In the book Making Elephants Fly, author Steve Hoffman, writes about innovation in business. I was excited to read this book when I read the description. The book was good but I was disappointed that it was similar to many leadership books I have read before. The difference is the touting of Silicon Valley and their creativity through collaboration with very different people.
This is a good book with some good stories. I would recommend this book but it’s not going to give you anything wow or outstanding. If you are just beginning it will give you some good insights. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are no shortage of books fighting to be the one to tell and show the benefits of innovation, or even radical innovation. At times, it feels that there are more books talking about it than companies doing it and companies tend to underline how innovative they are or how innovation is now at the heart of its operations.

The author of this book does note, however, that relatively few business executives believe their companies are effective innovators, with so many effectively remaining on the starting grid. One reason, it is claimed, that they are using out-of-date techniques and restricted thinking. The solution? This book and a hard kick up the corporate backside. It can be understandable why there is a lot of talk and relatively little positive, viewable action.

Does the book’s messaging work? Well, try and find out?! It does emit an air of credibility that many other books lack and it could help you get ‘start-up thinking and energy’ into your own organization, irrespective of its size and progress-thus-far along the innovation journey. In any case, it is reasonably priced and if you don’t find it is the ultimate help for you, you are likely to easily get your money’s worth out of one or more data-points.

This book leaves me in a bit of a quandary. I didn’t form a direct connection with it, even though I do concur with the clear majority of its findings. It is far from being a waste of time, but I personally just did not enjoy its companionship although you may form an entirely different viewpoint. It certainly is worthwhile looking at in any case. For me, if it wasn’t a book under review, I expect I would have dipped in and out and still took some valuable information away but it would not have been a sequential cover-to-cover read.

It is written in a clear, understandable language and is fortunately devoid of a lot of hyperbole that similar books can be filled with. For that, alone, the reader should be truly thankful. Either buy-blind and prepare to be possibly ultimately happy, or check it out in a bookstore, but don’t walk on by regardless.



Making Elephants Fly, written by Steven Hoffman and published by FaithWords/Center Street. ISBN 9781478992943. YYYY