How to Innovate and Execute Leaders already know that innovation calls for a different set of activities, skills, methods, metrics, mind-sets, and leadership approaches. And it is well understood that creating a new business and optimizing an already existing one are two fundamentally different management challenges. The real problem for leaders is doing both, simultaneously. How do you meet the performance requirements of the existing business—one that is still thriving—while dramatically reinventing it? How do you envision a change in your current business model before a crisis forces you to abandon it? Innovation guru Vijay Govindarajan expands the leader’s innovation tool kit with a simple and proven method for allocating the organization’s energy, time, and resources—in balanced measure—across what he calls “the three boxes”: • Box 1: The present—Manage the core business at peak profitability • Box 2: The past—Abandon ideas, practices, and attitudes that could inhibit innovation • Box 3: The future—Convert breakthrough ideas into new products and businesses The three-box framework makes leading innovation easier because it gives leaders a simple vocabulary and set of tools for managing and measuring these different sets of behaviors and activities across all levels of the organization. Supported with rich company examples—GE, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hasbro, IBM, United Rentals, and Tata Consultancy Services—and testimonies of leaders who have successfully used this framework, this book solves once and for all the practical dilemma of how to align an organization on the critical but competing demands of innovation. “His book is both challenging and easy to understand, offering numerous examples—from IBM to GE to Hasbro—of companies that have made it work.” — SUCCESS Magazine “The book [ The Three Box Solution ] is clearly presented, with illuminating case studies from a variety of organizations helping to explain the ideas.” — The Globe and Mail " The Three Box Solution is an insightful and thoughtful work that should be on the must-read list for all CEOs—and everyone involved in leading innovation in any kind of enterprise." — Research-Technology Management “The era of doing things in the same way decade after decade is over. Organisations are confronted by external change and the urgent need to change themselves. Innovation is nothing less than a matter of corporate survival…By creating three boxes that a company ought to concentrate on when it is trying to pilot its way into the future, Prof Govindarajan may enable its leaders and workers to think outside the box their normal experience traps them in.” — Peter Day, BBC “A powerful new framework.” — Developing Leaders “ The Three Box Solution is a clear winner…” — BW Businessworld (India) “He succinctly outlines the key behaviors that I believe every business leader must focus on, to drive innovation without waiting for the next competitive crisis…the approach actually works and applies to leaders at all levels.” — Forbes “Supported with rich examples—GE, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hasbro, IBM and Tata Consultancy Services—and testimonies of leaders who have successfully used this framework, The Three Box Solution solves the dilemma of how to align an organisation on the critical but competing demands of innovation.” — The Financial Express , India “When we read The Three Box Solution and hear VG describe the experiences from leaders of Hasbro, Tata, IBM, United Rentals, Mahindra & Mahindra amongst others, we get inspired to find our own balance between these three innovation areas: preservation, destruction and creation... The Three Box Solution helps leaders come into harmony with an ageless rhythm, that creates sustainable prosperity." — Innovation Management (innovationmanagement.se) “With case studies from toy manufacturer Hasbro, coffee maker Keurig, TCS and even a church reinventing itself, The Three Box Solution makes a good breezy read.” — The Times of India ADVANCE PRAISE for The Three-Box Solution : Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric Company— “Simple, powerful, and purposeful.” Zhang Ruimin, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Haier Group— “ The Three-Box Solution presents a simple, yet powerful framework to simultaneously optimize continuous process improvement and breakthrough innovation. Inspiring for management executives.” Anand G. Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group— “Govindarajan’s Three-Box Solution provides a framework for balancing the imperatives of the present with the demands of the future. It is a construct that permeates all our strategic thinking.” Marshall Goldsmith, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Triggers — “If your company needs to stop doing what it’s done and branch out in new and profitable ways, this is the book for you.” Omar Ishrak, Chairman and CEO, Medtronic— “ The Three-Box Solution is a supe