Each month, our Moore Stephens L&D team brings you its top picks for essential reading. This month, we look at two great books about the challenges businesses face around innovation.
The first is a great local read by South African entrepreneur, Richard Mulholland, “Legacide: Why Legacy Thinking is the Silent Killer of Innovation”, and the second is a well-known work, “The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail”, first published in the late 90s and written by Clayton M. Christensen.
Legacide: Why Legacy Thinking is the Silent Killer of Innovation (Richard Mulholland)
The title ‘Legacide’ is a combination of ‘legacy’ (something that is the result of events in the past) and ‘cida’ (which means ‘killer’ in Latin). In this book, author Richard Mulholland attacks 42 commonly held ideas that could severely damage your business. If you have ever heard Rich Mulholland speak, you will hear his voice talking through these pages. Easy and light to read, insightful and (best of all) extremely practical – you may want to read it with a notepad nearby!
The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Clayton M. Christensen)
This book was named by The Economist as one of the six most important books about business ever written. The Innovator’s Dilemma was the birthplace for the term ‘disruptive innovation’. Christensen demonstrates how successful, outstanding companies can do everything ‘right’ and yet still lose their market leadership – or even fail – as new, unexpected competitors rise and take over the market. He not only proves this theory, but also tells businesses how to avoid similar fates. Clear, persuasive, and provocative, The Innovator's Dilemma is one of the most referenced (and talked-about) books of our time and is recommended for any forward-thinking manager, executive or entrepreneur.
Happy reading.