Books Slideshow: Why Good Innovation Goes Bad

Ironically, at this economic turning point, when companies need innovation more than ever to survive, too many lack the infrastructure to do so. While creativity may be there, these organizations are simply not structured to execute on innovative ideas. In the new book, The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (Harvard Business Review Press/September 2010), co-authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble provide a blueprint to execute on innovation within existing infrastructures. They liken innovation to ascending to the top of Mount Rainier: Too many climbers focus all their energy on getting to the peak, leaving few resources for the less glamorous but equally dangerous descent. Similarly, organizations focus too much energy on brainstorming and not enough on effective execution of a winning idea. And so, good innovation goes bad.