Soren Kaplan
Soren Marcus Kaplan (born November 27, 1968) is an author, consultant, and speaker on the subject of innovation and innovation culture in organizations. He is an Affiliate at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, founder of the consulting firm InnovationPoint, and is a columnist for the Innovate column of Inc. Magazine. Kaplan's first book, Leapfrogging, received Best Leadership Book by the Axiom Book Awards. His second book, The Invisible Advantage, was awarded Best General Business Book by the International Book Awards. In 2013, the "Wall Street Journal  revealed that Kaplan had paid ResultSource a fee of $20–30,000 to promote his first book, Leapfrogging", and bought 2,500 copies himself at a cost of $55,000. The book entered the "Journal"'s best-seller list for business books and then "the following week ...plunged 99% and it fell off the list". Following this article, Kaplan became the first bestselling business author to publicly share details of how the book publishing industry has become increasingly reliant on pre-sales of books to influence the New York Times and Wall Street Journal's bestseller lists. Jeff Bercovici reported in Forbes  that Kaplan shared his reservations about marketing his book using this strategy, quoting Kaplan as saying "It's no wonder few people in the industry want to talk about bestseller campaigns. Put bluntly, they allow people with enough money, contacts, and know-how to buy their way onto bestseller lists." In addition to critiquing the publishing industry, Kaplan has since critiqued other industries’ business models including management consulting, media, and healthcare. Early life and career. Soren Kaplan was born on 27 November 1968. In 1996 he jointly wrote an article for the "Journal of Creativity & Innovation Management" under the title  of "Harnessing the Power of Strategic Innovation". In 2001, Kaplan co-founded iCohere, Inc. with his father Pascal, an online learning and collaboration platform. In 2017 the Thinkers50 named Kaplan one of the world's leading experts in business strategy and innovation Books. In 2012, Kaplan published "Leapfrogging: Harness the Power of Surprise for Business Breakthroughs", outlining his observations on why the power of surprise is so important for innovation. He has since published his second book on innovation titled "The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation" (2017). In a 2013 article in the "Wall Street Journal  titled The Mystery of the Book Sales Spike How Are Some Authors Landing On Best-Seller Lists? They're Buying Their Way", Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg noted that Soren's first book, "Leapfrogging" entered the "Journal"'s list of best-selling business books immediately and the next week "plunged 99% and it fell off the list". Kaplan told the "Journal" that he had retained ResultSource to promote the book and "purchased about 2,500 books through ResultSource, paying about $22 a book, including shipping, for a total of about $55,000. Mr. Kaplan says he also paid ResultSource a fee in  the range of $20,000 to $30,000." Kaplan's interview with Trachtenberg and subsequent articles on the topic have continued to be referenced by media outlets when describing the dynamics of bestseller book marketing. Kaplan's books have been recognized as the top business and leadership books of the years when published, and other innovation experts have since referred to Kaplan's "The Invisible Advantage" as a "classic" when it comes to outlining what businesses need to do to create a continuous culture of innovation. Other activities. Kaplan was ranked 24 out of 40 in the blog Innovation Excellence  Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2017. Kaplan's ideas are discussed in "The International Handbook on Innovation" by Larisa V. Shavinina. He has also appeared as a speaker at TEDx Bay Area. He is a columnist for the Innovate column of Inc. Magazine, regularly contributes to Fast Company Magazine and has written one short article for the "Harvard Business Review" website. Personal life. Kaplan has two daughters.