Innovation the Cleveland Clinic Way: Transforming Healthcare by Putting Ideas to Work

The book contains fundamental information for creating a culture of Innovation in a hospital setting. From planning stage to its execution.

Very informative

Sadly this is a case of a great story that frustratingly is not fully realised. The book’s mission is simple: to look at the innovative, transformative power of the Cleveland Clinic and show how ideas can be put to work. Yet the book just didn’t cut it.Instead of being an energy-packed celebration of innovation, buzzing with enthusiasm and take-out points to allow people to integrate innovation into their own business, this book just felt flat, sounding more like a hype-filled “infomercial” or glossy publicity brochure. What went wrong and why did it leave this reviewer so cold? There was a lot of good material within, but it was overshadowed by the relentless advertorial-style that resonated throughout.This reviewer has read about some of the successes and positive developments that the Cleveland Clinic has enjoyed in other books and magazines and thus was quite excited to read a more detailed, deep-dive into this subject. It was not meant to be. Whilst there is a lot of material that will give chapter and verse about the clinic’s operations and structure, it just failed to grab one’s attention. Push aside the PR-veneer and it felt a little too average and lacklustre.Publicity material for the book promised that it is “…packed with enterprising solutions and inspiring examples (it) will equip any individual or institution seeking to affect purposeful transformation. Use these best practices to put ideas to work and turn yours into a high-innovation organization.” Physician, heal thyself! Read thy book before you lecture others.The author is no slouch: he is the chief innovation officer and vice chairman of orthopaedic surgery at the clinic, with nearly 50 worldwide patents to his name amongst other honours. So what happened? Here is a great story just waiting to be told yet it managed to alienate and frustrate this reader. It would be wrong to speculate, at least publicly, yet it feels as if the patient was rushed out of the consulting room and a fairly big problem was not observed in the haste.If you are prepared to dig deep, there are undoubtedly good nuggets to pull out of this book although it may be an arduous task. The good doctor should rush his patient back to the hospital and deploy a bit of cosmetic surgery to make them really shine.

A fantastic book by a great author! Tom Graham, you rock!