Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs

Chapter 20

Using the Innovation Playbook

A Selection of Plays (and the Combination of Tactics You’ll Need to Implement Them)

Innovating with discipline demands a sense of what you’re doing and why. Remember the two critical innovation questions: “How ambitious do we need to be?” and “How can we innovate differently?” Now you’re ready to combine specific types and tactics to fuel your mission. While selecting a random array of them is one approach, it helps to examine similar solutions to the one you’re trying to build.

Thinking this way is similar to what great professional teams and coaches do all the time. Athletes drill plays over and over—until they can execute each one flawlessly. Coaches read situations in the heat of the game—to select the right play at any given moment from a full team playbook.

Calling This Play

Had Results Like This:

1. Zipcar

US-based car rental by the hour. Competitors also taking this approach include Autolib’, Daimler’s Car2Go, and BMW’s DriveNow.

2. Vélib’

Large-scale bike-sharing system based in Paris, France. Similar systems operate in locations such as Hangzhou, China, and Washington DC.

3. Airbnb

Peer-to-peer room and home rental service. Other firms using a similar formula include MetroFlats and VrBO.

4. Chegg

College textbook rental service in the US. RentTheRunway is a similar offering for fashion, while Japan-based Toylib rents toys.