Co-Create: How Your Business Will Profit from Innovative and Strategic Collaboration
David Nour
St,. Martin’s Press (May 2017)

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” African proverb

I agree with David Nour: “Co-creation of value takes a certain level of respect, trust, intimacy, and, most important, an authentic commitment to one another best interests.” This can happen between and among people within an organization, especially when the organization is multi-cultural in nature and international is scope. It can also happen between one organization and its customers, strategic allies, project partners, co-members of a federation, and even competitors.

Moreover, individuals as well as organization and teams can co-create. Nour identifies examines each of “the Six Phases of Strategic Relationships.” Details are best revealed within his narrative. Suffice to say that these relationships are most successful when they achieve common goals that serve self-interests.

For example, consider adaptive innovation. In Chapter Two, Nour explains

o What it requires of an organization’s various functions
o How “listening louder” brings relevant information to light
o The impact of faint market signals
o How to verify, validate, modify, or void critical assumptions
o Why pilots and prototypes are essential
o How needs-based segmentation of customers also fuels adaptive innovation

I commend David Nour on the abundance of information, insights, and counsel that he provides in this volume. Presumably he agrees with me, however, that it would be a fool’s errand for those who read his book to then attempt to apply all (or most) of his material. It remains for each of them to select what is most appropriate.

That said, all organizations – no matter what their size and nature may be – need to establish and then nourish a workplace culture within which innovative and strategic collaboration is most likely to flourish. How to do that? First, read this book, highlighting key passages in process, and then read it again. Next, share this book with an associate, a kindred spirit, who is most likely to “get it.” Finally, co-create a mini-action plan to engage others in a discussion that will guide and inform collaborative efforts.