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The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization
The author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation reveals the strategies IDEO, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout an organization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity.
The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation.
Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience managing IDEO, Kelley identifies ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist—the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation.
Filled with engaging stories of how companies like Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Cargill and Samsung have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.
The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation.
Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience managing IDEO, Kelley identifies ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist—the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation.
Filled with engaging stories of how companies like Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Cargill and Samsung have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2005
About the author
Tom Kelley
25 books239 followersThomas Kelley runs the marketing side of the hugely successful industrial product design firm IDEO. His brother, David, started the company in 1977 in Palo Alto, CA. One of his earliest projects was designing the first mouse for Steve Jobs at Apple Computers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
December 17, 2018
3.5 stars for the idea, 1 star for the writing, 0.05 stars for the presentation.
This is yet another business book that could have been an Inc/Fast Company/Medium article - hell, listicle. Kelley takes a compelling concept and makes us slog through pages and pages of evidences that justifies its own printing and cost (and to make Kelley and the publisher money). Sigh.
Honestly, don't waste your time reading the book. Kelley's hypothesis is there are 10 different personas with different strategies to cultivate innovation. Done. He gives at best solid and at worst meandering examples of how they work, often losing his point. His repetitive structure -- Intro each face / anecdote of one angle the Face takes / tidy summing-up paragraph asking how could _you_ use that angle? / repeat (until the next Face, then you repeat the macro structure) -- was insufferable. It just lent more evidence that this should be short thinkpiece.
Instead, I recommend:
* Spend 5-10 minutes skimming the reviews below for any bulleted list of his points.
* Think about how you / your org come up with new ideas
* Based on 10 points, look for what might be missing based on that list
* Use those as jumping off points to explore new ways to cultivate new ideas
This will save you a lot of time and frustration sifting through Kelley's dross to find the gems.
This is yet another business book that could have been an Inc/Fast Company/Medium article - hell, listicle. Kelley takes a compelling concept and makes us slog through pages and pages of evidences that justifies its own printing and cost (and to make Kelley and the publisher money). Sigh.
Honestly, don't waste your time reading the book. Kelley's hypothesis is there are 10 different personas with different strategies to cultivate innovation. Done. He gives at best solid and at worst meandering examples of how they work, often losing his point. His repetitive structure -- Intro each face / anecdote of one angle the Face takes / tidy summing-up paragraph asking how could _you_ use that angle? / repeat (until the next Face, then you repeat the macro structure) -- was insufferable. It just lent more evidence that this should be short thinkpiece.
Instead, I recommend:
* Spend 5-10 minutes skimming the reviews below for any bulleted list of his points.
* Think about how you / your org come up with new ideas
* Based on 10 points, look for what might be missing based on that list
* Use those as jumping off points to explore new ways to cultivate new ideas
This will save you a lot of time and frustration sifting through Kelley's dross to find the gems.
April 28, 2013
The author, general manager of the design firm IDEO, explains ten roles employees can fill to help companies create and innovate. The roles are Anthropologist (sees everyday life as a source for new ideas); Experimenter (celebrates the prototype process); Cross-Pollinator (uses a wide breadth of learning to improve their main field); Hurdler (turn constraints into opportunity); Collaborator (leads cross-functioning teams where players exchange roles); Director (puts together teams with good chemistry); Experience Architect (creates positive encounters with product by engaging senses); Set Designer (creates spaces for projects); Caregiver (makes consumers’ process more fun and personal); and Storyteller (triggers emotion by making experiences authentic). Whew!
This was an easy work read, written in a pleasant style that forgoes the usual talking-down tone of business books. I’m always wary of these business-help books that name “the” seven whatchamacallits of leadership or the fifteen boondoggles of customer service or so on. Of course, Kelley does point out that these ten “faces” are roles, not individuals, and that roles can overlap within people or groups (just as you can be a father, husband, engineer, kayaker, etc., so too one might add on Experimenter and Collaborator onto that list). But very often as I read page after page of anecdotes about this or that company surging in market share, I found myself wondering what precisely the “roles” had to do with it. Kelley argues for power naps at work to recharge, which is fine – but what’s The Director got to do with it? As with most books of this ilk, this is a lot of good advice (names matter; find out what the customer really needs, not what he says he needs; face time is better than email) packaged with a simple-sounding hook (just ten things to learn?!).
