The Unexpected Power of Boundaries: Rethinking the Rules, Risks, and Real Drivers of Innovation
Sheri Jacobs
Amplify Publishing Group (March 2026)

How and why “innovation isn’t about removing all limits; It’s about designing better ones.”

Years ago, I asked John Kotter, “What seems to be the greatest challenge for change agents?” He replied, “Changing how they think about change.”  The same can be said of innovators.

Sheri Jacobs asserts — and I agree — that “innovation isn’t about removing all limits; it’s about designing better ones.” The challenge is to think innovatively about innovation.

As she observes, “Even the most creative and innovative minds need to first clearly understand the limitations and strategic priorities. Then, they need to build those nonnegotiables — whether the budget, infrastructure, or messaging — into their experimentation. Finally, they need to feel safe — both to speak up and mess up.”   (Page sxvi-xvii)

I agree with James O’Toole that the strongest resistance to innovation tends to be cultural in nature, by those  who are hostage to what he so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.”

Jacobs: “When people don’t know where the fences [i.e., boundaries, limits, restraints] lie,  they stick to what they know. They stay within predictable constructs already set up for them, complete with supervision and soft padding underneath.  They try to replicate initiatives and projects that have found success before. When there’s no clarity around what kind of experimentation their leaders support — even when they’ve been assured it’s okay to try and fail — teams don’t take more shots. They take fewer. Or none at all.”  (Page xvi)

This is what Charles Kettering had in mind when observing, “If you’ve always done it that way, you’re probably wrong.”

In The Unexpected Power of Boundaries, Jacobs provides information, insights, and counsel that focus on subjects and issues such as these:

o Solving the most important problems by asking/answering the right questions rather than trying to do EVERYTHING
o Devoting continuous attention to rethinking risk capacity and effective response capabilities
o Continuous evaluation and (if necessary) modification of organizational “boundaries”
o Nourishing a “culture of curiosity.”
o Following the “Good Catch” model

o Insisting on being told what you need to know, NOT what others think you want to hear…AND BE GRATEFUL FOR IT
o Embracing the “More tries, the better” philosophy: NEVER stop learning, unlearning, and relearning
o Ensuring that frontliners in your organization have the AUTHORITY as well as the responsibility for solving frontline problems
o Becoming a sniper by taking more “shots”: challenge, test, question, experiment; also, ask WHY, WHY NOT, WHAT IF, etc.)

Remember this observation by Peter Drucker: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

I highly recommend this book to everyone now preparing for a career in business or have only recently embarked upon one. I also highly recommend it to all managers who have direct reports entrusted to their care.

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading The Unexpected Power of Boundaries: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand,  record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Also, your responses to the end-of-chapter “Think Differently” exercises. Pay special attention to “Key Takeaways” lists and the end-of-chapter “Think” assessments.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.