The biggest challenge facing innovation today is neither creativity nor entrepreneurship; it is helping people to understand something that doesn't yet exist, something abstract. Although this abstraction already exists in the mind of its creator, the words and practical examples to provide clarity to others are still missing.

For this reason, at the outset of the innovation process, it is important not to try too hard to prove that your ideas will work but start by using your passion to convince other people to join you - and make them work. The only way to achieve this is by storytelling and metaphors.

The creation of a new type of organisation is the central theme of this story. Today’s organisations try to be innovative but can’t. They were conceived with the wrong mental models. What I am talking about is a new breed of organisation that doesn’t yet exist: organisations built to innovate. And that is why I will have to use storytelling and metaphors.

This book will support passionate and creative entrepreneurs in their quest to create innovative organisations by introducing a new mindset for organisational development or culture innovation.

To do this, the book will tell a comprehensive story that will take you from the turbulent waves of the ocean to the dense foliage of the jungle. It is a story that is made up of different parts. In Part I we will see that the organisations of tomorrow can no longer be organised as they were in the past. The business environment has changed so much that we need a new vocabulary to explain the difference. For this reason the terms ‘2D’ and ‘3D’ have been introduced into the world of organisational development. 2D-organisations are organisations of the past and 3D-organisations are organisations of the future. To explain the difference, I use the metaphor of a barge struggling to survive in unexplored, stormy waters. Once you have read this part of the book, I guarantee that you will never again talk about ‘an organisation’ but will start talking about 2D and 3D-organisations.

Part II introduces a new metaphor. Organisations cannot survive in fast moving 3D-environments without completely rethinking their process of innovation. To illustrate this, the Red Monkey serves as a symbol for a radical and confrontational idea, trying to survive in our dangerous jungle. This part explains the different forces which stimulate innovation and those which sabotage it. You have to know how the politics of innovation work. Without this knowledge you will not succeed in Red Monkey® Innovation Management.

In Part III we will discuss the different types of management. 2D-organisations are managed by 2D-managers, while 3D-organisations need to be managed by 3D-managers. The difference between these two types of manager is large – dramatically large. This book explains why we need to make a seismic shift in management style, in order to create an organisation where innovation can develop organically. If organisations succeed in making this transition, an ever increasing Red Monkey® Innovation Process will start which will enable these organisations to survive in the 3D-era.

The final part of our journey highlights the importance of culture innovation and its direct effects on your business. It is impossible to transform a 2D-organisation into a 3D-organisation by simply doing the same things better. The company culture has to change so dramatically that you have no option but to embrace creative entrepreneurship in the field of culture development and culture innovation. Business innovation and culture innovation need to become equally important, if you want to achieve an innovative organisation in the 3D-era.