I was lucky enough to be in Melbourne recently at the Australian Institute of Management breakfast where Stephen Lundin spoke about his new book: CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation.
You would remember him as the best selling book author. FISH: An Extraordinary Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, which was inspired by Seattle’s Pike Place Fishmarket. Remember the message in FISH – To be there; Play; make your day; Choose your attitude: simple but immensely powerful. The Pike Place Fishmarket, as a result of his book, is now an international tourist destination!
CATS, his new book is the same: a simple but powerful message, communicated within an innovative framework through a fun process that makes the message of innovation accessible to all. So if innovation has always been a mystery, or even a threat, then this book is worth reading.
A CAT, for Stephen and Jimmy Tan, his co-author, is “an everyday human being learning to unleash their creative potential and develop the skills and knowledge fundamental to innovation”, those creative and imaginative people who are invaluable to any organization trapped in the rapidity of change in the 21st century.
This book is a journey. It takes you through a process of discovery. You need read through once and then back and to work complete, or better yet, buy the accompanying workbook CATS: The Personal Guide. It organizes and presents the principles of innovation in such a way that you can understand and see what you need to learn and how you need to grow to be innovative. The basis of the book is the assumption that “all human beings are capable of amazing individual acts of innovation” that will improve their lives. In other words, we are all capable of becoming CATS.
What makes this book different from much of the reading I’ve done on innovation, however, is that its message is that innovation begins with the individual, and that it begins with being innovative in the mundane and small in our lives. That is where the process of becoming a CAT begins. Innovative organizations are simply organizations with many individual CATS who are supported by an experienced CAT that Stephen and Jimmy call the CAT Wrangler, a leader who knows “the difference between a meow and a purr.” You’ll have to read the book to find out what those types of leaders are really like!
The journey they take us on teaches us how to meet the four challenges of innovation, live the nine lives of CATS, and earn the five CAT belts that tell us how successful we are as CATs and even what kind of CATs we are.
For Lundin and Tan, the four innovation challenges are:
1. Overcome our doubts and fears.
2. Go beyond “normal.”
3. Manage failure creatively.
4. Lead through the changes.
The nine lives are:
Life One: CATS overcomes the clutter of life.
Life Two: CATS are always prepared, especially for the unpredictable.
Life Three: CATS know that innovation is not normal.
Life Four: CATS welcomes the royal provocation.
Life Five: CATS promotes imaginary provocation.
Life Six: CATS Say “How Fascinating”!
Life Seven: CATS fail early and good.
Life Eight: CATS jump on the change.
Life Nine: CATS love CATS Wranglers.
Throughout the book there are practical examples and exercises to do, ways to become a CAT, ways to treat our lives in innovative ways, improving every aspect of it. However, towards the end, you can opt for your CAT belts. There are five exercises to do, each of which requires some commitment and time. By completing each exercise, you will earn a CAT belt, moving from level one to level five.
This book promises to have as big an impact as FISH. as the back cover of CATS says, “Innovation is all about you, and how you choose to understand and use it will lead to a rich and productive life.”