This was an easy work read, written in a pleasant style that forgoes the usual talking-down tone of business books. I’m always wary of these business-help books that name “the” seven whatchamacallits of leadership or the fifteen boondoggles of customer service or so on. Of course, Kelley does point out that these ten “faces” are roles, not individuals, and that roles can overlap within people or groups (just as you can be a father, husband, engineer, kayaker, etc., so too one might add on Experimenter and Collaborator onto that list). But very often as I read page after page of anecdotes about this or that company surging in market share, I found myself wondering what precisely the “roles” had to do with it. Kelley argues for power naps at work to recharge, which is fine – but what’s The Director got to do with it? As with most books of this ilk, this is a lot of good advice (names matter; find out what the customer really needs, not what he says he needs; face time is better than email) packaged with a simple-sounding hook (just ten things to learn?!).
February 5, 2013
This is another book that I've meant to read for a while and it's an interesting one by Tom Kelley of IDEO, the famous innovative design company. It has some good ideas for creating an innovative and collaborative environment. Instead of having a devil's advocate in a brainstorming session, IDEO's way of innovating, creating and solving problems encourages different people to take on different roles that are more productive.
The ten roles they suggest are broken up into three types:
Learning Personas
1. Anthropologist - observes interactions
2. Experimenter - prototypes new ideas continuously
3. Cross-Pollinator - explores other industries and cultures
Organizing Personas
4. Hurdler - overcomes obstacles to innovation
5. Collaborator - brings groups together
6. Director - gathers crew and sparks creative talents
Building Personas
7. Experience Architect - designs extraordinary experiences
8. Set Designer - creates a stage and space for innovation
9. Caregiver - anticipates customer needs
10. Storyteller - builds morale but communicating stories
If a team is made up of some of these roles and allowed to experiment and try some new things there's a greater chance for innovative solutions. I think these are definitely important characteristics to consider and they are each important. It can be hard to encourage some of these ideas in some environments, as I saw while working with IDEO a little bit on a work project, but I do think these are great places to start conversations that can lead to new ideas.
Some other points highlighted here that I liked include: observing and talking to kids, having your work space resemble an kindergarten classroom, not ask customers what they need or think but spending a day following them around and watching what happens, prototyping, reverse mentoring, being flexibility, using broad-based communication, and brainstorming.
Here are a few quotes I liked:
"Innovation is the lifeblood of all organizations, and the Devil's Advocate is toxic to your cause (p. 3)."
"Archimedes said, 'Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and I can move the world (p. 6).'"
"Fail often, to succeed sooner (p. 52)."
"To those who complain that there's nothing new in their industry, I say get on a plane and see the world. Traveling often and widely is one of the most effective ways to become a better Cross-Pollinator. Sometimes the most direct route to innovation is to look abroad and translate what you find (p. 83)."
"How you react to a potential disaster determines your chances of recovery and success (p. 93)."
"Great hurdlers don't let obstacles slow them down, much less stop them. Which goes to show that a hurdle is only as high as you make it out to be (p. 102)."
"Success depends on picking the right team and casting them in the proper roles. All participants strive to achieve their personal best while thinking of the teams' performance throughout. If you work on those [baton] exchanges to the point where they become smooth and fast, you'll be amazed at how much you can achieve together. In today's global economy, your baton passes are just as likely to need to cross over oceans as well as departments (p. 132)."
"Is this ordinary, or at least slightly extraordinary (p. 169)?" "The first step in becoming extraordinary is simply to stop being ordinary (192)."
"An often-overlooked tool in the world of customer service: the smile (p. 238)."
"It is my hope that this book will spark lots of productive conversations that lead to action (p. 265)."
The ten roles they suggest are broken up into three types:
Learning Personas
1. Anthropologist - observes interactions
2. Experimenter - prototypes new ideas continuously
3. Cross-Pollinator - explores other industries and cultures
Organizing Personas
4. Hurdler - overcomes obstacles to innovation
5. Collaborator - brings groups together
6. Director - gathers crew and sparks creative talents
Building Personas
7. Experience Architect - designs extraordinary experiences
8. Set Designer - creates a stage and space for innovation
9. Caregiver - anticipates customer needs
10. Storyteller - builds morale but communicating stories
If a team is made up of some of these roles and allowed to experiment and try some new things there's a greater chance for innovative solutions. I think these are definitely important characteristics to consider and they are each important. It can be hard to encourage some of these ideas in some environments, as I saw while working with IDEO a little bit on a work project, but I do think these are great places to start conversations that can lead to new ideas.
Some other points highlighted here that I liked include: observing and talking to kids, having your work space resemble an kindergarten classroom, not ask customers what they need or think but spending a day following them around and watching what happens, prototyping, reverse mentoring, being flexibility, using broad-based communication, and brainstorming.
