100 books like The Ten Faces of Innovation

By Jonathan Littman, Tom Kelley,

Here are 100 books that The Ten Faces of Innovation fans have personally recommended if you like The Ten Faces of Innovation. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind: Leadership Lessons from Three Decades of Social Entrepreneurship

Rupert Scofield Author Of Default to Bold:  Anatomy of a Turnaround

From my list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur.

Why am I passionate about this?

Rupert Scofield is the President & CEO of a global financial services empire spanning 20 countries of Latin America, Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East, serving millions of the world’s poorest families, especially women. Scofield has spent the better part of his life dodging revolutions, earthquakes and assassins in the Third World, and once ran for his life from a mob in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Rupert's book list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur

Rupert Scofield Why did Rupert love this book?

In Changing the World, Alex tells his own story, and it’s a compelling one, chocked full of useful lessons for anyone hoping to find a way to make a difference and take on any of the world’s seemingly intractable problems.   It’s all here, from how to break in, to recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself and knowing how to take full advantage of it, to building an organization and populating it with the right people, and how to raise the dough to finance your dream.  As to how to break-in, while he doesn’t say as much, I know Alex shares my view that the fastest and best way to break into international development work is to go and live where the problems of poverty live – which in Alex’s case was Bangladesh.  There he apprenticed himself to a 100-karat visionary, authentic social entrepreneur, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.…

By Alex Counts,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Some people are dreamers. They choose careers shaped by dreams of making the world a better place. When your dreams are that powerful, it’s easy to neglect yourself. Both lives and dreams can suffer the consequences.

If you’re one of the dreamers, this is the book for you. Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind is a down-to-earth guide to mission-driven leadership. Drawing on his decades as an acclaimed nonprofit leader, Alex Counts offers practical advice on such vital activities as fundraising, team-building, communications, and management. He shows you how to run an organization—and your own life—both effectively and sustainably,…


Book cover of The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur

Rupert Scofield Author Of Default to Bold:  Anatomy of a Turnaround

From my list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur.

Why am I passionate about this?

Rupert Scofield is the President & CEO of a global financial services empire spanning 20 countries of Latin America, Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East, serving millions of the world’s poorest families, especially women. Scofield has spent the better part of his life dodging revolutions, earthquakes and assassins in the Third World, and once ran for his life from a mob in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Rupert's book list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur

Rupert Scofield Why did Rupert love this book?

This is a great guide for people considering embarking on a social enterprise journey, a kind of pump primer that canvasses many people in the field for their advice and imparts a lot from the author himself who is in as good a position as anyone to offer it, having "walked the walk "from acolyte/novitiate to investor, to professor and to convener of the like-minded in one of the most enjoyable conferences I have ever attended, chocked full of social entrepreneurs and other interesting people, and happily keynote-free. I think the most valuable advice Jonathan imparts, and it plays like a lite motif throughout this breezily-paced book is that the best way to be effective in this multi-variegated field is to learn the language of your beneficiaries, not so much to be able to speak to them, but rather to listen to them and understand their plight and what they…

By Jonathan Lewis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur is about powering up your social justice career.The world feels so screwed up, so unfair, so unnecessarily mean, so Trumpian. More than ever, the world needs you. This book is a book of conviction about the unfinished work of social justice. According to Lewis: "The crusty work of social entrepreneurship is as much fun as I’m permitted to have in public. It’s joyous, fulfilling and happy-making. Tackling big challenges is heady stuff. Fighting the good fight is utterly gratifying."The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur is a compendium of 21 original essays and insights - part memoir, part handbook…


Book cover of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs--from Delhi to Detroit--Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley

Rupert Scofield Author Of Default to Bold:  Anatomy of a Turnaround

From my list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur.

Why am I passionate about this?

Rupert Scofield is the President & CEO of a global financial services empire spanning 20 countries of Latin America, Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East, serving millions of the world’s poorest families, especially women. Scofield has spent the better part of his life dodging revolutions, earthquakes and assassins in the Third World, and once ran for his life from a mob in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Rupert's book list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur

Rupert Scofield Why did Rupert love this book?

