Written by Harvard leadership scholar Linda Hill with
co-authors Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove and Kent Lineback, this fascinating book
demonstrates that sustained innovation requires a special kind of leadership,
as exemplified by Sung-Joo Kim and other renowned business leaders. Linda Hill spent a decade studying leaders of innovative
firms in the US, Europe, and Asia, including such companies as Pixar, Google, IBM and Sungjoo Group.
Collective Genius captures best practices from global
leaders in a compelling and concise manner and demonstrates the opportunity to
apply a common business ethos across diverse industries. In chapters that take the
reader deep into the worlds of these extraordinary individuals, Collective
Genius reveals how they think and what they do to unleash and then harness the
“collective genius” of those they lead.
“Innovation is not the domain of one individual in an
organisation; it occurs where there is empowerment and teamwork,” concludes Linda
Hill.
Linda Hill’s words have been echoed by Sung-Joo Kim
throughout her illustrious business career, in which she attributes the success
of her company to her mission-driven approach. Collective Genius traces
Sung-Joo Kim’s unique family background and rise to career success through
persistence and extraordinary vision. Rejecting her traditional Korean family’s
desire for her not to pursue a career, she overcame myriad obstacles and
founded a billion-dollar company that competes with today’s luxury behemoths.
Inclusive corporate culture
Through her ownership of the global luxury brand MCM, Sung-Joo
Kim succeeded in creating a new kind of luxury that symbolised the freedom and
empowerment of women. As she states in the book: “I wanted to define a 21st
century luxury – for the stylish working woman who had multiple identities and
craved luxurious, high quality products that could help her live a better
life.”
Sung-Joo Kim, who grew up in a male-dominated, patriarchal
Korea, set out to create an inclusive, welcoming corporate culture, hiring
women like herself. “I believed the only way Korea could strengthen its global
competitiveness was by waking up its women and equipping them with world-class
capabilities.”
She is also a great believer in how overcoming adversity can
instil in women an “emotional quotient” that enables them to do great global
work. Encouraging open debate and finding ways to bring teams together to
collaborate – and innovate – are also cited as among the many secrets to her
company’s success.
Collective Genius has been awarded the gold medal in the Leadership
category of the 2104 Axiom Business Book Awards, the largest and most respected
critical guidepost for business books in today's new world of publishing.
Author Linda Hill gave a TEDx talk about Collective Genius
and it has had 1,100,000 views in just a few months since it went live on the
TED website. Collective Genius has been translated into four languages with
more to come, and has had three reprints.
