THE INNOVATION TOURNAMENT HANDBOOK

Wharton School professors Terwiesch and Ulrich present a compact guide to innovative problem-solving.

The authors explain that, in the business world, an innovation tournament “convenes opportunities for creating value. These opportunities might be ideas for new products, approaches to process improvement, names for a new venture, or candidates for entirely new lines of business. And they can originate from individuals, teams, or organizations.” Adapting the underlying concept to a broader context, Terwiesch and Ulrich contend that the concept of innovation is simply “finding a new match between a solution and a need.” They highlight the universality of this approach, which can be applied to everything from looking for a new romantic partner to getting more sleep to picking the right vacation. In all cases, the authors assert, the essence of the approach boils down to three principles: “Value is driven by the exceptional few,” “You do not know from the outset which opportunities will prove to be the most valuable,” and “You can invest a little to learn a lot.” The central idea is to start with a varied batch of raw possibilities and gradually winnow them down to those “exceptional few.” The authors take the reader through a series of practical applications of the “tournament” principle, such as crafting a watertight “problem statement” or setting out clear, practical goals. The authors employ a concise, extremely readable prose style and flesh out every concept they mention, with examples drawn from their experiences with businesses that have used the “tournament” approach, such as Proctor & Gamble. Although the book is primarily concerned with structuring and running actual innovation tournaments, most of the organizational advice in these pages will be equally applicable to businesses and entrepreneurs who’ve never held such an event.

A lively, thoughtful primer for generating solutions to a wide range of problems.