Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations - Softcover

Robinson, Alan G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442962348 ISBN 13: 9781442962347

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, 2012

Synopsis

Performance expectations for managers keep going up. Managers are continually asked to do more, but to do it with less. For top management, the standard response to flagging profits and increasing competition has become budget cuts and layoffs. Middle managers and supervisors suffer the consequences, as they are left with too few resources and people to do the work. They are forced to operate in survival mode, putting in long hours to deal with an endless stream of urgent problems. Almost never do they have the time to think beyond this month's results. In addition, they are under constant scrutiny, and their jobs are not secure. Ironically, help is closer than they realize in the people who work for them. They are the ones who do the work, and they see many things their managers don't. On a daily basis, they see what is frustrating customers, causing waste, or generally holding the organization back. Employees often know how to improve performance and reduce costs more intelligently than their bosses do. Yet they are rarely given a chance to do anything about it. No one asks them for their ideas. Over the last century, many managers have recognized the huge potential in employee ideas and tried to tap it. But few have been truly successful. Those few found that they had fundamentally changed their organizations and helped them reach extraordinary levels of performance. Today, most managers either don't realize the full power of employee ideas or have never learned how to deal with them effectively. That is why we wrote Ideas Are Free....We hope that you enjoy Ideas Are Free and that it makes you a better leader.

About this title

Review

"In [this] groundbreaking book.... Robinson and Schroeder have a message for today's overburdened, stressed-out managers and supervisors: the solution to your problems is closer than you realize--it lies within the people who work for you."
--The American Management Association (AMA)

"One of the thirty best business books of the year."
--Soundview Executive Book Summaries

"Ideas Are Free is the definitive book on getting--and applying-- business-transforming ideas from frontline employees."
--Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

"Ideas Are Free shows how a good idea has no bounds and how pursuing such ideas is the essence of everyone's job today. Robinson and Schroeder outline a workable plan for tapping into this unlimited re- source and harnessing its potential."
--Bob Nelson, PhD, bestselling author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees and 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work

"Ideas Are Free is a must-read for every manager. Robinson and Schroeder provide an invaluable blueprint of how to unlock one of the great assets that is frequently untapped in business--employee ideas."
--Richard A. Goldstein, Chairman and CEO, International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.

"This is the quintessential book on how to foster and leverage free ideas from employees. It's a must-read for any project manager responsible for delivering programs designed to increase sales, increase productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and increase company employee morale. Read it today. Use it tomorrow."
--Brand Autopsy

"Ideas Are Free is a refreshingly insightful book that managers at all levels should read. It spells out how to take advantage of your most valuable asset--the combined intellectual capital of all of your people."
--Donald V. Fites, Former Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar, Inc.

"Ideas Are Free sets out a roadmap for totally integrating ideas and idea management into the way companies are structured and operate. Robinson and Schroeder show how to take advantage of this virtually free, perpetually renewing font of innovation."
--Society of Manufacturing Engineers

"Wherever you sit in the hierarchy, read Ideas Are Free to seize powerful ideas about potential gains for your organization's progress and prosperity."
--Lead Well Institute

"Ideas Are Free does a terrific job of capturing the extraordinary benefits of effective 'idea generation processes' that unleash the total people power of any organization that strives for excellence."
--Tom Malone, President and COO, Milliken & Company (Winner of both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Quality Award)

"You have an opportunity to make major improvements in your business by following the basic guidelines set forth in this book. I rate this book 51⁄2 stars, a first in this category. It's that powerful. (Only the Bible and the Constitution receive 6 stars.)"
--Paul Tulenko, PhD, Syndicated Small Business Columnist, Scripps- Howard

"Throw out employee suggestion boxes (they don't work - and never have). Think twice about dangling monetary rewards to workers whose ideas save the company money (the pitfalls are numerous; moreover, it's not necessary). These are just two of the surprising yet well- documented messages in Ideas Are Free..."
--American Way, American Airlines' in-flight magazine

About the Author

Alan G. Robinson is an award-winning author, an educator, and a consultant. He is co-author of Corporate Creativity, which was a finalist for the Financial Times/Booz Allen & Hamilton Global Best Business Book Award, and was named ''Book of the Year'' by the Academy of Human Resource Management. He has a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University and a B.A./M.A. from the University of Cambridge. He teaches at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Robinson has advised more than a hundred companies and government agencies in eleven countries.

Edition details

• Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1442962348
• ISBN 13: 9781442962347
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 316