Innovation is a top priority for all kinds of organizations, of all sizes and shapes, throughout the world. But innovation doesn’t happen only at the executive level. People within an organization come up with great ideas that can propel the company forward. All too often, however, would-be innovators find that the organization is unreceptive to their new ideas. They are stymied by bureaucracy, power dynamics, or countless other barriers to innovation. They find themselves lost in a labyrinth that blocks them everywhere they turn.

William Duggan—a leading expert on innovation and strategic thinking—offers a guide to navigating the maze from idea to implementation. He provides practical advice on communicating new ideas effectively, getting buy-in from others, winning allies, and overcoming resistance or outright opposition to innovation. Duggan focuses on the strategy and tactics of building support within the organization, exploring the crucial takeaways from research in psychology about how people react to new ideas. This book includes a series of interviews with successful corporate innovators as well as analysis of historical cases that combine lively storytelling with actionable insights. For anyone in an organization who has been frustrated with the lack of innovation, Corporate Innovator delivers an essential roadmap for going from idea to action.

Duggan's Corporate Innovator is one of those rare books that you think is focused only on a small subject, but as you turn the pages, you realize each one opens up a whole world. -- Sheena S. Iyengar, S.T. Lee Professor of Business, Columbia Business School, and author of Think Bigger
A common mistake in corporate innovation is that too much focus is placed on generating ideas, rather than on how to effectively communicate these ideas to other key stakeholders. Corporate Innovator performs an invaluable service in filling this gap by offering powerful and practical frameworks that help innovators build support for their ideas within large corporations. Duggan's expertise and insight in creativity and innovation gives him authority to speak on this topic. -- David Dabscheck, Chief Executive Officer, GIANT Innovation
Corporate Innovator makes existing knowledge more accessible to and legitimizes the efforts of would-be innovators. Duggan brings his academic curiosity and expertise in organizational strategy to bear, offering motivation, actionable advice, and historical context. -- Kaihan Krippendorff, author of Driving Innovation from Within: A Guide for Internal Entrepreneurs
Offers a well cited, deeply researched examination. Provides distinctive insights on a pivotal topic, making it a useful resource for those trying to instigate an internal change. * Choice Reviews *

William Duggan teaches innovation at Columbia Business School in graduate and executive courses. His previous Columbia University Press books include Creative Strategy: A Guide for Innovation (2012) and The Seventh Sense: How Flashes of Insight Change Your Life (2017). Duggan has given talks and workshops to thousands of executives from companies around the world and has twenty years of experience as a strategy advisor and consultant.