I’ve spent a few days in Banff speaking at the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Annual Summit – the life of an economist can be rough.

Bow River,Banff, Alberta

I enjoyed the conference, and was delighted to find that the organisers were giving my book, [amazon_link id=”0691145180″ target=”_blank” ]The Economics of Enough[/amazon_link], as a gift to all the speakers, along with [amazon_link id=”1422166961″ target=”_blank” ]The Other Side of Innovation[/amazon_link] by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. Chris was a keynote speaker too.

Generally I don’t read management books – there are plenty of economics titles that appeal more, and besides so many of the management books are truly dreadful – trite analysis and dire prose. However, The Other Side of Innovation is a definite exception to this generalisation. It is a clear exposition, drawing on many examples the authors have studied, of how to enable innovation within an incumbent firm, even though innovation will almost always be in tension with existing activities. As Chris said: “Corporations are machines designed to excel at yesterday’s business.” There needs to be an entirely separate project team looking after the innovation, the authors argue, and above all a senior leader in the organisation who will be responsible for the innovating team and adjudicate in its disputes with the mainstream of the business. This sounds like common sense but it is evidently only rarely done. And I found it so refreshing to find this written in jargon-free, steady prose instead of the usual management-speak.

My other gift book (rather than a copy of my own) was [amazon_link id=”0465003001″ target=”_blank” ]Reinventing the Sacred[/amazon_link] by Stuart Kauffman, which I’m looking forward to reading. And what a delightful gesture to thank speakers with some beautifully wrapped books – it wouldn’t work if we only had e-readers.

[amazon_image id=”1422166961″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (Harvard Business Review)[/amazon_image]