Here are a few quotes I liked:
"Innovation is the lifeblood of all organizations, and the Devil's Advocate is toxic to your cause (p. 3)."
"Archimedes said, 'Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and I can move the world (p. 6).'"
"Fail often, to succeed sooner (p. 52)."
"To those who complain that there's nothing new in their industry, I say get on a plane and see the world. Traveling often and widely is one of the most effective ways to become a better Cross-Pollinator. Sometimes the most direct route to innovation is to look abroad and translate what you find (p. 83)."
"How you react to a potential disaster determines your chances of recovery and success (p. 93)."
"Great hurdlers don't let obstacles slow them down, much less stop them. Which goes to show that a hurdle is only as high as you make it out to be (p. 102)."
"Success depends on picking the right team and casting them in the proper roles. All participants strive to achieve their personal best while thinking of the teams' performance throughout. If you work on those [baton] exchanges to the point where they become smooth and fast, you'll be amazed at how much you can achieve together. In today's global economy, your baton passes are just as likely to need to cross over oceans as well as departments (p. 132)."
"Is this ordinary, or at least slightly extraordinary (p. 169)?" "The first step in becoming extraordinary is simply to stop being ordinary (192)."
"An often-overlooked tool in the world of customer service: the smile (p. 238)."
"It is my hope that this book will spark lots of productive conversations that lead to action (p. 265)."
January 30, 2018
(4.0) Good framework for the roles/personalities that lead to innovation
A bit forced at times (eg Collaborator—he essentially argues that it needs to be a pillar of culture that everyone collaborated), but overall cool way to think about the type of people you want to assemble in your centers of innovation. I’ll probably refer back to this in future.
A bit forced at times (eg Collaborator—he essentially argues that it needs to be a pillar of culture that everyone collaborated), but overall cool way to think about the type of people you want to assemble in your centers of innovation. I’ll probably refer back to this in future.
December 12, 2021
Grāmatu lasīšanā izvēlējos domās par nākotni - nu, pēc gadiem 2-3 noderēs; domās par citiem - kā tos citus iedvesmot būt radošus. Kas to būtu domājis, ka paies tikai dažas dienas un aptveršu, ka pati vien varēšu visu izlasīto likt lietā - lai stiprinātu sevi, dodoties ceļā, kuram kopā ar draudzenēm devām nosaukumu: "Ļaušanās radošuma procesam un piedzīvojumiem."
Būs interesanti.
Būs interesanti.
November 8, 2009
Good book on innovation and I want to read the early work, "The Art of Innovation". So 10 roles in innovation, but I focused on the first as they are more applicable to most projects.
1) Athropologists - Observers of the world. Rought edges, work arounds self-modify. Interns are good Athropologists as they have a different perspective. Always keep up with diverse magazines.
2) Experimenter - Allow for failure, many times.
3) Cross-Polinator - Value Diversity, People with "T" shaped backgrounds - deep in one area, but broad range of experiences. Travel. Hang out wiht young people - reverse mentoring.
4) Hurdlier - "Experts are often the guardians of conventional Wisdom"
5) Collaborator - Crosses organizations
6) Director - Develops teams. Finds diverse talent
7) Experience Architect - Develops ideas and customer service
8) Set Designer -
9) Carefiver
10) Storyteller
Brainstorming rules:
- Sharp focus
- Playground rules - Go for quantity, encourage wild ideas, Be visual, defer judgement, one conversation
- Number each idea
-Build & Jump - slightly alter when team reaches a platoe
- stretch first - use improve game to stretch mind before brainstorming
1) Athropologists - Observers of the world. Rought edges, work arounds self-modify. Interns are good Athropologists as they have a different perspective. Always keep up with diverse magazines.
2) Experimenter - Allow for failure, many times.
3) Cross-Polinator - Value Diversity, People with "T" shaped backgrounds - deep in one area, but broad range of experiences. Travel. Hang out wiht young people - reverse mentoring.
4) Hurdlier - "Experts are often the guardians of conventional Wisdom"
5) Collaborator - Crosses organizations
6) Director - Develops teams. Finds diverse talent
7) Experience Architect - Develops ideas and customer service
8) Set Designer -
9) Carefiver
10) Storyteller
Brainstorming rules:
- Sharp focus
- Playground rules - Go for quantity, encourage wild ideas, Be visual, defer judgement, one conversation
- Number each idea
-Build & Jump - slightly alter when team reaches a platoe
- stretch first - use improve game to stretch mind before brainstorming
September 24, 2023
Interesting and organized layout of the frameworks but the writing is dry. Ironically, there’s a section on storytelling and the storytelling of these roles is poorly executed. Also, if I took a had a nickel for every time IDEO was name dropped, I’d honestly be able to be able to pay for the course that made me read this book.
