The intersection of the innovator and the customer resembles the intersection of an artist and their audience. Resemblances include a performance, celebrations, getting past perfectionism, creating moments that matter, and building a legacy.

An innovation team that emulates the arts has a competitive advantage. These culture traits include balance, vigilance, rejection, failure, and resilience.

An innovation team that emulates the arts has a collaborative advantage. These culture traits include safety, authenticity, welcoming beginners, trust, listening, practicing, and rehearsing together.

Innovation should take inspiration from an expanded view of the Performing Arts - the Empathetic Arts. The world of innovation has much to learn, benefit, and profit from audience-centric collaboration that has a great employee experience.

Of course not every team member is immediately aligned. Some stakeholders work to undermine the mission, the sense of teamwork, or an individual. Without actually using Aikido in your office, you need tools to neutralize contrarians without injuring them.

A highly competitive world leads to being self-absorbed and self-conscious. Hyper-competition undermines teamwork and collaboration. Improv practices help you commit to collaboration and co-creation. Join the world of “Yes, And.”

Your customers and employees have enough negative experiences and surprises. With a methodology that enforces collaboration and elegance, you can create positive surprises. Build Moments That Matter.

Although your innovation team is not literally a symphony, you should manage it like one because you want all the same things: accountability, clarity, harmony, attention to detail, synchronization, forgiveness, and a great performance. The language, habits, and culture of making music form a Graceful Factory.

Ruthless Grace is the combination of discipline and empathy. Ruthless - not cruelty or punishment - but the likelihood of a sunrise and sunset tomorrow. Grace reminds us that we are human and our teams are human.

Although your innovation team is not literally a theater company, you should manage it like one because you want all the same things: a great environment, a great story for your customers, a great experience for your actors, auditions for the right roles, a sense of belonging, low re-invention of the wheel, and the integration of numerous moving parts. Memories, Moments That Matter, and a Standing Ovation.

Three metaphors give structure to the book. The metaphor of a factory shapes the Why. The metaphor of an Asset Portfolio - a documentation inventory forms the What. The metaphor of the Performing Arts shapes the How of the Innovation Factory.

Everything you learn on the dance floor is valuable off the dance floor - especially on an innovation team. Hygiene, attentiveness, self-awareness, trust, mechanics, style, mistakes, gentleness, community, diversity, interchangeability, and elasticity. The learning never stops. Leaders, meet your partner where they are!