R Builders Book Club – An Exercise in Innovation

As an avid reader, I am often sharing and talking about what I’ve learned. I shared some of my most influential books on the topic of Innovation in a presentation I gave for the AIA Austin a while back.

I selected the 7 most impactful books which I had read and asked the R Builders team to read them, discuss them and ask what out of these books they would like to implement in the company.  But it was more than that. I told them these books have had an impact on me, and that I wanted to share them with the team. I would pay for the books, provide them on Audible.  The team could read or listen on company time and a progressive bonus would be paid for the number of books that were read and for completing this exercise as a group.

We were 12 strong at the time, and I told them that I was prepared to invest $6-8,000 of company money towards this exercise but only they could determine if the initiative would provide a return to the company.  Would it pay us back?

Ten-times even 100-times the investment!

This book club is how I introduced Innovation to my team. Why did I pick these books out of the hundreds I have read? I to share with the people I work with the opportunity to learn and grow.

What did I learn? That when the people are implementing innovation in the company that they work for…their level of satisfaction increases, which has an exponential positive impact.