CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation

by Stephen C. Lundin

It's time to let the CATS out of the bag . . . Curiosity might have killed the proverbial cat, but without it very real achievements would never occur. With this book as your guide, you’ll learn how to spark your innate curiosity, pounce on problems in ways you never imagined, and enjoy greater success and satisfaction at work―and in your personal life. Playful, profound, and positively upbeat, CATS provides what you need to tap into your power of innovation―and then unleash it in every member of your organization. While most business thinkers view this challenge from the top down, Stephen Lundin sees the subject from a CAT's-eye view, explaining how to get every employee--no matter what level--to think and act in innovative ways. Inside, he examines the four challenges to innovation and offers practical measures aimed at conquering them. You'll learn how

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 6, 2009

About the author

Stephen Lundin is a writer, entrepreneur and filmmaker with a rich history as a graduate level business school professor and dean. Steve has written a number of books including the multimillion copy best selling FISH! and the simply bestselling FISH! Tales, FISH! Sticks and FISH! for Life.

Reviews

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent thought exercise in innovation.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides a step by step guide for those who want to grow innovative spirit in their companies. Innovation is very important for any business and cultivating internal innovation is the key to success.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up by chance when looking for another book by the same author, Stephen Lundin (the author of the FISH! philosophy books). This book was a little hard understand than the FISH! books. He describes how to get out of the norm and be more creative and innovated in life and in career. The "Nine Lives of Innovation" are steps to understanding and utilizing key elements that foster your potential creativity and innovation. I like his three starting points of being brave (fraidy cats never innovate), stop being "normal" (make your own rules), embrace failure (it's the only way to learn). I love the last one the most and often apply this thinking to my students, in that its better to fail early and learn from it and then achieve success than to fail later after much success and be stuck and dumbfounded.

[Sujata Sahni]

A Cat has nine lives and so does innovation. The maxim that Cats always land on their feet has some truth in it. Curiosity may put them in dangerous places however they are endowed with survival skills that often help in their salvation.

The book delves into challenges to innovation on account of Business as Usual. The challenge of clutter, doubts, fear of failure, toxic workplaces, fitting into normal and challenge of leadership and how the CAT's nine lives of innovation help to overcome them.

[Rexawilliams]

Picked this up from the library. I thought it might be cheesy, but it actually turned out to be really good. I liked how he divides up innovation into 9 categories and how they can be facilitated and fostered in an organization. He includes a lot of good stories as examples and breaks up the chapters into interesting sections, such as "Cat Nips" a "Cat Pause" and good summaries and subheadings.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful and thought provoking practicals and questions. Almost anyone can have a takeaway from the concepts of each cat life. Break free from norms and change your routine to be more creative! Also know the role of associative boundaries. We are all susceptible to it. Perhaps offer queasy eagle awards for failures in your life? Know that failure is fundamental and important in learning and innovation.

[Dick Cheuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focuses on innovation at individual level and the author has provided many tools, to dos and references so that anyone can follow and practice. The author may intended to skip the theories to keep the book short and easy to read but this also makes the book less convincing.

I find this book useful but has less impact compared to "FISH".