Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change

Change is the only constant. Learn to be a change-maker. In Imagine It Forward, Beth Comstock, the former vice chair of GE, describes her twenty-five year efforts to be an instigator of change at every level of business. When she first moved from NBC to parent company GE in 1998, she was ignored as a woman in a man's world, treated as an outsider because she didn't have a business background, and ignored as a mere PR person. But CEO Jeff Immelt realized even then that the industrial giant, like so many businesses, had to change fast in order to stay relevant in a world where Google, Facebook, and an explosion of internet companies were transforming how goods and services were marketed, made, and sold. In a deeply personal journey filled with practical takeaways from two plus decades of initiating change at the top levels of one of the largest corporations in the world, Comstock lays out the challenges, opportunities, tools, and practices needed to embrace change, whatever industry you are in, and make it part of every management decision.

About the Author :
BETH COMSTOCK's mission is to understand what's next, navigate change and help people and organizations do the same. She is the former Vice Chair of GE, where she led efforts to accelerate new growth and innovation, initiated GE's digital and clean-energy transformation, seeded new businesses and enhanced GE's brand value and inventive culture. As President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, Beth oversaw TV ad revenue and new digital efforts, including the early development of hulu.com. Written about and profiled extensively in the media, from the New York Times to Forbes, Fortune, and Fast Company, she is also on the Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world.

Review :
If there is one skill that more individuals and companies need to hone it's imagination. And if there is one person who can teach us how to do it, it’s Beth Comstock. Woven together through own journey, Comstock offers us simple and practical steps on things we can all do to prepare ourselves for the future…or even invent it. Full of wisdom about how to thrive in a bureaucracy—and then transform it into an innovation machine. Beth Comstock is one of the most effective and admired executives of our time, and she tells the engrossing inside story of how she rose to the upper echelons of GE and spearheaded a sea of change Beth Comstock has written a wonderful book, full of excellent insights and lessons from her hugely successful career. She has recently been elected to the advertising all of fame, and after reading this you will know why. This book is of great value to almost virtually any leader and her stories and examples are told in a breezy way that makes it a joy to read. Beth Comstock is just as creative and bold in her approach to writing a business book as she is in running a business. Unafraid to get candid and personal, unusually generous in sharing her insights, this is a book for anyone who wants to see around corners — and to vanquish the fear that holds them back from acting on what they see This book is a rare gift... an honest, behind-the-scenes look at power, success and influence, combined with vulnerability and practical advice. A book you won't soon forget Beth is a true force of smart, practical, and most of all, inspiring executions in the new business world. There are few people who I think 'get it,' and she’s at the top of that list Imagine It Forward is like having a coach on your shelf to help you lead forward. Beth shares her lessons on summoning candor, courage and action to make meaningful change happen in any organization. Imagine It Forward offers an experienced look at how nonlinear, ever evolving change saved one of America’s oldest, most traditional companies and brought it into the digital, socially conscious, irreverent era we now live in. Beth Comstock’s account of her unconventional career at a very conventional corporation, General Electric, is frank, funny and spot on about the need to abandon the top-down methods of the past in favour of greater collaboration, disruption and prioritizing the needs and wants of customers and consumers over profit Beth Comstock has a track record of innovating, leading, and being an agent of change. In Imagine It Forward, she proposes thought provoking ways to envision your future and build strategy around it Imagine It Forward offers good examples of teaching bravery not perfection -- in education and work. Beth offers valuable lessons that should help readers challenge themselves to risk more in pursuit of a better future for themselves and their organizations