January 11, 2018
The idea is very interesting. Ten different innovator approaches are assembled in this book. It took me a while to finish it, so I might have found the book a bit floating and too general, regarding my original need at the time I started. Worth the time though, just to know that innovation comes from different origins and sources.
February 14, 2022
It's a pretty good book! I like all the examples that the author gives. They are similar enough to feel cohesive yet different enough to not feel repetitive. I just wish I was working so I could apply some of the lessons thought.
June 30, 2015
Tom Kelley has done a great job of describing different facets of innovation and describing them in a way that helps the reader to identify areas that they have particular ability in and those they might want to develop.
Like the Belbin Team Roles, the 10 Faces of Innovation provides a variety of slots that a team can fill; with individuals having scope to develop new areas of strength or contribute expertise.
Chock full of real world examples of each facet, Kelley provides a good grounding in what makes innovation happen.
The only weakness for me was the lack of actionable content. Short of asking everyone on my team to read the book (not going to happen!) I need to extract the essence of each facet in a way that people will be able to identify their current strengths and summarize some options for developing the skills.
Still, the book is high on my list of must-reads for anyone involved in promoting innovation.
Like the Belbin Team Roles, the 10 Faces of Innovation provides a variety of slots that a team can fill; with individuals having scope to develop new areas of strength or contribute expertise.
Chock full of real world examples of each facet, Kelley provides a good grounding in what makes innovation happen.
The only weakness for me was the lack of actionable content. Short of asking everyone on my team to read the book (not going to happen!) I need to extract the essence of each facet in a way that people will be able to identify their current strengths and summarize some options for developing the skills.
Still, the book is high on my list of must-reads for anyone involved in promoting innovation.
November 2, 2012
I read this book as a professional development assignment for work. I was part of an online book study with other professionals from my organization.(K-12 public education) I found the book fascinating and the personas that Kelley described very interesting. I was attracted to the book study based on Kelley's description of the Devil's Advocate. Throughout my career I have really disliked the Devil's Advocate as it relates to work and life in general! Kelley speaks about how the Devil's Advocate is a Creativity Killer. The 10 Faces (or personas) are all personalities that help to create a synergistic environment that becomes a catalyst for creativity. I myself identify with the Cross Pollinator.
Kelley gives wonderful real life examples from his experience at IDEO. The book does not get bogged down with too much technical jargon. It was a great read for the work Team I was on.
Kelley gives wonderful real life examples from his experience at IDEO. The book does not get bogged down with too much technical jargon. It was a great read for the work Team I was on.
March 21, 2014
This was a slow read for me, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. I savored every delicious bite. Tom Kelley is nice. That fact that he gets innovation right down to his core is only part of his value. He is also humane and humble.
The Ten Faces... breaks down the types of approaches to the world that yield creative, productive problem solving. IDEO models a process of innovation that is actually process of empathy. Why the business world has adopted this approach while higher education lags behind is beyond me. The combination of The Ten Faces... and Kelley's other book Creative Confidence gives you all the tools. I plan to put them to great use.
Thank you, my mustachioed gurus.
The Ten Faces... breaks down the types of approaches to the world that yield creative, productive problem solving. IDEO models a process of innovation that is actually process of empathy. Why the business world has adopted this approach while higher education lags behind is beyond me. The combination of The Ten Faces... and Kelley's other book Creative Confidence gives you all the tools. I plan to put them to great use.
Thank you, my mustachioed gurus.
August 26, 2011
Kelley describes the folks who make up an ideal team for innovating within a company. Ideo is fortunate that they can probably create teams with ten folks, each filling one of these roles, but most companies cannot do this. Kelley does a good job of describing the roles of each person, and where they fit in the innovation process. He also explains how to put together a team with fewer folks, each filling more than one role at the right time.
One day I'd like to be a member in a team like this.
One day I'd like to be a member in a team like this.
December 17, 2015
This is superior to the average management/leadership book because IDEO actually has a system that has proven itself over and over again in many situations in many industries. The book's organization around the "ten faces" is a bit annoying because it's clearly not a question of ten different personality types or something like that. It's more like a bunch of techniques or principles. I've used some of their stuff, e.g. brainstorming, and found it very helpful.
