Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak say that some managers have found ways to improve their odds of success in the risky but essential game of a idea management. In What's the Big Idea?, they introduce a largerly unsung class of managers they call "idea practitioners" indiiduals who do the real work of importing and implementing new ideas into businesses. While gurus reap most of the credit when big ideas take flight, Davenport and Prusak's research reveals that idea practitioners actually play the most important role : They turn the right ideas into action.

Drawing from decades of consulting, academic, and business experience and from their novel study of more than 100 of these critical change leaders, What's the big Idea? offers tolls and frameworks for :

* Assessing the merits of the top business gurus

* Scanning and tracking emerging ideas in the marketplace

* Distinguishing promising ideas from rhetoric

* Refining ideas to suit your organization's particular needs

* Packaging and selling the idea internally

* Ensuring successful implementation

Davenport and Prusak prove that there are no faddish management ideas - only faddish ways of adopting them. Encouraging managers to embrace the power of ideas while avoiding the hype that often accompanies them, this pragmatic guide shows how passion and reason combine to build innovative companies.