Mike is a 3-time bestselling author and expert on growth, leadership and innovation.
The Disruptor Mindset
Shift happens. It’s time for Plan D.Long gone are the good old days where a sudden market shift was tempered ― even held back ― by restrictive laws, huge capital requirements, complex data, industry secrets, distribution networks and expensive infrastructure. Goliath has lost his edge.
Today, “what’s next” is conceived by firebrand leaders who topple the once proud giants of established industries. You know, the crazy ones . . . the Disruptors.
This book explores two questions about them:
What makes them special? (So we can do what they do and upend our competition as well.)
How do they think? (So we know how to manage them while getting the absolute best out of them.)
This book is written about ― and for ― Disruptors. It crystallizes the Disruptor’s unique superhero powers so you can use them too (for good, not evil).
The future belongs to the Disruptors. You need them, and they need you. This book will help you dream, drive and deliver like the crazy ones.
“Mike and the people he calls friends leave a big wake. This book will show you how they do it.”
“This book is the bible for second…and third chances.”
The Personalities of Innovation
Are you an Idea Monkey? Are you someone who can produce 183 product or service concepts before lunch if you had to? Idea Monkeys are unconcerned with all the reasons why an idea might not work and instead choose to pour their energy into possibilities. They inspire those around them with their quick wit, nimble minds and ability to turn any challenge into a brainstorm. They are upbeat, remarkably talented and all too often a major pain in the butt to rein in.
Do you manage these kinds of people? If so, you are a Ringleader. Ringleaders know how to awaken and focus the Idea Monkeys within their organizations. Ringleaders are an incredibly valuable resource. They set the strategy. They execute with precision. They make the company money. They get the essential things done. They focus the Idea Monkeys on what matters most.
In a series of short, extremely entertaining chapters, Free the Idea Monkey…to focus on what matters most! shows how the most innovative leaders and organizations work and play to find the proper balance between its divergent and convergent thinkers — between the Idea Monkeys and Ringleaders. That’s the secret, and it’s what creates real progress. Just think about the founding of Disney. Walt Disney partnered with his brother, Roy Disney. (Walt handled the Imagineering; Roy made sure they made money at it.) Examples of these kinds of partnerships are endless: Orville and Wilbur Wright; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak; Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
Free the Idea Monkey…to focus on what matters most! is filled with true stories, practical tips and illustrations — all designed to show you how to create these types of profitable partnerships in life and in business. Written by the proven entrepreneurs who are leading a globally recognized innovation agency, this book can help any company, manager or creative person become more effective.
Special Idea Monkey Bonus: This book can be reengineered to wrap more than 200 small fish, line the bottoms of more than 63 hamster cages, or play a leading role in your origami club. So it’s green, too. Oh, boy! Buy the book and start focusing on what matters most!
“Most good ideas never get executed. The simple, funny insights in this book show us how good ideas can fuel business and life.”
Innovation in the Insurance Industry
Does anyone else smell shift? Do you sense that the insurance industry is headed for an upheaval? Do you suspect that there is some brilliant, forward-thinking entrepreneur in a garage somewhere about to reinvent the game? Do you find it hard to make your case for leading change while everyone else is still talking the same way, doing the same things, and getting the same results?
More important, when you raise the issue, do those around you look at you like you are crazy? Do they tell you that this category is different because the product is “sold, not bought”?
You are not crazy. The industry IS ripe for reinvention, and the sold, not bought paradigm is ready for a shift.
The question is, how can YOU lead the shift versus having someone outside the industry do it, AND have the organizational support you need along the way.
It is a tall order but a necessary one. Flirting With the Uninterested is our contribution to help leaders like you begin the journey to innovating in a “sold, not bought” category.
“I found Flirting With the Uninterested both cathartic and inspirational. It’s the most compelling and well-reasoned case for innovation in the insurance industry that I’ve seen. The book is full of hilarious-because-they’re-actually-true examples of ‘inside the jar’ thinking, yet it offers a clear path out of the jar with Monday morning ‘to-do’ lists at the end of each chapter.”
The Process of Innovation
Brand New’s revolutionary innovation process is a proven road map you can put to work immediately to create successful new products, services and business models. Written by leading innovation practitioners and the co-author of the best-seller Customers for Life, the authors of this tightly focused, highly entertaining book have nailed the issue perfectly when it comes to successfully introducing anything new.
Research shows people like new products and services. Indeed, they go out of their way to try to find them. Yet companies are truly terrible at providing new products and services that meet these customers’ needs.
Why are companies so bad at giving customers what they want? Because they lack a simple, proven process that makes sure innovation occurs efficiently time after time.
No one knows this better than Mike and his team at Maddock Douglas, the Agency of Innovation,™ which has worked closely with more than a quarter of the Fortune 100. To solve the innovation paradox, Mike explains the process his team has used to help the world’s best companies and shows you how to:
Find needs and opportunity in the marketplace
Come up with significant market insights
Create compelling communication (using the actual words your customers use) to convince people to try your new creation
What has worked for some of the world’s most successful companies will work for you when it comes to innovation. Start putting the lessons of Brand New to work for you…before the competition does.
“This is a must-read book for business leaders. I not only highly recommend it to CEOs but also to all leaders throughout business. This is a message that needs to be screamed from the mountain tops.”