November 2, 2012
seeing what passes for the latest business solution being shoe-horned into the wrong context(yes, six sigma, i'm looking at you)has thrown me to a discipline i previously mocked. sorry about that innovation design.
breezy, well paced and packed with ideas. it's getting a bit dated, but still essential business reading.
breezy, well paced and packed with ideas. it's getting a bit dated, but still essential business reading.
April 3, 2018
A very readable and clear description of ten roles that team members play in an innovative organization. The author is Tom Kelley, one of the managers of the design/innovation company IDEO. He shares a lot of very specific examples of these ten roles in action.
Since this is one I want to remember, I'm going going to include a lot of details here in the review:
The 10 faces are categorized as follows:
Learning Personas
1. The Anthropologist - This role goes into the field (or hospital or store) and observes customers or users in their own environment. Interesting story there about visiting a mom cooking a healthy meal at home, only to discover lots of fast food wrappers in the trash.
More tidbits:
* Vuja De - the ability to see something again for the first time. Also called "beginner's mind" in this section.
* This role succeeds by really enjoying people, and likes being surprised.
* Don't ask kids what is trendy or popular. Instead ask them what they would buy with ten dollars or a hundred. They have a MacGyver quality of piecing together prototypes out of ordinary materials quickly.
2. The Experimenter
This role makes prototypes and experiments with ideas and solutions. Takes calculated risks and contributes to continuous learning.
3. The Cross-Pollinator
Finds ways to combine seemingly unrelated ideas or technologies to make something new. Loves to learn and share with team members.
Tidbits from this section:
* To encourage cross-pollination, have a broad mix of team styles and backgrounds and bring in outside speakers.
* Many of these are "T shaped individuals" with broad experience in a lot of areas and deep experience in at least one. (I recently read the book The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide and the author recommended that Software Developers should become T Shaped.)
* Traveling to another culture is a good way to find ideas that can be transplanted to your business.
The Organizing Personas
4. The Hurdler
This persona overcomes challenges and obstacles, often ones placed by their own organization. Overcome constraints of budget, rules, or red tape. Turns lemons into lemonade. Isn't phased by negativity and criticism.
5. The Collaborator
This persona works really well with teammates, clients, and partners to achieve innovation. Often they can even turn opponents of their ideas into supporters.
6. The Director
The director in this example is a movie director. These basically are leaders who can bring out the best in others to help them innovate. And they can keep a project on course, removing obstacles along the way. (Like a movie director has to keep the filming going no matter what disasters befall a production.)
Directors have a lot of tools in their toolbox to fuel innovation. A big section here on brainstorming, and also the importance of a name for a team or project. Directors also have a eye for talent, and building the right mix for a team.
The Building Personas
7. The Experience Architect
This one is hard to summarize, but is kind of the designer role. But not just designing the appearance of a place, designing an adventure or encounter. One example is Cold Stone Creamery: making ice cream an experience. They also do customer journey mapping.
8. The Set Designer
This is the traditional designer or decorator role. It emphasizes the power of the right setting for a workplace or retail store. One interesting example is creating an Innovation Lab at a company as a place for people to get together and be creative.
9. The Caregiver
This one uses the example of how a really good doctor or nurse makes a health care experience bearable. That same caregiver heart or mindset can be used in retail settings, such as a race car driving school.
Interesting tidbit:
* California Pizza Kitchen uses a "safety net" approach to encourage customers to try unique pizzas. They encourage customers to try something new, and if they don't like it they will replace it with the customer's usual favorite.
* One tip is to "curate the collection". Instead of overwhelming a customer with choices, have a curated list of recommendations for them that they can choose from safely.
* The doorbell effect is the negative feeling when a customer doesn't get feedback for some action, and is left in an awkward waiting stage. (Did the doorbell ring? Should I ring again or wait?) Often a customer/user doesn't mind waiting if they get feedback such as a count-down or estimated wait time.
10. The Storyteller
This role makes an emotional connection with a customer or employee by telling the story of a service or company. This is a role that requires practice for some people, but has a large payoff. This often means finding a new medium to tell the story, like a sample magazine, video, or even fortune cookie.
Tidbit:
* Company tours give a great chance to tell a story, but they should be authentic and ad-hoc, or they get stale really quickly.
As you can see, these are very clearly a description of work that people do to drive innovation forward. One slight critique I have for the book is that the introduction suggests something very different: that they are rhetorical hats that team members can wear in planning meetings or brainstorming sessions as an antidote to the Devil's Advocate role, which people masquerade in to shoot down new ideas without making any commitment to an alternate position.
