Big Think Strategy

In this summary you will learn

• How to come up with revolutionary ideas
• How to evaluate them
• How to develop a strategy around them
• How to create ongoing change

getAbstract rating

Why you should read Big Think Strategy

This is a fun book. Bernd H. Schmitt clearly enjoys not just working with ideas, but playing with them. To explain his concept, he draws on sources from Greek mythology to cyberspace. His examples range from IBM to the opera, and he explores creative analogies (“A strategy is like a great steak!”) that show his lively mind and openness to learning from all kinds of sources. This book is not just entertaining, it is also useful. Schmitt shares a host of tips for producing new ideas and provides a big jolt of energy to help you get started. Reading this might make you want to roll up your sleeves and change everything about your business. However, Schmitt is breezy about potential challenges – talking about revolutionizing your industry won’t do much good if you can’t pay your rent. Thoughts about innovation fall along a spectrum. On one end are people who believe that many small changes or experiments can add up to marked change and market superiority; on the other end are those who think you have to make radical innovation in a sudden leap. Schmitt is very much on that end of the innovation spectrum. getAbstract recommends this book to those looking to jump-start their creative engines, to eager innovators and, since Schmitt focuses mostly on conceptual thinking, to those who can supply their own details.

About the Author

Bernd H. Schmitt is the Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business at Columbia University, the author of Customer Experience Management and the co-author of several other books.