ON Innovation

Every business needs to innovate, but few know where to start. ON Innovation, gives leaders seventy-two simple but powerful ideas they can use to create a more innovative organization. Drawing from his experience as founder and CEO at Travelocity.com and from the ten other startups where he’s worked, Jones helps readers turn innovation from an academic exercise into an everyday skill. The stories from his career and personal experiences provide well-chosen real world illustrations of how challenging, and ultimately rewarding, it can be to gather a team and establish a culture that is open to change and is committed to innovation as the way to do business. The short chapters seem to be perfectly tailored to today’s time crunched business leaders. It’s easy to envision readers doing what’s advised in “How To Read This Book”: opening it to a random chapter when they’re facing a challenge and drawing inspiration from wherever then land.

This is a very accessible, easy-to-read look at innovation in the workplace. The stories from the author’s career and personal experiences provide well-chosen, real-world illustrations of how challenging, and ultimately rewarding, it can be to gather a team and establish a culture that is open to change and new ideas, and that is committed to innovation as the way to do business. The short chapters seem to be perfectly tailored to today’s time-crunched businessmen and businesswomen. It’s easy to envision readers doing exactly as you advised in “How to Read This Book”: opening it to a random chapter when they’re facing a challenge and drawing inspiration from wherever they land.

Terry Jones is chairman of Kayak and founder of Travelocity. He’s worked in the travel industry for forty years. For the last ten years he’s been speaking and consulting with companies on innovation and change. He had a twenty-year career at American Airlines and their SABRE division, serving in a variety of executive positions, including chief information officer. A graduate of Denison University (in history), Terry started his career as a travel agent in Chicago after spending the year after college traveling around the world. Shortly after entering the travel business, he cofounded a travel agency in Chicago specializing in travel to the Soviet Union. In five years it became a top business travel agency and a leader in automation. He then jumped to information technology, accepting a job with a company that sold minicomputers to travel agents. When that company was sold to American Airlines, he began as a director in product marketing, later working as vice president of applications development and vice president of computer operations. While at American and SABRE, he led the team of ten who began the development of Travelocity and, as CEO,took the company public. Today he serves on five boards of directors, consults, and serves as an expert witness. He is also a very active speaker to corporations and associations, speaking ON Innovation and on building digital relationships with customers. He lives with his wife, Ginny, near Lake Tahoe.