Alex Lazarow is one of those rare people who can observe things taking place around the world and package them for us in a way we can comprehend that an important change in the way things used to be done is taking place, and if we want to keep up we need to pay attention.  The change Alex sees is in the way start-ups are happening and companies are being structured.  Whereas investors and entrepreneurs alike used to try to create “unicorns” – i.e., companies that “disrupted” an existing sector with little capital investment and could scale from thousands to millions in sales in less than a year, and IPO the next year to achieve a market cap of billions – Alex thinks the future is with “Camels”, which do not try to scale recklessly to achieve a gigantic short term payday but rather try to build something that is…

By Alexandre Lazarow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Out-Innovate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The new playbook for innovation and startup success is emerging from beyond Silicon Valley--at the "frontier."

Startups have changed the world. In the United States, many startups, such as Tesla, Apple, and Amazon, have become household names. The economic value of startups has doubled since 1992 and is projected to double again in the next fifteen years.

For decades, the hot center of this phenomenon has been Silicon Valley. This is changing fast. Thanks to technology, startups are now taking root everywhere, from Delhi to Detroit to Nairobi to Sao Paulo. Yet despite this globalization of startup activity, our knowledge…


Book cover of Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company

Rupert Scofield Author Of Default to Bold:  Anatomy of a Turnaround

From my list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur.

Why am I passionate about this?

Rupert Scofield is the President & CEO of a global financial services empire spanning 20 countries of Latin America, Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East, serving millions of the world’s poorest families, especially women. Scofield has spent the better part of his life dodging revolutions, earthquakes and assassins in the Third World, and once ran for his life from a mob in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Rupert's book list on learning how to survive as an entrepreneur

Rupert Scofield Why did Rupert love this book?

This book is a guide to surviving an existential crisis – what Grove calls a Strategic Inflection Point – when your business is subjected to one or more of six external forces, which, if powerful enough, could destroy the business.  Some of them are obvious – competitors, regulators, customers, vendors – but others more esoteric, like “the possibility your business could be done a different way”, what today we would call being disrupted.  I read it in 2015, when the company I run, FINCA International, was facing five of these six forces, each of which clobbered us with a 10x force compared to the first three decades of our existence, when competition was weak and most external forces enabled our success. How does a CEO respond to this challenge?  Grove’s answer is summarized in the title: remain in a permanent state of dread, which to outsiders might appear on the…

By Andrew S. Grove,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Only the Paranoid Survive as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The President and CEO of Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, reveals how to identify and exploit the key moments of change in any industry that generates either drastic failure or incredible success. Under Andrew Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest computer chipmaker, the 5th most admired company in America, and the 7th most profitable company among the Fortune 500. Few CEOs can claim this level of success. Grove attributes much of it to the philosophy and strategy he has learned the hard way as he steered Intel through a series of potential major disasters. There are moments in…


Book cover of Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want

Bartley J. Madden Author Of Value Creation Principles: The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Begins with Purpose and Ends with Sustainable Capitalism

From my list on knowledge building and value creation.

Why am I passionate about this?

My intellectual journey has focused on three related passions: understanding how firms create value and the link to their stock market valuations, systems thinking, and knowledge building. This has led to the Madden Center for Value Creation at Florida Atlantic University that promotes the key value creation principles that are the foundation for a prosperous society. Prosperity is more widely shared through a society rooted in dynamism with enthusiastic support for experimentation, knowledge building, and innovation by firms. The Madden Center offers a Certificate in Value Creation online course that packages a learning experience to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and resources you need to create value. 

Bartley's book list on knowledge building and value creation

Bartley J. Madden Why did Bartley love this book?

For almost six decades, I have studied the histories of firms and their successes and failures in creating value. I am always looking for heavy hitters who write about their thinking/doing process. Curt Carlson qualifies.

When he was CEO of SRI International, he guided the conception and development of HDTV, Siri, the computer mouse, electronic banking, robotic surgery which evolved into Intuitive Surgical (the dominant robotics surgical firm with its Da Vinci system), and much more.

I first found Carlson via a Harvard Business Review article in which he laid out his proven steps for value creation that seem so straightforward, yet are rarely followed. I wanted a more comprehensive discussion, and I got it with this book.    

