization from the ground up
3. Nurture a healthy relationship between the new team and existing organization
Plan and Assess Progress
4. Put learning first (before profitability) – learn through disciplined experimentation. If you do, you’ll make better decisions and achieve profit sooner.
5. Gather evidence to validate each major expenditure.
6. Evaluate the innovation leader based on whether he or she executed a disciplined experiment.