That would be a really interesting discussion in its own right (maybe a different book?) but not truly what these 10 Faces are.
Since this is one I want to remember, I'm going going to include a lot of details here in the review:
The 10 faces are categorized as follows:
Learning Personas
1. The Anthropologist - This role goes into the field (or hospital or store) and observes customers or users in their own environment. Interesting story there about visiting a mom cooking a healthy meal at home, only to discover lots of fast food wrappers in the trash.
More tidbits:
* Vuja De - the ability to see something again for the first time. Also called "beginner's mind" in this section.
* This role succeeds by really enjoying people, and likes being surprised.
* Don't ask kids what is trendy or popular. Instead ask them what they would buy with ten dollars or a hundred. They have a MacGyver quality of piecing together prototypes out of ordinary materials quickly.
2. The Experimenter
This role makes prototypes and experiments with ideas and solutions. Takes calculated risks and contributes to continuous learning.
3. The Cross-Pollinator
Finds ways to combine seemingly unrelated ideas or technologies to make something new. Loves to learn and share with team members.
Tidbits from this section:
* To encourage cross-pollination, have a broad mix of team styles and backgrounds and bring in outside speakers.
* Many of these are "T shaped individuals" with broad experience in a lot of areas and deep experience in at least one. (I recently read the book The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide and the author recommended that Software Developers should become T Shaped.)
* Traveling to another culture is a good way to find ideas that can be transplanted to your business.
The Organizing Personas
4. The Hurdler
This persona overcomes challenges and obstacles, often ones placed by their own organization. Overcome constraints of budget, rules, or red tape. Turns lemons into lemonade. Isn't phased by negativity and criticism.
5. The Collaborator
This persona works really well with teammates, clients, and partners to achieve innovation. Often they can even turn opponents of their ideas into supporters.
6. The Director
The director in this example is a movie director. These basically are leaders who can bring out the best in others to help them innovate. And they can keep a project on course, removing obstacles along the way. (Like a movie director has to keep the filming going no matter what disasters befall a production.)
Directors have a lot of tools in their toolbox to fuel innovation. A big section here on brainstorming, and also the importance of a name for a team or project. Directors also have a eye for talent, and building the right mix for a team.
The Building Personas
7. The Experience Architect
This one is hard to summarize, but is kind of the designer role. But not just designing the appearance of a place, designing an adventure or encounter. One example is Cold Stone Creamery: making ice cream an experience. They also do customer journey mapping.
8. The Set Designer
This is the traditional designer or decorator role. It emphasizes the power of the right setting for a workplace or retail store. One interesting example is creating an Innovation Lab at a company as a place for people to get together and be creative.
9. The Caregiver
This one uses the example of how a really good doctor or nurse makes a health care experience bearable. That same caregiver heart or mindset can be used in retail settings, such as a race car driving school.
Interesting tidbit:
* California Pizza Kitchen uses a "safety net" approach to encourage customers to try unique pizzas. They encourage customers to try something new, and if they don't like it they will replace it with the customer's usual favorite.
* One tip is to "curate the collection". Instead of overwhelming a customer with choices, have a curated list of recommendations for them that they can choose from safely.
* The doorbell effect is the negative feeling when a customer doesn't get feedback for some action, and is left in an awkward waiting stage. (Did the doorbell ring? Should I ring again or wait?) Often a customer/user doesn't mind waiting if they get feedback such as a count-down or estimated wait time.
10. The Storyteller
This role makes an emotional connection with a customer or employee by telling the story of a service or company. This is a role that requires practice for some people, but has a large payoff. This often means finding a new medium to tell the story, like a sample magazine, video, or even fortune cookie.
Tidbit:
* Company tours give a great chance to tell a story, but they should be authentic and ad-hoc, or they get stale really quickly.
As you can see, these are very clearly a description of work that people do to drive innovation forward. One slight critique I have for the book is that the introduction suggests something very different: that they are rhetorical hats that team members can wear in planning meetings or brainstorming sessions as an antidote to the Devil's Advocate role, which people masquerade in to shoot down new ideas without making any commitment to an alternate position.
That would be a really interesting discussion in its own right (maybe a different book?) but not truly what these 10 Faces are.
November 24, 2019
This book felt like a bit of an advertorial for IDEO. Or perhaps more accurately, a collection of dozens and dozens of advertorials for IDEO.
