Jeff DeGraff - The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict

Praise for The Innovation Code

You know what I never want to do again? Be in a meeting about another meeting. Its the business leaders opportunity and responsibility to create a culture that catalyzes, identifies, and cultivates innovatorsthe lifeblood of any organization. Meetings arent the answer; its innovation. The Innovation Code provides clear guidance on how to identify innovation and get the best from it.

Victoria R. Montgomery-Brown, CEO and cofounder, Big Think

It is rare to find a senior executive at a large company who does not claim to value innovation; however, ask him for his innovation playbook and you will likely get a blank stare. In The Innovation Code, Professor Jeff DeGraff has written the definitive guide to creating the right conditions, assembling and nurturing the right team, and recognizing and harnessing the right interpersonal conflicts to create a winning innovation culture. The Innovation Code is itself a conflicta well-written book of ideas that nonetheless can be readily put into practice by managers who want to innovate for growth.

Tom Glocer, former CEO, Thomson Reuters

With The Innovation Code, Jeff DeGraff masterfully reveals the personality traits that drive innovation and shows us how we can harness those traits in our organizations, our teams, and ourselves.

Aaron Fried, Vice President, MetLife

The Innovation Code should be a must for leaders who wish their organizations to grow and prosper. The essence of the book, as its title suggests, is the acceptancefirst by the leader and then by her or his close associatesof the fact that conflict, disruption, and challenge of the status quo are a healthy proposition and the basis for innovation to occur and for the organization to gain strength from it. When this concept is embraced, the environment is poised to move forward, but to do so, it needs the balance of creativity, control, competition, and understanding that comes from a diverse workforce. The book explains in simple and understandable ways the four competing approaches that drive innovation and thereby growth. Jeff DeGraff beautifully describes the creative power of constructive conflict, something that can be applied to manufacturing as well as service industries the world over.

Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Officer, UW Medicine; Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Washington; and former President, American College of Surgeons

Jeff DeGraff has helped many of the worlds leading arts organizations summon the courage to evolve, adapt, and develop new ways to grow their organizations. Conflict is an honest and necessary part of leading any successful arts and entertainment organization. The Innovation Code should be standard issue for anyone who is a leader in the arts!

Matthew VanBesien, President, New York Philharmonic

The idea of creative tension has been around for many years. The difficulty comes with how to keep it positive, manage it, and take advantage of the outcomes. Jeffs expertise is born of his experience with hundreds of companies around the globe. His practical insights and advice will help you harness the power of diversity and creativity and build a culture to maximize innovation.

Mabel Casey, Vice President, Global Marketing and Sales Support, Haworth, Inc.

Innovation is hard. Unlike other books, The Innovation Code doesnt gloss over it or make it sound easy. In fact, it tackles the hardest element: how to create constructive conflict and use it to innovate. In this book, DeGraff, the Dean of Innovation, shares his insights from working with many organizations to create a practical guide for all students of innovation.

Mark Thompson, New York Times bestselling author, Forbes columnist, and venture capitalist

Most companies want a culture of innovation, but they dont know what it is or how to develop one. DeGraff shows us what we need to do in the most fundamental way: adopting the mindset of innovator and embracing gracious conflicts. Instead of avoiding conflicts, DeGraff explains that innovators can harness this energy to create something better and new. This book is a playbook about innovation that can be applied in any field.

Tan Le, founder and CEO, EMOTIV

The Innovation Code shows you how to play to win the innovation game. Whether youre managing a professional sports team, or any other kind of organization, or just trying to develop your own skills, The Innovation Code is the playbook for you.

R. C. Buford, General Manager, San Antonio Spurs

THE
INNOVATION
CODE

JEFF DEGRAFF

THE DEAN OF INNOVATION

AND STANEY DEGRAFF

Copyright 2017 by Jeff DeGraff and Staney DeGraff

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

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First Edition

Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-8476-0

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8477-7

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8478-4

2017-1

Cover Design: Rob Johnson, Toprotype, Inc.

Book Production: Adept Content Solutions

This book is dedicated to the late Budi Dharmakusuma (Yap Chuan Yu), an entrepreneur, educator, and loving father, who believed in the creative power of diverse communities to overcome poverty, disability, and prejudice.

The discord in the early moments of a brainstorming session is like a symphony: the tense back and forth between wildly different thinkers, the points of antagonistic contact between totally opposing worldviews. When it comes to any innovation initiative from building the next breakthrough app to designing the next miracle drugdisharmony is crucial. The only way to create new hybrid solutions is to clash. Innovation happens when we bring people with contrasting perspectives and complementary areas of expertise together in one room. Innovation is unlike any other form of value or growth because its the only kind that necessitates discomfort. It requires us to