A book review on the book by Rowan Gibson; The 4 Lenses of Innovation.

1. The 4 Lenses of Innovation; by Rowan Gibson
A Book Report
Graeme Harvey, International Product Manager
August 31, 2015

2. Why is Innovation Important to Me
• Jack Welch:
“If the rate of change externally surpasses
the rate of change internally, the end is
near.”

3. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – Executive Summary
• Companies can create an environment that helps to stimulate
innovation, but it is the people that must take advantage of the
environment; the two working together create a sustainable
culture
• Companies:
• An innovation culture will never fully maximize returns if
leadership does not fully endorse the need to change.
• People:
• By studying the history of mankind, the core skills and
attributes of innovation can be identified
• Innovation skills and attributes can be learned and
practiced
• Curiosity about the world around them is essential

4. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – Inspiration to Read
• How do inventors manage to see opportunities that others do
not?
• What enables the inventor to imagine things radically different in
a way that fundamentally changes customer expectations?
• How does an inventor bring forward ideas that break customer
paradigms, or create unique competitive advantage?
• Why do inventors seem to have endless amounts of inspiration?

5. What are the 4 Lenses of Innovation -- Overview
• Skills and attributes are fundamentally embedded in 4 categories
1. Challenge Orthodoxies
• What are the right questions to ask
• Curiosity
• What beliefs do not make sense anymore
2. Harness Trends
• What is going on in our industry and other industries
• Where to go for information
• Imagination to see patterns and how they relate to your
world

6. What are the 4 Lenses of Innovation
• Skills and attributes are fundamentally embedded in 4 categories
3. Leveraging Resources
• Partnering
• Humbleness to know that others have good ideas too
• Imagination and limitless capacity to stretch and synthesize resources
• Creativity and Passion to solve problems and address needs above all
else
4. Understanding Customer Needs
• Desire to want to make a difference
• Recognize the power of being observant to the environment
• Historical Evidence to suggest: The foundation innovation is to
continually seek out ways to improve the quality of life of our society
in novel ways
• Limit the tendency to legitimize current thinking on a topic
• Continually look for frustrations and problems; especially those that
customers have learned to just accept

7. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – Importance
• Why are the 4 Lenses Important
1. Challenge Orthodoxies
• Not challenging, and more importantly not allowing, your business to
change has consequences.
2. Harnessing Trends
• “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two
years, and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” –
Bill Gates
• The future is only a sum total of observable trends in the present
3. Leveraging Resources
• Paying attention to how past and present ideas can work together in
new ways has been historically a mainstay to innovation results.
4. Understanding Customer
• Customers tell us what they know and can conceive themselves. If
they were true innovators to their world, we would want to hire them

8. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – Importance
• Why is it necessary for people to deliberately practice how to
apply the 4 Lenses of innovation:
• Established Patterns that form ways of thinking are very
powerful
• Biological: Our minds save energy by recognizing and using
familiar patterns

9. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – How Can We Improve
• What are some deliberate practice exercises that will help us
improve skills and attributes that make up the 4 Lenses of
Innovation.
1. Challenging Orthodoxies Exercise:
• Practice asking “why questions” about our industry, department
procedures, relationships with vendors, etc.
• What ideas does this spark for you to start making change and where
– build your action plan now.
2. Harnessing Trends Exercise:
• Spend time researching and learning about our industry in ways you
have not thought of before
• Write down some things you observe about our industry – not what
you are told, but what patterns do you see?
• What ideas does this spark for you to start making change and where
– build your action plan now.

10. The 4 Lenses of Innovation – How Can We Improve
• What are some deliberate practice exercises that will help us
improve skills and attributes that make up the 4 Lenses of
Innovation.
3. Leveraging Resources Exercise:
• What resources do you think we currently have available
• What resources do other companies / industries have available that
we are not yet taking advantage of
• What resources do other departments have
• What ideas does this spark for you to start making change and where
– build your action plan now.
4. Understanding Needs
• What frustrations do you see from the perspective of your customers
(internal and or external)
• What do you see being done in our world that makes no sense given
what you know about other companies/industries
• What ideas does this spark for you to start making change and where
– build your action plan now.