In the words of the great philosopher Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

If you are at all like me, it is difficult to find the time to follow Steven R. Covey’s advice to “Sharpen the Saw” (Habit #7, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”).

Covey, like Bueller, reminds us that our greatest asset is the individuality that makes each of us unique. It is our responsibility to keep our engines tuned through balance and self-renewal.

A key component of my approach to balance and self-renewal is to prioritize time to consume materials recommend to me by people whom I respect. Last week a friend and mentor sent me a copy of Scott D. Anthony’s latest book, “The Little Black Book of Innovation.” If you have not read this book and you are interested in staying ahead of the “innovation curve,” I highly recommend you drop what you are doing and read this book now.

Here are the top 10 things I learned about innovation from my read of “The Little Black Book of Innovation”:

1. "Innovation: Something different that has impact." -Scott D. Anthony
2. "In today's world, innovation is not a choice. If you do not innovate you are sowing the seeds of your own destruction." -Scott D. Anthony
3. "Your 1st idea is wrong. The key to success is more about learning fast than it is about being fast." -Tal Golan (synthesized from TLBBOI).
4. "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." -Mike Tyson
5. "Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison
6. "The empathy that comes from taking another's perspectives can help you see things you might otherwise have missed." -Scott D. Anthony
7. "The customer rarely buys what the company thinks they are selling." -Peter Drucker
8. "Customers don't want 3/4" drills. They want 3/4" holes." -Ted Levitt
9. "To do something different, you have to do something different." -Dave Goulet
10. “Good artists copy; Great artists steal.” -Pablo Picasso

About the author:

Tal Golan (@TalGolan) is Salesforce’s Sr. Director helping customers transform their businesses through the creation of Innovation & Transformation Centers.

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