Don't get me wrong - there are some interesting anecdotes here, but I found it tough to keep momentum to finish the book. Each chapter seems to be a collection of marginally-related sidebar stories.
3 stars is probably a generous rating.
Don't get me wrong - there are some interesting anecdotes here, but I found it tough to keep momentum to finish the book. Each chapter seems to be a collection of marginally-related sidebar stories.
3 stars is probably a generous rating.
Currently reading
December 20, 2010Very inspiring book, it shows how great firms like Ideo are established and very creative roles help to keep this kind of firms going.
it's recommended for any type of people, as Tom Kelley gives tips to creative thinking in all aspects of life.
it's recommended for any type of people, as Tom Kelley gives tips to creative thinking in all aspects of life.
June 27, 2010
Very very good book - great quotes.
D/E 27/167: 10%
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No idea what the above means - but it's what I wrote.
D/E 27/167: 10%
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No idea what the above means - but it's what I wrote.
November 15, 2019
The idea behind the book is hopelessly derivative. The writing is terrible.
July 27, 2021
The book does not really need to be spanning over 280 odd pages. The book definitely needs a lot of trimming down. The authors goes into full anecdotal and nostalgic mode very quickly and then the barrage of information goes to random unrelated places. Often I had to think really hard to understand the central topic around which the author is weaving a lot of these stories, case studies and experiences from his time at IDEO.
The author simply ruined what could have become a great book written around 10 different personas that innovate and made it into a bland pulp fiction story about his firm.
The author could have gone out and done a very good research and found perfect use cases for each of these personas and could have written a well researched book instead he cheated himself with an availability bias, i.e. whatever he has experienced first hand vs the apt case study for each persona.
Also if only he could also cheat the readers, but he has failed on that front too. He ruinded the rest of the book with round about writing. Do we really need to dedicate a chapter for each of these persona? Really? NO. Not required.
The expression of emotion in man and animals
On the origin of species
Hare brain tortoise mind
A whole new mind
Thoughtless acts
Offices at work
The Headmaster
The loyalty effect
Devil’s advocate - Product innovation killer
Serial innovators- WL gore associates
Gillette
Cheebo - Starbucks meets brooks tone
52 times inventory changes
The learning personas:
The anthropologist - observes people
The experimenter- experimentation as implementation
The cross pollinator -
The organising personas:
The Hurdler - out smarts road blocks - perseverance
The Collaborator
The director
The building personas
The experience designer
The set designer
The Caregiver
The storyteller
The methods deck
Cross pollination- fossberry flop
Reverse mentoring
The door bell effect
The author simply ruined what could have become a great book written around 10 different personas that innovate and made it into a bland pulp fiction story about his firm.
The author could have gone out and done a very good research and found perfect use cases for each of these personas and could have written a well researched book instead he cheated himself with an availability bias, i.e. whatever he has experienced first hand vs the apt case study for each persona.
Also if only he could also cheat the readers, but he has failed on that front too. He ruinded the rest of the book with round about writing. Do we really need to dedicate a chapter for each of these persona? Really? NO. Not required.
The expression of emotion in man and animals
On the origin of species
Hare brain tortoise mind
A whole new mind
Thoughtless acts
Offices at work
The Headmaster
The loyalty effect
Devil’s advocate - Product innovation killer
Serial innovators- WL gore associates
Gillette
Cheebo - Starbucks meets brooks tone
52 times inventory changes
The learning personas:
The anthropologist - observes people
The experimenter- experimentation as implementation
The cross pollinator -
The organising personas:
The Hurdler - out smarts road blocks - perseverance
The Collaborator
The director
The building personas
The experience designer
The set designer
The Caregiver
The storyteller
The methods deck
Cross pollination- fossberry flop
Reverse mentoring
The door bell effect
November 8, 2017
Definitely on my list of books to reread--as I firmly believe that a book needs to be read more than once if we really like it...and because it will remind us why we liked it in first place.
Innovation is not easy to understand let alone teach it. And that is what I have been trying--how can we teach innovation? well, Tom does and amazing job describing the many faces of innovation and what it takes to get things going...and like many other things in life--there is not just one that stands out, it is the many variations that count in order to nudge someone to get past that hump and innovate! I do love the introduction of the well known adage---"let me be the devil's advocate for a minute here." And how bad that is for innovation...
I will share an excerpt: "This book is about people, more specifically, it is the roles people can play, the many hats they can put on, the personas they can adopt." I am certain you will love this book--if you want to know how innovation comes about or would like to get innovation going at your place.
