Pivotal Shifts: Innovating To Differentiate

I had the great pleasure of joining Tony Martignetti on “The Virtual Campfire” podcast. Here’s the description of our episode. Stephen Shapiro joins Tony Martignetti to share his incredible journey of overcoming adversity and the importance of pivotal shifts in finding deeper meaning in his life and work. From his early passion for music, his […]
Soundview Executive Book Summary of PIVOTAL

Soundview Executive Book® Summaries has condensed my over 200-page book into six power-packed pages. And I would like to give you this summary. Here’s the first page… We all long for stability. This is so when change arises, we know how to react and know we have what is needed to make the best choice. […]
Classical Music, Jazz, Innovation, and Me Jamming on the Sax

I recently unearthed some videos from 25 years ago of a speech I gave in Nice, France. In the middle of the presentation, I whipped out my saxophone and started jamming with a band. We hadn’t prepared or discussed what we would play—it was 100% improvised. That was the point of the talk. I shared […]
If Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, Then Harvard Business Review, I’m Truly Flattered

I published PIVOTAL: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World four months ago after two and a half years of writing. The premise is simple: In an ever-changing world, we must slow down the pivoting and instead focus on what doesn’t change. As far as I know, this is a unique concept that I haven’t seen […]
How Can You Become Pivotal in Your Personal Life?

I recently had the great privilege of being on AJ Harper’s Monday Night Reads. She invites authors to read chapters of their book to a live audience. During our hour together, we discussed my book PIVOTAL. Although part of the conversation was about how organizations can become pivotal, my favorite part was when we discussed […]
10 Unconventional Questions to Stimulate Innovation

The standard questions associated with innovation often lead us down the wrong path. Here are ten questions you can ask your team to help you move in the right direction. ‘Instead of asking, “What’s the next big trend?“, ask, “What will remain constant in our industry over the next 5 to 10 years?“ Instead of […]
A Pivotal Summary

Pivotal means being of crucial importance. It is not about shifting direction. And in today’s uncertain world, creating stability is the only way to become pivotal. Maybe you are too busy and don’t have time to read my 40,000-word book on this topic. But do you have 2 minutes to read a 400-word summary? My […]
ChangeThis Manifesto – Innovate Where You Differentiate

In 2010, Personality Poker was selected as one of the top five innovation books of the year by Porchlight Book Company (then 800-CEO-READ). In 2011, they selected Best Practices Are Stupid as the best innovation and creativity book of the year. And today, they published my ChangeThis manifesto titled “Innovate Where You Differentiate.” They asked […]
PIVOTAL and AI (part 1)

In my latest book PIVOTAL, I share a powerful framework called the Innovation Targeting Matrix (ITM). It helps you target the best investments for your innovation efforts. It is also extremely useful for helping you prioritize investments in AI. This six-minute video introduces the ITM. The entire video can be watched by signing up at […]
#1 New Release in Strategic Management

Two days ago, PIVOTAL launched. The conversations on social media were incredible, and the early feedback has been phenomenal. As an added bonus, the book was a #1 new release in the Strategy Management category. But for me, it’s less about rankings and sales, and more about impact. My hope is to get the book […]