New book outlines care and feeding of serial innovators

“Serial innovators are cutting-edge thinkers who repeatedly create and deliver breakthrough innovations and new products in large, mature organizations. These employees are organizational powerhouses who solve consumer problems and substantially contribute to the financial value to their firms.”

In their new book, Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms (Stanford University Press, 2012), Raymond Price and Bruce Vojak—both members of the Engineering at Illinois leadership team—and co-author Abbie Griffin, detail who these serial innovators are and how they develop novel products, ranging from salt-free seasonings to improved electronics in companies such as Alberto Culver, Hewlett-Packard, and Procter & Gamble.

Based on interviews with more than 50 serial innovators and an even larger pool of their co-workers, managers and human resources managers, the authors gained key insights about how to better understand, emulate, enable, support, and manage these unique and important individuals for long-term corporate success.

“In our research, we identified people who are truly exceptional,” explained Vojak, who is an associate dean for administration in the College of Engineering and an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering and of industrial and enterprise systems engineering. “We conducted a large number of in-depth interviews with these serial innovators, and we spoke with their managers and colleagues."

“Although most companies can benefit from innovation, we focused on how large firms can benefit from hiring and supporting these creative and, potentially, impactful individuals,” said Price, who holds the William H. Severns Chair of Human Behavior in the College of Engineering and is the co-director of the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education. “Our goal was to help business leaders identify future innovators and provide them with the knowledge needed to nurture their potential.”

For more than 25 years, research on innovation has taken the perspective that new product development can be managed like any other (complex) process of the firm. While a highly structured and closely supervised approach is helpful in creating incremental innovations, this book finds that it is not conducive to creating breakthrough innovations.

“By shifting our focus from an impersonal, controlled process to the many personal acts of discovery and relationships characteristic of serial innovators, the authors refreshingly bring us back to the heart of the matter: experts with passion to overcome technical and organizational hurdles to solve real-life challenges,” remarked Mary McDowell, executive vice president, Mobile Phones, Nokia. “Griffin, Price, and Vojak truly have written a love letter to all who pursue breakthrough innovation.”

“Innovators ‘cross the bridge’ and look at things in a different way,” Vojak remarked. “Innovators find a need and then figure out how to meet it. Innovators learn how to navigate ideas through large corporations and understand how their product will affect customers.”

“As important as they can be to a corporation’s success, these creative, individuals often require a different type of management that supports their unconventional innovation processes and the way in which they navigate the politics of product acceptance, since they may not fit into a firm’s formalized processes,” Price said.

“This book is fascinating,” said Ginna O’Connor, associate professor of marketing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and author of Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation. “The concept of the serial innovator, distinct from the serial inventor or serial entrepreneur, is important. Serial innovators are a rare breed and we need to learn more about them. This book provides a first look into their nature and how to manage them.” 

“You want to discover which people will really make things happen for you,” Vojak added, noting that innovators’ problem-solving processes are not linear—they go back and forth in identifying, then solving a problem.

"Innovators are curious, intuitive, creative, persistent and tenacious, somewhat introverted, and they ask questions," Vojak said. "Serial innovators do more than connect the dots. They look below the surface and see the big picture.”

“Written by three undisputed experts in product innovation and management, this book is extremely well researched and executed,” remarked Anthony Di Benedetto, professor of marketing and supply chain management at Temple University. “It presents a model that perfectly complements our traditional understanding of product innovation. In Serial Innovators managers will find a refreshing perspective and clear guidance on how to locate, reward, and retain serial innovators within their organization."

Price is co-author of The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation. Before coming to University of Illinois, he held management positions at Allergan, Boeing, and Hewlett-Packard. Vojak has held positions at the M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory, Amoco Corporation, and Motorola, and currently serves on the board of directors of Midtronics, Inc.

Dr. Abbie Griffin holds the Royal L. Garff Presidential Chair in Marketing at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business. A former editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Griffin's research investigates how to measure and improve the process of new product development.
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Contact: Ray Price, College of Engineering, 217/333-4309.

Bruce Vojak, College of Engineering, 217/333-6057.

Writer: Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.