Innovation is not easy to understand let alone teach it. And that is what I have been trying--how can we teach innovation? well, Tom does and amazing job describing the many faces of innovation and what it takes to get things going...and like many other things in life--there is not just one that stands out, it is the many variations that count in order to nudge someone to get past that hump and innovate! I do love the introduction of the well known adage---"let me be the devil's advocate for a minute here." And how bad that is for innovation...
I will share an excerpt: "This book is about people, more specifically, it is the roles people can play, the many hats they can put on, the personas they can adopt." I am certain you will love this book--if you want to know how innovation comes about or would like to get innovation going at your place.
October 17, 2020
This book was assigned as the foundational reading for a self-analysis paper for one of my graduate classes. Kelley is an IDEO fanatic and has outlined the ten personas that he feels drive innovation in the workplace and in life. These ten personas are lumped into three categories in the introduction, an idea that is never again touched upon in the eleven chapters that follow. I found this book interesting from a standpoint of building working teams. It is yet another way to categorize people by their strong traits to create balanced groups. Despite the title, there isn't anything terrible innovative about the content of the book, but I did find it fun and easy to read. I enjoyed the stories it told, even if it was lacking in content that really explained some of the personas. I could see myself using some of the information to build good teams within my sphere as an educator, and noticed some ideas that have permeated teams I've worked on in the past.
Almost 300 pages later, I still have no idea what IDEO does.
Almost 300 pages later, I still have no idea what IDEO does.
November 13, 2021
I read /The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization/, by Tom Kelley:
https://www.ideo.com/post/the-ten-fac...
Tom's brother, David Kelley, founded IDEO (and is a Stanford professor)
This book discusses the ten (10) key roles for people to play in organizations that innovate: the Anthropologist, the Experimenter, the Cross-Pollinator, the Hurdler, the Collaborator, the Director, the Experience Architect, the Set Designer, the Caregiver, and the Storyteller.
Though the book is fairly interesting, I would have liked to see more case studies and specific examples (whether from IDEO or elsewhere) of successes in innovation and product design, including how the people that played the roles above contributed to those successes.
https://www.ideo.com/post/the-ten-fac...
Tom's brother, David Kelley, founded IDEO (and is a Stanford professor)
This book discusses the ten (10) key roles for people to play in organizations that innovate: the Anthropologist, the Experimenter, the Cross-Pollinator, the Hurdler, the Collaborator, the Director, the Experience Architect, the Set Designer, the Caregiver, and the Storyteller.
Though the book is fairly interesting, I would have liked to see more case studies and specific examples (whether from IDEO or elsewhere) of successes in innovation and product design, including how the people that played the roles above contributed to those successes.
August 11, 2021
There are some useful examples and good points in Kelley's "Ten Faces of Innovation." However, the central premise of having ten personas that help innovate ended up getting in the way more than it helped. Many of the examples felt shoe-horned in to sections unnaturally. "Brain-storming" is obviously an important innovation exercise, but why is it tied to the director persona? It could easily have also been tied in to one of the other personas instead. And being a good story-teller is definitely important for communication, but that whole chapter, while interesting, left the theme of innovation by the wayside.
So, while the book was interesting, I found the organization more distracting (and frustrating) than helpful.
So, while the book was interesting, I found the organization more distracting (and frustrating) than helpful.
January 3, 2018
This book helped to determine the kind of innovator I am and to recognize myself as an anthropologist in the ten faces of innovation, but also to understand the role of others on a team. The stories described in the book are a good examples that gave me some insights about each persona. I definitely recommend this book for those who wants to define their role on a team but also to get a good ideas about the others team members.
January 21, 2019
Ten Faces of Innovation provides a good framework which companies, teams or even individuals can follow to expand the working style. The ten personas/archetypes enable the reader to look through a variety of frames at a single situation or problem and set the foundation for generating their own set of frames.
June 1, 2022
This really energized me and encouraged thinking in different ways. Yes, I think some of the personas were super similar and overlap, but the core of the ideas are great. Instead of saying no or jumping to conclusions, the premise is to be curious, open, creative, and empathizing when thinking through problem or finding a solution.
October 4, 2017
Great book about the roles that people can adopt to favour innovation. Also shares several strategies for bringing teams together and creating a positive, useful atmosphere as well as improving products.
July 5, 2021
I got so much out of this book, I turned in the library copy and bought my own copy to read and re-read. It's from 2005, but the "personas" of innovation really stuck with me and I've started generating a lot of ideas from that. I highly recommend this book.
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