Thought Leadership
Bruce’s work reflects decades of experience in industry and sustained research into how innovation occurs within established companies.
His writing addresses two related questions. How can small and medium-sized mature enterprises renew themselves within the practical limits of their time, people, and resources? And how can larger organizations identify and support the individuals who repeatedly create and deliver Breakthrough Innovation?
The two books below approach those questions from different, but complementary, perspectives.
Research and practical guidance for innovation in established companies
No-Excuses Innovation:
Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises
Small and medium-sized mature enterprises need to renew themselves, but they rarely have the specialized teams, large budgets, or tolerance for failure available to major corporations.
No-Excuses Innovation, co-authored with Walter Herbst and published by Stanford University Press in 2022, examines the particular conditions that shape innovation in these companies. It offers practical guidance for owners and leaders who want to make innovation more focused, manageable, and appropriate to the company’s resources and circumstances.
The book recognizes that leaders cannot put daily operating responsibilities aside while they search for future growth. Limited resources do not excuse inaction, but they do require an approach suited to the company’s size, capabilities, and priorities.
Serial Innovators:
How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms
Established companies often invest heavily in innovation processes, systems, and governance. These elements matter, particularly when a company is managing incremental innovation across a large organization. However, they do not fully explain where Breakthrough Innovation comes from.
Serial Innovators, co-authored with Abbie Griffin and Ray Price and published by Stanford University Press in 2012, examines the exceptional individuals who repeatedly recognize valuable opportunities, connect technical and commercial insights, solve difficult problems, and move important ideas toward realization.
These individuals are embedded within established companies and are rarely known outside them. Their contributions, however, can be substantial and disproportionate. The book considers how Serial Innovators think and work, along with what organizations can do to identify, develop, support, manage, and retain them.
Featured Podcasts
Bruce has discussed his research and experience in a number of podcasts, interviews, and recorded conversations. The selections below—a series with Thinkers50 Innovation Award-winning host Aidan McCullen—provide useful introductions to several of the ideas explored in his books and advisory work.
Serial Innovators: The Hidden Power Inside Mature Firms
A discussion of the individuals working within established organizations who repeatedly recognize opportunities, solve difficult problems, and create important value.
The Hourglass Model of Innovation
An exploration of how innovation moves from a broad range of possibilities toward focused development, implementation, and business results.
The Politics of Breakthrough Innovation
A conversation about the organizational dynamics, competing interests, and leadership decisions that can either support or hinder important innovation efforts.
Finding, Developing, and Managing Serial Innovators
Practical guidance for leaders responsible for identifying exceptional innovators and creating the conditions in which they can succeed.
Scholarly Contribution to the Benefit of Society
Through his research, Bruce has made meaningful contributions to his fields of study and, in turn, society. While their impact is evident indirectly—on our nation’s defense, on the largest of firms, on medium-sized companies and their local and regional economies—his scholarly contributions are well documented in his two books, five invited book chapters, seventy-one peer-reviewed journal publications, fifty-two conference presentations, and four U.S. patents.
His research career consists of two distinct phases, a first twenty-five-year stream (1977 to 2002) in the general field of physical electronics and a second more than twenty-five-year stream (1999 to present) in the general field of strategic technology management and breakthrough innovation.
His work in physical electronics included research on photonic, electronic, and acoustic technologies at the materials, components, and subsystems levels of the value chain. This stream yielded fifty-seven publications in refereed journals and twenty-four conference presentations. Highlight accomplishments include the first demonstration of the quantum-well laser, now used in essentially all DVD and CD players; demonstration of the low temperature dependence of threshold current in quantum-well lasers; characterization and resulting improvement of epitaxial crystals grown over submicron metal gratings for novel high-speed transistors; and first demonstration of laser operation of a doping superlattice.
His work in strategic technology management and breakthrough innovation grew out of seeking to better understand tactical and strategic planning in technology management. To date, this stream has yielded two books, five invited book chapters, fourteen publications in refereed journals, and twenty-eight conference presentations. This work has generated significant industry interest and impact, resulting in numerous presentations and workshops for industry audiences. Highlight contributions include reframing innovation in terms of innovation exemplars, clarifying the nature of internal innovation politics and how to address it, and providing concise guidance to small- and medium-sized mature firms on how best to survive and thrive.
Schedule a Conversation
Bruce welcomes conversations with leaders interested in exploring how these ideas apply within their organizations.