An interesting book of advice for businesspeople considering new approaches to change. Should one pursue incremental change to existing products, or should you consider bigger, more challenging changes? (New products, etc.)

The body of literature dedicated to helping businesses change is pretty huge, and seems to be growing more now than maybe at any other time. Earlier this year, I was contracted to write a first draft of a supply chain change leadership book. I dipped into this after I finished my work, and found it to be quite interesting. Does it provide a silver bullet? No, because no single book does. However, if you're considering a change in your business, then consider adding this to your reading list. You may find some useful advice.

LEAD FROM THE FUTURE

Lead from the Future: How to Turn Visionary Thinking into Breakthrough Growth is a fitting tribute to Clayton Christensen and his contributions to understanding business in the innovation age.

Written by his Innosight colleagues Mark Johnson and Josh Suskewicz and dedicated to Christensen (who died in January), offers a practical perspective on how to apply Christensen’s theories on disruptive innovation to corporate strategy.

As the theory goes, the innovator’s dilemma is that a business will end up investing more and more on incremental improvements on its breakthrough products, leaving an entire unserved or underserved market for new entrants to entertain. With a good enough product, perhaps one that is cheaper but with only a subset of the features of the innovative product, the new entrants gain a foothold in the market. The original innovator, focused on their core product, is unable to address the unserved and underserved markets until too late. The result? In a word: market disruption.

As Johnson and Suskewicz point out, most corporate planning exercises feed into what makes an incumbent vulnerable to disruption. Typically, the focus of any business is to maintain its current trajectory by investing in what will keep the lights on so to speak; that is to say, sustaining innovations. Necessarily, this entails looking at previous performance and extrapolating to the future. Yet in keeping with the theory of disruptive innovation, the authors argue that this present-forward approach is no less than the path to one’s disruption.

The solution, therefore, is to adopt a “future-back” approach to strategy, which is to say one that begins by imagining the possible futures of a product or business and working back to the present to determine the necessary steps to make such visions a reality. To do this successfully requires a significant commitment of time and resources on the part of a business and its executive team, and possibly even reorganization, precisely because the fruits of such preparation will not be immediate (as opposed to work that typically goes to sustaining innovations, the results of which are proximate by comparison). Yet to make the obvious point, there is no way a business can remain a market leader if it does not adopt such an approach to ensure that their position can weather possible disruption.

Lead from the Future is a book that will obviously appeal to the Christensen faithful for the manner that is presents tangible ways to apply Christensen’s theories in a corporate setting. Critics opine that the theory of disruptive innovation has largely been more useful as a lens by which to explain what has happened to businesses rather than as a playbook for what to do; yet what Johnson and Suskewicz have to offer in their book is precisely a guide for how the theory of disruptive innovation can be applied and remains relevant in the corporate setting.

A reductionist view of Lead from the Future would be that it states the obvious: a business should begin with the end in mind, and work it backwards to get there. But there is certainly much more to it than that, as Johnson and Suskewicz write within the context of Christensen’s work, which makes for a rich and nuanced contribution to the business literature.

Future back is a very powerful concept that can be used to make any complex vision come true by having realistic goals. Game changing concept for any organization.

Having the ability to think of the future and trace your way back to the present in creating and implementing your strategy is immensely important these days. This book teaches the readers the wisdom behind the future-back approach.

The most common thinking in strategy creation is present-forward. While the process worked in the past, it may no longer stay true in the future.

Written in an easy to understand and concise manner, this book provides wide perspective in innovation, strategy, and leadership not just in business but also in government, education, and religious institution.

A lot of ideas here are related with Clay Christensen’s books. I find it a bit sad that he’s no longer with us to celebrate this book.

Nevertheless, company executives will find this book relevant and eye-opening.

I've read many books on strategy and, quite frankly most seem rather 'now' focused. Yes, they talk about 3-5 year plans but... Did you know Japanese firms have 50-100 year plans? I'd never given this much thought until I read Lead from the Future - but the world is changing so fast I would be an idiot to ignore the idea that I should look at least ten years ahead to see (or guesstimate) what is coming next.

This is hands down the most 'noddable book' I have read in years. Literally, while reading the first chapter I found myself nodding in agreement at how much the skills needed in this book are needed. Reading books like try his is not optional any more unless you want to be left behind.

Interesting concepts on creative leadership. How can you grow and become a leader that others want to follow? This book provides interesting views and stories that will make you think and act.