By Curtis R. Carlson, William W. Wilmot,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Innovation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Nothing is more important to business success than innovation . . . And here’s what you can do about it on Monday morning with the definitive how-to book from the world’s leading authority on innovation

When it comes to innovation, Curt Carlson and Bill Wilmot of SRI International know what they are talking about—literally. SRI has pioneered innovations that day in and day out are part of the fabric of your life, such as:

•The computer mouse and the personal computer interface you use at home and work

•The high-definition television in your living room

•The unusual numbers at the…


Book cover of The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

Mary Stewart Author Of Creative Inquiry: From Ideation to Implementation

From my list on for cultivating creativity.

Why am I passionate about this?

Trained as an artist, through my work as a college professor I became committed to helping others cultivate and expand their creativity. It has always been heartbreaking to hear friends and acquaintances bemoan their lack of creativity simply because they hadn't developed drawing skills. Creativity is a human characteristic that can be developed in any discipline and with practice and encouragement, is available to anyone. In my reading and my writing, I seek a combination of accessibility and substance. If a book is engaging enough to read at the beach yet substantial enough to provide fuel for thought long afterward, it is a winner!

Mary's book list on for cultivating creativity

Mary Stewart Why did Mary love this book?

This book provides a backstage pass into IDEO, one of the top design firms in the world. Combining humor and storytelling with practical advice, it offers insights into their process of innovation, from observation and brainstorming to prototyping and breaking through barriers. Written before design thinking evolved into a major force in education and industry, this book welcomed me into IDEO's world of playful invention.

By Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Art of Innovation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There isn't a business that doesn't want to be more creative in its thinking, products and processes. In The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley, partner at the Silicon Valley-based firm IDEO, developer of hundreds of innovative products from the first commercial mouse to virtual reality headsets and the Palm hand-held, takes readers behind the scenes of this wildly imaginative company to reveal the strategies and secrets it uses to turn out hit after hit.

Kelley shows how teams:
-Research and immerse themselves in every possible aspect of a new product or service
-Examine each product from the perspective of clients,…


Book cover of The Inversion Factor: How to Thrive in the IoT Economy

Tim Vandehey Author Of Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don't Finish What We Start

From my list on how technology is changing how we live.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a journalist and a tinkerer. I’m fascinated not only by how things work but by how small levers can move mountains. Growing up in the workshop of my grandfather, an old Boston boatwright, I was mesmerized by the idea that a small rudder could maneuver a huge vessel. In college, I fell in love with how a small idea or expression could redirect a course of research or a country. As a self-taught maker of things, I appreciate how technologies empower us. I’ve chosen these books because they’re examples of how small ideas become things, lines of research, or patterns of thinking that shift human progress in unknowable ways.

Tim's book list on how technology is changing how we live

Tim Vandehey Why did Tim love this book?

I recommend The Inversion Factor because it’s a deep dive into the Internet of Things from some of the people who made the IoT possible: the geniuses at MIT.

The book’s take on commerce alone is fascinating, the idea that in the future, demand will be driven not by companies deciding what to make and sell but by a flow of consumer data coming from connected devices telling companies, “Here’s what you need to make next.”

Plus, the descriptions of the IoT home and services, tempered though they are by realities like the fact that self-driving cars aren’t very good yet at not running people over, are gripping. Great book. 

By Linda Bernardi, Sanjay Sarma, Kenneth Traub

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Inversion Factor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Why companies need to move away from a “product first” orientation to pursuing innovation based on customer need.

In the past, companies found success with a product-first orientation; they made a thing that did a thing. The Inversion Factor explains why the companies of today and tomorrow will have to abandon the product-first orientation. Rather than asking “How do the products we make meet customer needs?” companies should ask “How can technology help us reimagine and fill a need?” Zipcar, for example, instead of developing another vehicle for moving people from point A to point B, reimagined how people interacted…


Book cover of Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth

Richard G. Lipsey Author Of Industrial Policy: The Coevolution of Public and Private Sources of Finance for Important Emerging and Evolving Technologies

From my list on how private and public sector enterprises.

Why am I passionate about this?

Over my lifetime I have been involved in myriad policy issues running from 1970s anti-inflation policies, through the creation of NAFTA in the 1980s, to dealing with climate change in the 2000s. My interest and that of my co-author in technological change and economic growth entailed involvement in innovation policy. We are particularly worried because many citizens have no realisation of the important part that public policy has played in technological changes. Ignorance of this is dangerous in that it may lead legislatures to inhibit the public sector’s future role in such developments without which we have a much-diminished chance of dealing with climate change and holding our own in international economic competition.

