Red Thread Thinking by Debra Kaye - Book review

Red Thread Thinking

Weaving Together Connections for Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation

By: Debra Kaye

Published: February 5, 2013
Forat: Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0071808213
ISBN-13: 978-0071808217
Publisher: McGraw-Hill










"Being innovative is not reserved for a few special people. Red Thread Thinking proves that we all have the power to design and develop thoughts into things", writes global innovation and brands strategist, and partner at Lucule Consulting, Debra Kaye in her revolutionary and breakthrough oriented book Red Thread Thinking: Weaving Together Connections for Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation. The author describes how innovation is an individual event and must be addressed on personal scale, and shares the practical skills and techniques to guide the innovator to success.

Debra Kaye understands that creativity and imagination are essential components of the innovative process. The author cautions that people must make a clear distinction between the ideas of creativity and of innovation. To be considered an innovation, someone else must see the value in it for the market, and to have staying power the innovation must have attractive charisma. While individuals may be innovators within organizations, Debra Kaye points out that the very nature of corporate behavior works against innovation. The good news, according to the author, is that anyone can learn the techniques and skills that spur creativity resulting in breakthrough innovations that are sought after in the marketplace.



Debra Kaye (photo left) recognizes the critical importance of innovation to an health and future of a company. In today's rapidly changing economy and marketplace, innovation is more crucial than ever for the very survival of the business. As a result, Debra Kaye offers the insight that not only must individuals become more innovative, but they must make innovation an integral part of their lives and thought process.

Debra Kaye provides the five principles of what she calls Red Thread thinking, based on the interconnectedness of ideas. The five ways are as follows:

* Innovation: It's all in your head
* Everything old is new
* People: The strangest animals in the zoo
* What you see is what you get
* The force of passion

For me, the power of the book is how Debra Kay combines the connective power of the Red Thred Thinking process, with the techniques and tactics to use those threads to innovate effectively. The author takes and individual approach to innovation, while carefully pointing out that any individual can be an innovator, to avoid that old rare genius innovator trap. The author demonstrates how and why an individual is the starting point for innovation, and why organizational culture change methods so often fail to materialize.

Debra Kaye goes beyond the standard approaches to creative thinking and innovation, and presents evidence that while the two concepts are related, they are not the same thing. The author also shares the important lesson that an innovation must be seen as having value in the marketplace, and have some outstanding quality to give it staying power within that market. Debra Kaye also augments the ideas of interconnected ideas with case studies of the principles of Red Thread Thinking in action in the real world.

I highly recommend the results oriented and insightful book Red Thread Thinking: Weaving Together Connections for Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation by Debra Kaye, to any business leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and would be innovators seeking an effective, individual based approach to innovation. This book will transform anyone who learns the insights and practices of Red Thread Thinking into powerful and profitable innovators.