An Innovative Coincidence

As you probably know by now, the theme of our 2012 Global Spa Summit that will be held June 3-6 in Aspen in collaboration with the Aspen Institute is going to be “Innovation Through Imagination.” I am astounded at how many new books have recently been published on this topic. It certainly is timely – all around the world.  It might be a fun thing to add a few of them to your reading list between now and the June Summit (maybe even over the holidays?).

One such book, The DNA of Disruptive Innovators by Kyer, Gregersen and Christensen, got my attention right away with this statement on the first page, “The ability to innovate is the ‘secret sauce’ of business success.”  Indeed. Other books on my list include the brand new Relentless Innovation by Jeffrey Philipps, John Kao’s Innovation Nation and From Imagination to Innovation by Samli.  I notice there are so many others to choose from and many from different countries around the world.

I want to draw your attention to another book – this one is currently on the NY Times Best Seller list.   It is about one of the greatest innovators of our time, founder of Apple (among other companies) Steve Jobs. The book was written by Walter Isaacson.

Here is the uncanny coincidence.  The author, Walter Isaacson, happens to be the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. You might enjoy reading a bit more about him as well as the Aspen Institute, its history, accomplishments and future goals.

No one could have known over a year and a half ago, when we were discussing a possible collaboration with the Institute, that: a) Steve Jobs would pass away October 5th, 2011 b) the Steve Jobs book would come out October 24, 2011, and c) based on our surveys and Salon Dinners, the designated theme for our Summit would be “Innovation Through Imagination.”

It makes it very exciting to see that we have truly plugged into today’s Zeitgeist and, I think, it speaks to the exciting 2012 that we have in front of us.  Imagination and innovation will no doubt play a key role in our individual endeavors and for our industry as a whole.