Richard's book list on how private and public sector enterprises

Richard G. Lipsey Why did Richard love this book?

While all the books listed earlier provide detailed, in-depth, case studies of public-private sector cooperation in developing selected new technologies, the last two chapters of this book provide necessarily brief coverages of the myriad ways in which this cooperation had been successfully manifested beyond encouraging specific technologies.

Although the book’s main purpose is to show how a series of important technologies have transformed economic, social, and political life over the millennia, the last two chapters show how knowledge of these transformations sheds light on the wider use of public policy to achieve economic goals.

While many public initiatives have succeeded, others have failed. The authors isolate the reasons for these successes and failures and offer their template for designing and administering policies that are more likely to succeed than fail.

By Richard G. Lipsey, Kenneth I. Carlaw, Clifford T. Bekar

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Economic Transformations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book examines the long term economic growth that has raised the West's material living standards to levels undreamed of by counterparts in any previous time or place. The authors argue that this growth has been driven by technological revolutions that have periodically transformed the West's economic, social and political landscape over the last 10,000 years and allowed the West to become, until recently, the world's only dominant technological force.

Unique in the diversity of the analytical techniques used, the book begins with a discussion of the causes and consequences of economic growth and technological change. The authors argue that…


Book cover of The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler

Kathryn Harkup Author Of The Secret Lives of Molecules

From my list on chemistry that aren’t chemistry.

Why am I passionate about this?

After many years of studying the subject and still more writing about it, my mind is still blown away by the fact that pretty much everything around you is a chemical of some kind. Even more impressive to me is that all of the molecules that make up everything you can see, smell, touch, and taste are made from combinations of just a handful of elements. The periodic table is a one-page summary of pretty much everything, the ultimate Lego kit to build a whole universe. I love finding out about and telling the stories of these incredible chemical constructions.

Kathryn's book list on chemistry that aren’t chemistry

Kathryn Harkup Why did Kathryn love this book?

A thought-provoking book about ammonia, a molecule made easily in nature but with great difficulty by humans.

Fritz Haber was the chemist who found a way to make ammonia artificially, but he was a complicated and controversial figure. The industrial production of ammonia has fed billions through its use in fertiliser, and killed millions through its use for making explosives.

By Thomas Hager,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Alchemy of Air as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the Haber-Bosch discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster: Mass starvation was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’ s scientists to find a solution.

This is the story of the two men who found it: brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, and saved millions of lives.

But their epochal triumph came at a price we…


Book cover of Voice of the Innovator: How the Voice of the Innovator Can Be Cultivated in Individuals, Teams and Organizations

Janet Polach Author Of The Seven Mistakes New Managers Make

From my list on books that prompt breakthrough thinking.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a global executive coach, speaker, and author with over 30 years of diverse experience. My career includes serving as a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and two decades as a global leadership coach. I have collaborated with new, emerging, and executive leaders across various industries in the U.S., China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and the Netherlands. I believe that true leadership is built on a commitment to the mission, clear expectations, and the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome any obstacle. I hold a Ph.D. in Organization and Leadership Development from the University of Minnesota.

Janet's book list on books that prompt breakthrough thinking

Janet Polach Why did Janet love this book?

Author Jacqueline Byrd has spent her life researching and delivering insight on how to create innovations in organizations. The leader doesn’t have to be innovative to create breakthrough thinking.

She needs to surround herself with individuals who will challenge the status quo and leverage creativity and risk-taking to deliver novel ideas, two key tenants in the book. She’s interviewed a number of truly innovative thinkers and shares their perspectives on breakthrough thinking.  

By Jacqueline Byrd,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Voice of the Innovator as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"This book is an absolute gift for those who are curious trailblazers." Jacqueline Berglund

"What characteristics does it take to be an innovator and what challenges can you expect to face? Byrd's oftentimes look at the lives of innovators gives inspiration to those who struggle to enact innovation in our organizations. The insight provided by successful innovators describing their own challenges is motivation to keep up the good fight". Brent Edwards, Ph.D

In the VOICE OF THE INNOVATOR, Dr Jacqueline Byrd provides:
-seven powerful drivers for reigniting creativity and risk-taking in ourselves
-insights from world famous innovators on what drove…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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