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by Chuck Swoboda (Author)
2021 Axiom Business Book Award Winner in Business Intelligence/Innovation
Innovation isn't optional--it's imperative
Everyone wants to create new products and services, find new customers and markets, stay ahead of the competition, and work smarter instead of harder. Yet with all the focus and attention on innovation, the term has become an overused buzzword rather than a real, tangible concept. If you want to seriously pursue innovation--you need to strip away the hype.
Real innovators need to transcend the existing ideas, rules, and patterns to discover exciting new outcomes. They must step outside the best practice box and get their hands dirty. The spirit of a true innovator is rooted in wanting to do something that has never been done before, to solve problems that have never been solved, and to run through walls and leap over tall buildings to get there.
In The Innovator's Spirit, author Chuck Swoboda--retired chairman and CEO of Cree, a company that fundamentally changed the way people experience light and drove the obsolescence of the Edison light bulb--explains that innovation is fundamentally about people and shows his readers how to develop a mindset of creativity, risk-taking, and hard work. He also instills in them a belief that there is always a better way.
Author Biography
Chuck Swoboda is the Innovator-in-Residence at Marquette University, President of Cape Point Advisors, and the retired Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc. During his time with Cree, the company led the LED Lighting Revolution that drove the obsolescence of the Edison light bulb. He is an author, speaker, and host of the Innovators on Tap podcast and has over thirty years of experience in the technology business.
In 2010, Chuck was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year for the Carolinas. During his time as CEO, Cree was recognized as MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies for 2014 and as one of Fast Companies World's 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2015. Chuck holds an electrical engineering degree from Marquette University (1989), where he served on the Board of Trustees for 12 years. He and his wife live in Cary, North Carolina. When he's not writing or working, you will likely find him fishing on Bald Head Island.
