Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56805
innovation to isolate the six sepa- rate constraints that can stifle inno- vation: individual, group, societal, organizational, technological, and industry-specific. Then he helps readers recognize the particular obstacles they're facing and find a path around them. For instance, individual constraints on innova- tion come from within; we often don't even recognize that we are Don't Miss In STRINGS ATTACHED, Ruth W. Grant examines the history, language, and ethics of incentives, both in the workplace and the realm of public policy. Grant, a professor at Duke, considers incentives to be a form of power, right alongside force and persuasion as methods people can use to get someone else to do what they want. On the surface, everyone wins in incentivized transactions, but Grant digs deeper, finding three standards that distinguish ethical from unethical incentives: "legitimacy of purpose, voluntariness, and effect on the character of the parties involved." (Princeton University Press, US$24.95) Consultants Stephen M.R. Covey and Greg Link make a good case for the idea that "the bottom line is directly connected to trust." In SMART TRUST, they provide rapid-fire examples of how trust works in teams, customer relations, and governments—and the consequences that follow when it's eroded. They also provide thumbnail sketches of leaders such as Wipro's Azim Premji and Grameen's Muhammad Yunus, who have transformed whole industries by operating with transparency. But the authors, both of CoveyLink Worldwide, don't advocate blind faith. They know "smart trust" begins with an individual's propensity to believe in others, but it is extended only after thorough analysis and endures only with continued vigilance. (Free Press, US$27) A huge percentage of Millennials would dedicate themselves to changing the world if they could figure out how to earn a living doing it. In MAK- ING GOOD, activists and entrepreneurs Billy Parish and Dev Aujla share their own stories and the stories of countless others who have turned their passions into careers. And now is the time to do it, they say. Three key trends—the "rise of global empathy, the Internet as a platform for global collaboration, and breakthrough technologies"—have delivered spectacular tools to young and ambitious engineers of social change. "The result," they write, "is what may yet be the largest movement in the history of civilization." (Rodale, US$15.99) falling into famil- iar patterns of identifying chal- lenges, gather- ing data, and formulating solutions. One way to break habits and spawn innova- tion is simply to reframe an old problem, he says, as the inventors of Post-it notes discovered: "The task wasn't how to avoid making a bad adhesive, but rather how to make a 'bad' adhesive insanely use- ful." Owens' book is smart, funny, and full of practical advice for breaking through the shackles on innovation. THE PLUGGED-IN MANAGER AUTHOR: Terri L. Griffith PUBLISHER: Jossey-Bass, US$27.95 IN TODAY'S workplace, managers will succeed only by considering the implications of any decision across three dimensions: people, technol- ogy, and organizational processes. Griffith of Santa Clara University points out that each element has gotten increasingly complex: Work- forces are distributed, multigen- erational, and ethnically diverse; technology tools are constantly upgraded or wholly reinvented; and organizations are global, inter- connected, and tech- dependent. A company that adopts a new technology must also train employees to use it and make sure it can be integrated smoothly into its supply chain. Plugged-in managers follow three practices, says Griffith: they stop- look-and-listen before implement- ing change; they mix the available choices into the right strategy for their companies; and they share their insights so others can work in parallel. As new technologies make businesses more collaborative and more virtual, she suggests, there could be a new industrial revolu- tion—and it will need "plugged-in managers to build the new organi- zational forms." BizEd March/April 2012 61