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Week of June 13 - June 17, 2005Welcome to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation economy. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. Links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday on the NDE main page - bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news. |
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Looking to better understand the entrepreneurial economy this summer? Below we have listed some of the most interesting and enlightening books (published in 2004 or 2005) that cover a few of our favorite topics. Our suggestions tend to err on the side of slightly-less publicized volumes, leaving out New York Times Best-sellers such as Freakonomics or Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. |
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Former White House speechwriter Dan Pink follows up his first book, Free Agent Nation, with a look at an economic evolution from left-brain dominance to a “conceptual age” where inventiveness, empathy and meaning put artists, designers and innovators in the driver’s seat. According to Pink, the six key abilities of the conceptual age (design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning) are becoming increasingly important to the U.S. as “left-brain jobs” are being automated and outsourced. |
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Rob Atkinson is well-known in Washington policy circles through his work on various technology and new economy projects at the Progressive Policy Institute. This book combines a policy focus with a historical look at how America’s economy has grown and declined over the course of the 20th century. Atkinson argues that we are in the midst of a major technological shift that has only just begun. While economic change is all around us, our political systems and our policy ideas have not shifted in response. Atkinson recommends that policymakers embrace “growth economics”, a whole range of policies that nurture entrepreneurship and innovation. |
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Richard Florida’s last book, The Rise of the Creative Class, created quite a buzz with its claim that regional prosperity was directly tied to a community’s ability to attract and retain the talented “creative class.” His new book goes further, claiming that America faces a global competition for such talent. Florida further claims that cutbacks in government support for technology and innovation, coupled with a tightening of US immigration rules after 9/11, put America’s economic pre-eminence at risk. If such policies persist, the global creative class may take its talents elsewhere. |
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Entrepreneurship is not just for start-ups; big corporations can also be entrepreneurial. In fact, most market leaders keep this entrepreneurial spirit alive. Jennings’ Think Big, Act Small looks at how they do it. Jennings taps a technique used in the best-seller, Built to Last. He analyzes thousands of firms and then focuses on nine (including SAS Institute, Cabela’s, and Sonic Drive-In) who have performed extremely well over the past decade. Jennings notes that there is no secret formula for success, but does offer a ten point plan that shows how firms can focus on the fundamentals and outperform the competition. |
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Most readers are probably well-versed in the many predictions and thoughts about how work is changing: changing demographics, the impact of new technologies and the like. If you’re looking for one place to understand the current state of play, this book is it. It’s full of great data and information about how work is changing and will continue to change over the coming decades. |
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Lester and Piore’s book examines how business can best manage innovation. It notes that most firms have a traditional take on innovation that emphasizes rational analysis and problem-solving. Today, a new skill—interpretation—is also needed. Interpretation requires acceptance of ambiguity and more creative thought processes. Both analysis and interpretation are needed to foster innovation, yet current product development models must be revised to recognize this fact. |
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Back when dot-coms were booming and stock options were flowing, you read a lot about equity sharing. You don’t hear so much on this topic nowadays, and that’s too bad. When done right, employee ownership works. In addition to empowering employees, equity sharing often improves a company’s bottom line. This book tells you almost everything you need to know on the topic. It offers lots of case studies as well as hands-on tips for promoting equity sharing at your company. |
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American science policy debates are often roiled by debates about the shortage of women in high-ranking positions in mathematics and science. Laurel Smith-Doerr’s book takes a closer look at some of the issues that may affect career patterns for women scientists. The conventional wisdom has been that women would advance most rapidly in large institutions with clear career ladders and formal anti-discrimination policies. Smith-Doerr finds that the opposite is true, at least in the life sciences area. Women scientists in positions of high authority tend to emerge more easily and in greater numbers within smaller organizations that are more nimble and flexible. Women’s career prospects are more promising among small biotech firms as opposed to large laboratories or big companies. Ultimately, the network form of organization found in small entrepreneurial companies is more conducive to success than the “old boy networks” found in older, more established institutions. |
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Democratizing
Innovation, It used to be that innovation was something that others (mainly scientists and researchers) did. But that’s no longer the case, and that’s a good thing, according to MIT Professor Eric Von Hippel. In Democratizing Innovation, Von Hippel argues that users (individuals and firms) are increasingly becoming key players in terms of developing new innovations. Products as diverse as surfboards and software are revised, redesigned and improved thanks to input from users. The new system of user-centered innovation means that firms and governments need to think differently about how they manage the innovation process. It’s no longer enough to simply fund research and hope innovation happens. Instead, we need a more open process that allows for regular interaction between manufacturers, users, and others involved in the innovation process. |
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If you are the type of reader who enjoys books in quick, insightful and inspirational chunks, Outrageous Optimism may be the book for you. For everyone from aspiring innovators to experienced executives, this book provides advice from someone who has been there before. A collection of more than 40 mini-essays on topics such as ‘Starting with Nothing’, ‘Ugly Babies’, and ‘Letting Go’, the book touches on the life experiences of Jack Roseman, a serial entrepreneur and former professor at Carnegie Mellon University. |
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Those who have started their own businesses can instinctively tell you the importance of minimizing staff turnover. However, as the Baby Boom generation inches closer to retirement, many organizations are still faced with losing lifetimes worth of knowledge and expertise. Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap argue that the go-to people in any company possess “deep smarts” – a potent forum of experience-based wisdom that drives both organizational competitiveness and personal success. The authors share not only how “deep smarts” are created, but how they are cultivated and transferred to others in an organization. |
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Other reader suggestions submitted include:
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