Customer Reviews:
 An MBA and BS degree in a book! January 23, 2008
Sumptra
Mr. Cogliandro's book contains so many useful anecdotes, charts, summaries and strategies it is a must have for any business person or engineer. He is also listed in many newspaper articles as an inventor in Raytheon's Oil Shale technology sold to Schlumberger
 Relevant and Accessible for Any Interested in the Innovative Process May 21, 2007
Curious Traveller
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In Intelligent Innovation, John Cogliandro accomplishes what few people have--a discussion of the relatively complex subject of innovation in a way that anyone can understand. No doubt, this work brings substantive insight to the seasoned innovation professional. Yet it is written in such a lucid, interesting fashion that anyone with an interest in innovation would find it worthwhile. Few books on this subject can make such a claim.
Excellent Tool for your Business Toolbox May 13, 2007
Steve Waddell (Hampton Roads, VA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mr. Cogliandro has provided an excellent new resource to inspire innovation and creativity. His book takes a systems engineering approach to solving the innovation delimma, yet it does so in a creative, first-person conversational approach making it easy to read. He does this by expertly weaving a conversation on a plane with a woman seated next to him right off the bat in Chapter 1, which sets the tone for the chapters that follow: "Finally, she looked over at me and said 'Engineering is for geeks. Innovation is more important.' I said "they are intertwined, synonymous, codependent.' 'Prove it,' she said, while rolling over to sleep again." (for the rest, you have to buy the book!)
Chapter 7, entitled "A Prioritization Method", takes the Stephen Covey approach to prioritization (big rocks, little rocks) and applies it to managing the business. It's an excellent approach that many businesses lose sight of, and is just one example of what's available inside.
Congrats to Mr. Cogliandro for an inspirational addition to the current literature on innovation!
Thorough and insightful March 27, 2007
GimmeSomeD (boston, ma)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are an executive who put down your copy of Gordon MacKenzie's Orbiting the Giant Hairball and said, "Now what?" then this book is for you.
MacKenzie's book was a good table-setter, so to speak: shattering assumptions, tweaking corporate conventions, and sparking creativity in a general sense. But eventually one must step up to the plate and put a plan into action, and here Cogliandro's book takes over. It is not a how-to book, because the very point of innovation is that it can't be a paint-by-numbers process. Intelligent Innovation instead approaches innovation from a systemic perspective, asking how it can be established at every level, from the moment that the idea is scribbled on the proverbial napkin to the moment that the finished product is sent out into the marketplace. His point is that innovation MUST occur at every level; that an enterprise is only as strong as it's least innovative link, and he uses the broad metaphor of a turbine engine to successfully reinforce this idea. This book is for those who are responsible for ensuring that productive and competitive thinking can't end on Tuesday morning, once Monday afternoon's brainstorming meeting ends.
Cogliandro conveys an impressive knowledge and a comprehensive understanding of the innovation process, including many case studies and such information as an analysis of stock price as it relates to product launch. He also provides sample action plans and timetables, and a helpful self-assessment (the I-Quotient) which should be tremendously useful to any organization that is willing to ask itself whether it is adequately equipped to be innovative. Once you are inspired to innovate, this book should be a great resource.
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