This must-read guide offers a practical and engaging introduction to the ins and outs of R&D leadership. Innovation is a two-trillion-dollar industry, and, on top of the baseline complexity faced by any manager, the R&D or Innovation leader confronts an additional set of challenges.Armed with years of experience in roles ranging from scientist to Vice President ofR&D to founder of his own company to innovation career coach, Dr. Clifford L. Spiro shares his insights on a carefully curated selection of topics. This indispensable playbook covers:
- Building, managing, and motivating a team
- Setting schedules and goals
- Assessing and rewarding project success
- Working with other departments
- Legal and intellectual property considerations
Dr. Spiro’s distinctive blend of big-picturestrategic thinking and day-to-day, nitty-gritty tips (e.g., Five Great Questions For R&D Managers to Ask Every Time) is essential reading for current and aspiring R&D leaders through seasoned managers as well as anyone at an organization that has an R&D, innovation, or technology transfer component. Providing a prescriptive, in-the-trenches assessment of how to lead innovation more effectively, this book ably equips the reader to anticipate potential problems and to succeed both within the R&D department and across his or her company.
Foreword.- Glossary.- Dedication.- Preface.- About the Author.- 1 What Do I Mean By “Innovation?”.- 2 Can Anyone, and Should Anyone, Lead Innovation?.- 3 Do You Have What it Takes to Lead Innovation?.- 4 Putting a Good Innovation Team Together.- 5 Getting the Right Portfolio Mix of Projects.- 6 Innovation Project Execution.- 7 Creating a Culture of Creativity.- 8 Creating a Learning Organization.- 9 Human Resource Issues For Innovation Organizations.- 10 Globalization of Innovation and Leading Remote Teams.- 11 Measuring Innovation Effectiveness.- 12 Earning Followership.- 13 Patents and Intellectual Property.- 14 Acquiring and Integrating Technology.- 15 The C-Suite, the Boardroom, and Beyond.- 16 Closing Thoughts.
Cliff Spiro received BS and PhD degrees in Chemistry from Stanford and Caltech. In 1980, Cliff joined GE’s Corporate Research labs, where he worked as a research scientist and manager for 15 years. His research included projects in energy and fuels, synthetic diamonds, and advanced metallurgical and ceramic coatings. Cliff then went on to lead R&D groups in silicone rubber, halogen lamps, water, paper, energy chemicals, and semiconductor processes. Since leaving the corporate world in 2011, Cliff has written three books about research including Leading Innovation, and has coached several corporate clients in their innovation cultures, people, and processes.
