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THE TEN FACES
OF INNOVATION
IDEO'S STRATEGIES FOR BEATING THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE &
DRIVING CREATIVITY THROUGHOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION —
TOM KELLEY
witH JONATHAN LITTMAN
AUTHOR OF THE ART OF INNOVATION
firm, uses to
g throughout an
ne the naysay
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, Tom Kelley claims.
Over the years, IDEO has developed 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 Anthropol-
ogist—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 Kraft, Procter &
Gamble, Safeway, and Samsung have incorporated
IDEO’s thinking to transform the customer experi
ence, The Ten Faces of Innovation is an extraordinary
nurturing and sust
guid 1g a culture of contin
ous innovation and renewal.
THE TEN FACES
OF INNOVATION
IDEO'S STRATEGIES FOR BEATING THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE &
DRIVING CREATIVITY THROUGHOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION
TOM KELLEY
WITH JONATHAN LITTMAN
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pousteoay
For photo credits, please turn to page 275,
PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY
8 division of Random House, Inc.
CURRENCY is a trademark of Random House, Ine., and
DOUBLEDAY isa registered trademark of Random House, Inc
Copyright © 2005 by Tom Kelley
CCataloging-in-Publication Data ison ile with the Library of Congress.
ISHN 0-385-51207-4
All Rights Reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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CONTENTS
‘CHAPTER
curren @
weer 9
cuarren 10
CHAPTER 11
‘Acknowledgments
Beyond the Devil's Advocate
The Anthropologist
The Experimenter
The Cross-Pollinator
The Hurdler
The Collaborator
The Director
The Experience Architect
The Set Designer
The Caregiver
The Storyteller
In the Mix
Index
13
141
165
193
215
241
261
267
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
If you prefer to cling to the romantic notion of a lonely author toiling
away like a starving artist in a dimly lit garret, you might want to skip
this page. Although getting the words down on paper can still be a
very lonely task, of course, making a book actually takes quite a crowd.
More than a hundred people worked on the book you now hold in
your hands, though I will not attempt to mention them all one-by-one.
So here are a dozen individuals or teams I'd like to single out for
special thanks:
Scott Underwood applied his encyclopedic knowledge of words
in giving me advice on syntax, grammar, and elements of style. Ihave
learned more about the nuances of the English language from Scott
than I have from any professor. | owe him not only my friendship but
also a debt of gratitude.
Olympic athlete and journalist Brigit Finn took time away from her
busy schedule at Business 2.0 to investigate dozens of innovation sto-
ries, and I occasionally wonder if it was her influence that gave the
book so many metaphors from the Olympic Games.
Brendan Boyle and David Haygood distinguished themselves as the
most prolific contributors from among the dozens of in-person inter-
views and thousands of e-mail responses on innovation topics. If they
appear more often than others, it is because they provided a constant
stream of useful input—even after I stopped asking for it.
Marc Hershon generously lent me his “think tank and tiki lounge”
in Sausalito as a writer's hideout so I could periodically escape the
continuous-interrupt environment of my desk at IDE. Marc’s space
actually has a door—though I never had occasion to close it
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hunter Lewis Wimmer used a blend of design talents and diplo-
macy skills to turn my vague requests into tangible design elements
like the cover and chapter intros. Hunter survived the experience and
left his imprimatur on the physical appearance of the book.
Lynn Winter searched out, created, or acquired nearly every photo-
graphic image you'll see between these covers, lending her energy and
perseverance to the project at a time when I felt nearly exhausted by it.
Tim Brown, David Strong, and Peter Coughlan managed to remain
patient and supportive with a book project that took way more time
away from my day-to-day responsibilities than I had originally imag-
ined. My vision of doing the book nights and weekends was perfectly
accurate but incomplete, since the work spilled over into a couple of
hundred weekdays, too.
In the literary world, I had lots of help (again) from my agent and
mentor Richard Abate, as well as Doubleday executive editor Roger
Scholl. Also, Chris Fortunato and his magical book-packaging team
raced through the production cycle—while jumping hurdles—about
twice as fast as I expected.
My brother, David, ultimately made this book possible, not only
by starting IDEO and seeding many of the ideas contained here, but
also by being my greatest source of advice and guidance for half a
century and counting. In addition to everything else, he lent me his
Stanford office—which became another secret getaway spot for writ-
ing and editing. I know I will never be able to repay him, and—even
better—that he doesn’t expect me to.
Jon Littman’s contribution was so great that I am not sure whether
it’s appropriate to thank him here, since he could rightly have his own
page of acknowledgments. In many parts of the written manuscript,
it’s impossible for me to separate my efforts from Jon's, and we've had
an intensely close collaboration that has now spanned over six years.
He faithfully stuck with the project, even while others were luring him
away with racy alternatives.
My wife, Yumiko, didn’t work on the project directly, but she did
take on plenty of extra parenting roles for the past eighteen months
so I could go on this book adventure. Yumi and the family made a lot
Acknowtevements | x
of sacrifices during that time, and still supported me all the way. I try
never to take them for granted.
As for everyone else, you know who you are: trusted advisors
like Whitney Mortimer and Debbe Stern; tireless supporters like Joani
Ichiki and Kathleen Hughes; spontaneous helpers like Katie Clark and
Marguerite Rigoglioso; Transformation colleagues like Ilya Prokopoff,
Charles Warren, and Hilary Hocber; thoughtful reviewers like Paul Ben-
nett, Roby Stancel, Diego Rodriguez, and Jed Morley; and sources of
inspiration like Tom Peters, Bob Sutton, Malcolm Gladwell, Ron Avitzur,
Stefan Thomke, Stephen Denning, Seth Godin, and the Group of 33.
Thanks, everybody. I hope you're happy with the finished book.
Tom Kelley
[email protected]
<, INTRODUCTION
th! T Beyond the Devil’s Advocate
