Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation

McKinney, former vice president and chief technology officer for Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Systems Group, provides a thoughtful yet practical guide to consistently generating innovation. Arguing that ideas are a company’s most valuable currency, he maintains that an organization’s success will be determined by its ability to generate ideas that lead to innovations that customers want. To help companies ignite these ideas, McKinney shares a system called the “Killer Questions”: a tool that prompts re-evaluation of old organizational beliefs that dictate how a company operates but which may no longer hold value. To do so requires negotiating the forces inside an organization that challenge innovation as well as dealing with outside curve balls. While re-examining core beliefs is hardly new advice, McKinney’s system helps distinguish valuable ideas from others with less potential as well as paying attention to delivering value to customers, the value chain, manufacturing and supply, marketing and sales, shipping and distribution, and the customer experience. McKinney also provides an invaluable guide to extracting ideas from the book and applying them within an organization. He includes a helpful time line and six rules to keep companies on track. Offering concrete advice, McKinney gives organizations the tools they need to generate ideas and know that they’re moving in the right direction. Agent: Marc Gerald, the Agency Group. (Feb.)