Deloitte's Michael Raynor Shows Ways to Create Transformational Growth Through Disruptive Innovation in New Book, The Innovator's Manifesto

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Aug 09, 2011, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- We've come to accept that innovation is a game of luck with no way to predict success. In his third book, The Innovator's Manifesto: Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth (Crown Business), Dr. Michael E. Raynor, director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, argues innovation can be much more predictable than most people think, and careful, straightforward application of Disruption Theory can deliver dramatic improvements in the survival rates of new businesses.

Flying in the face of the traditional methods of innovation, Raynor's rigorously researched and carefully-tested predictive method will find an eager audience with anyone interested in successful innovation – from corporate strategy officers and executives to entrepreneurs, venture capital firms, investors and M&A professionals.

"Case studies of past results are a weak foundation for predicting future outcomes," said Raynor. "And the increasingly popular 'fail fast to learn soon' approach to innovation can work, but is also unnecessarily wasteful. In my opinion, the proven rules to determine future success lie in Disruption Theory, discovered by Clayton Christensen in 1992. Disruption happens when new solutions to customer needs topple old ones by building from a foothold in very different, and typically much less attractive, market segments. There are lots of other theories of innovation out there, but Disruption is likely the only one that has evidence to support the claim that it can improve the odds of predicting success."

In the book's foreword, Christensen, states that with The Innovator's Manifesto, Raynor "is playing a central role in transforming the management of innovation from an art to a science. This will truly be a landmark work."

In addition to demonstrating the usefulness and application of Disruption Theory, the book also explores:

Companies that are currently developing new business opportunities with the explicit intent of realizing Disruptive growth;
How to identify which innovations have an increased likelihood of success, when their success will likely arrive, and how long it will likely last; and
Why Disruption is unlikely – and perhaps impossible -- for some industries.

Raynor coauthored The Innovator's Solution, with Christensen in 2003, which was a Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller and winner of several "best book of the year" awards. His second book, The Strategy Paradox was released in 2007, and was named by BusinessWeek as one of the year's "10 best business books."

He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Harvard University, his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and his Doctorate in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.