Create The Future And The Innovation Handbook

March 10 brings the new book, Create The Future: Tactics For Disruptive Thinking, by Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter.

Flip the book over, and you have Gutsche’s updated and expanded, bestselling, Exploiting Chaos, book now called, The Innovation Handbook, featuring memorable real-world case studies and plenty of thought-provoking questions to inspire next steps for innovation. It's the ideal guide to turn your big idea into a reality.

Gutsche shares that, Create The Future, "is a book about Disruptive Thinking, so it makes sense that it shouldn't follow conventional norms. That led me to create a double-sided book, where the first part is all about resetting your expectations and learning how to make change happen. Once you are primed for change, you can flip it over to read, The Innovation Handbook, and began the journey to finding your big idea.

He adds, "however, another way to think about this is that I don't think you can truly find the great idea within your potential if you have not first prepared your mindset for change -- to be more open to the complete potential of what could be."

Create The Future’s release is well-timed, because according to Trend Hunter Assessment, roughly half of business leaders don’t believe their company has a strong innovation plan. 

Furthermore, fifty-five percent don’t believe their organization adapts quickly enough. Forty-eight percent don’t believe they have enough time to work on new ideas. And, fifty-six percent don’t believe their organization knows how to turn ideas into reality.

Jeremy Gutsche

“We've reached a point in time when everyone wants innovation, but most people don't know how to actually attain it. It's not easy, which is why there are so many failed brands and companies,” says Gutsche. 

“In our era of rapid change, disruption, and possibility, there are so many great opportunities within our grasp. However, smart, successful people consistently miss out. Their capabilities are limited by seven traps, and they rely on and repeat past decisions.”

Fortunately, Create the Future, is a tactical guidebook that teaches readers how to remove these seven traps. In a highly visual presentation, with bite-sized, snackable text presentation, it combines Gutsche’s high-energy, provocative thinking with tactics that have been battle tested through projects with leading innovators, such as Disney, Starbucks, Amex, IBM, Adidas, Google, and NASA.

One of my favorite takeaways from the book is that you need to break rules that paralyze change so you and think differently. Stop saying:

• We’re too big.
• We’re too small.
• We can’t do that.
• We tried that before,
• I can’t make a decision that senior.
• That’s owned by another department.
• We’re just starting out.
• We don’t have that much money.
• Our investors would never allow that.

Other important takeaways:

• Navigating through chaos requires your organization to adapt and change. This requires a culture that encourages testing and experimental failure.
• Breakthrough ideas and disruptive innovation stem from a deep understanding of the customer.
• When it comes to innovation, culture is more important than strategy. By embedding innovation in your organizational culture, you can set yourself up for future wins.
• Convey your organization’s purpose in seven words or less. People are remarkably better at remembering messages with seven words or less.

Finally, from the book's Build A Creative Work Environment section, these are great workshop questions to pose to your team: 

1. What would your business look like if you threw away your top product line?
2. If you were starting from scratch, with the same team and resources, what business would you get into?
3. If you were restarting your career, what three industries currently have the most appeal?
4. How might you re-position your company’s future potential to better align to market opportunities that are predictable today?
5. For creativity’s sake, how would you re-imagine Amazon, Facebook, Uber, Walmart, Tesla, or Google if you took away their top product or feature? 

Packed with illustrations, photos, and graphics, not only is, Create the Future, a highly educational read, but also a joy to consume in today’s busy world where reading time is often hard to come by.

Jeremy Gutsche is a New York Times bestselling author and during the last decade, he has helped more than 600 brands, CEOs and NASA in the quest to make innovation and change happen.

Thank you to the book's publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.