In their new book, The Innovator's DNA, authors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gergersen, and Clayton M. Christensen build on the idea of disruptive innovation to explain how and why the Steve Jobses and Jeff Bezoses of the world are so successful. This excerpt from Chapter One summarizes the five discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from run-of-the-mill managers.

To profit from technology, companies need to change their strategy and begin selling the embodiment of that technology at the ever-shifting point of modular decoupling.

A major new study involving some 3,500 executives has highlighted the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs need to develop. The six-year-long research into disruptive innovation by INSEAD professor Hal Gregersen, Jeffrey Dyer of Brigham Young University and Clayton Christensen of Harvard, outlines five 'discovery' skills you need. But, says Gregersen, you don’t have to be ‘great in everything.’

About 95 percent of new products fail. The problem often is that their creators are using an ineffective market segmentation mechanism, according to HBS professor Clayton Christensen. It's time for companies to look at products the way customers do: as a way to get a job done.

Great firms can be undone by disruptors who analyze and exploit an incumbent's strengths and motivations. From Clayton Christensen's new book Seeing What's Next.

Managers know they need growth to survive-but innovation isn't easy. In this Harvard Management Update article, HBS professor Clayton Christensen and co-authors detail the six keys to creating new-growth businesses.

CIOs at established companies can help identify and foster disruptive innovation to ensure future growth in existing and emerging markets.

This is an excellent article from the author of The Innovator's Dilemma. It discusses his Resources-Processes-Values (RPV) framework for evaluating an organization's ability to innovate successfully. The author argues that most organizations focus too heavily on the most flexible variable - the resources whereas the less flexible processes and values have a greater importance on the success of new business initiatives.

Editor's Note: Read this one!