Readers of this blog might be familiar with books on innovation by authors like Steven Johnson, Stephen Shapiro, Clay Christensen, and others. How do the ideas we read in these books get put to use? Are they just words on pages or screens, or do they translate to our activities?

UK publisher Visual Editions are not a business imprint, but they are certainly innovators. This morning, I received a copy of their latest publication, Composition No. 1 by Marc Saporta. The book is a series of unbound pages, housed in a hard box. The idea is that the reader mixes the pages and reads the story however it unfolds. This, of course, allows any number of ‘books’ to emerge. A note inside the box mentions that the instinct against this process is “almost overwhelming.” And that made me think about not only innovation, but the reaction to it.

It is challenging enough to think of how to change something, how to better a process, and how to revolutionize an industry, let alone convince people not to expect the same thing they’ve always received, or follow the steps they’ve always followed.

Change, or innovation, is about more than just making something new, it’s about leading people to a different place. How will you get them to follow you?