"Innovation Tournaments" Book: Interview with Authors/Profs. Karl Ulrich & Christian Terwiesch
Episode Description
Wharton Professors Karl Ulrich and Christian Terwiesch discuss their new book "Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities." The conversation was hosted by Aine Doris-Whitehead, contributing editor at Wharton School Press.
Learn more about the book: https://whr.tn/3ZvUdF3
Managers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists all seek to maximize the financial returns from innovation, and profits are driven largely by the quality of the opportunities they pursue. Based on a structured and process-driven approach this book demonstrates how to systematically identify exceptional opportunities for innovation.
An innovation tournament, just like its counterpart in sports, starts with a large number of candidates, with opportunities as the players. These opportunities are pitted against each other until only the exceptional survive.
This book provides a principled approach for the effective management of innovation tournaments – identifying a wealth of promising opportunities and then evaluating and filtering them intelligently for greatest profitability. With a set of practical tools for creating and identifying new opportunities, it guides the reader in evaluating and screening opportunities. The book demonstrates how to construct an innovation portfolio and how to align the innovation process with an organization’s competitive strategy.
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Brief Summary
Christian Carl discusses innovation tournaments, their processes, benefits, and how they can foster a culture of innovation in organizations.
Key points
- Innovation Tournaments Explained. Innovation tournaments are a structured process for generating and selecting ideas, akin to sports competitions.
- A Broad Audience for Innovation. The book targets a wide audience, from high school teachers to senior executives.
- The Importance of Culture in Innovation. Culture is crucial for innovation, and tournaments can help shift organizational norms.
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Episode highlights
- Innovation Tournaments ExplainedInnovation tournaments are a structured process for generating and selecting ideas, akin to sports competitions.“The tournament is a process that does this consistently.”0:28Mar 13, 2023
- A Broad Audience for InnovationThe book targets a wide audience, from high school teachers to senior executives.“This is a book for everybody who wants to be innovative.”2:21Mar 13, 2023
- The Importance of Culture in InnovationCulture is crucial for innovation, and tournaments can help shift organizational norms.“The best lever for moving culture is actually process and structure.”12:26Mar 13, 2023
