Building the Future: Big Teaming for Audacious Innovation (AGENCY/DISTRIBUTED) - Hardcover

Amy Edmondson; Susan Reynolds

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1626564191 ISBN 13: 9781626564190

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2016

Synopsis

Niccoló Machiavelli famously wrote: ""There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things"".

Constructing a new order of things, which Edmondson and Reynolds call ""building the future"", is the focus of this book. It explores how to bring complex new systems into being, particularly systems that transform human experience and make the world more livable and sustainable. Intense collaboration across professions and industries is vital to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions. This requires practicing new forms of leadership that enable complex, team-based, whole-system innovation.

To reveal how pioneers build the future, Edmondson and Reynolds study a startup's long and innovative journey in the smart-city industry, which uses digital, information and communication technologies to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, They follow the leaders in this company, Living PlanIT, through cycles of hope, exhaustion, disillusionment, pragmatism, and renewal in creating the city of the future.

About this title

Review:

"Building the Future provides a rare inside look at how a start-up company takes on the world and copes with numerous challenges along the way. Go it alone or partner? Keep the bold goal or go for small wins? Seize other opportunities in technology or stick with the smart-cities plan? Edmondson and Reynolds present thought-provoking lessons for those who want to dream big and need big teaming to get the work done."
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and bestselling author of Confidence and Move

"This unique book by a brilliant researcher and a veteran journalist not only illuminates the problems of large-scale innovation for a sustainable future but, in the process, teaches us about industry cultures, leadership, and the massive problems of collaboration in an increasingly complex multicultural world."
--Edgar Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of Helping, Humble Inquiry, and Humble Consulting

"Building the Future just may be one of the most important innovation books ever written. It explores how to build and spread a bold vision of the future--how to turn an audacious innovation into reality by bringing together people with different skills and beliefs (even if they have ignored or despised each other in the past). And best of all, Edmondson and Reynolds offer a way for tenacious leaders and teams to use small actions to slowly build big, bold innovations--including better companies, industries, and cities."
--Robert Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and coauthor of Scaling Up Excellence

"This book provides an entirely new way of looking at how teaming can--and will--help us create a new world!"
--Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers50 #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and New York Times bestselling author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There, Mojo, and Triggers

"Given rush hour and all the many other failures produced by urban evolution, one has to feel that planning and engineering better cities is at the very least an effort worth attempting. This book--exhaustively researched and written with unusual clarity--constitutes a map of the impediments and possibilities. It is also a fascinating case study of technological adventure."
--Tracy Kidder, author of The Soul of a New Machine, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

"City building may be the most important challenge of the 21st century, and it is a challenge that needs entrepreneurial brilliance as much as engineering. Edmondson and Reynolds provide an engaging glimpse at innovators--such as Living PlanIT and Quintain Construction--who are changing our urban world. This thoughtful book is full of managerial wisdom and urban insight. "
--Edward Glaeser, Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and author of Triumph of the City

"Building the Future is a remarkable book. It introduces readers to the cross-industry teaming that's needed to build the cities of tomorrow and offers an urgent reminder that technology alone can't solve global problems--cooperation, ingenuity, and empathy are needed to innovate on a grand stage. A must-read for anyone interested in the future of business or the future of the planet."
--Douglas Stone, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School, and coauthor of Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback

"Every start-up wants to change the world and disrupt an industry or two along the way. But what happens when you don't? Edmondson and Reynolds glean important lessons from the story of one s --Diana McLain Smith, author of The Elephant in the Room

About the Author:

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, USA. She is the author of Teaming to Innovate, Teaming, and A Fuller Explanation, along with over seventy articles on leadership, teams, innovation, and organizational learning. She has received numerous awards, including the Accenture Award for significant contribution to improving the practice of management.

Susan Reynolds is a former Los Angeles Times features writer and columnist. For twenty-three years she covered thought leaders, cultural trends and controversial issues, and continues to write for a variety of magazines and newspapers, including The Daily Beast, Newsday, Los Angeles Magazine and others.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1626564191
• ISBN 13: 9781626564190
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288