Serendipity and Next Practice

My new book is a story of serendipity. The story started when I was appointed as Dean of Hay Group Research Center for Strategy Execution in 2009 (Hay Group became Korn Ferry since 2015). The centre was the result of a collaboration between the Economic Development Board (EDB) Singapore and Hay Group McClelland Center for Research and Innovation in Boston, U.S.A. One of the centre’s mission was to create innovation in strategy execution.

This brings me to the first serendipity. I was never leading any research centre before, and Hay Group’s board decision to select me as the Dean remains a mystery until today. But my lack of experience helped me realize that being a novice can be advantageous in the process of innovation.

I tried to learn about many types of innovation theories and models. My newness in this field brought me to the second serendipity, when I asked the fundamental question - “Are we born innovative?”. If I had an extensive training on innovation, I would have never asked such a question and this book would have never seen the light.

I moved to the academic world when my time with the centre ended. I got an offer to collaborate to create a new module at INSEAD. The constraint to create something novel for a top business school in the world led me to my third serendipity. I created my 1st next practice, a module called “Org 2.0”. I later learned that picking the right constraint spur novelty.

When I moved to NUS business school where I continue to create a series of next practice modules from Consulting 2.0 to People Strategy. I help students and clients unearth their own next practice, which brings me to my final serendipity - discovering a mechanism to create a next practice through experimentation.

This next practice mechanism, which is elaborated in great detail in my book, I hope can benefit not only anyone who desires to do one of most powerful type of innovation - Next Practice, but also to anyone who inspires to have a better life by escaping from their own System 1.

Available Now at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Escape-System-Unlocking-Science-Innovation/dp/9815009311