Apple's iPod, MySpace, LINUX, Pokémon cards -- at one time, they all were the "next big thing" before they actually became THE big thing. And all over the business world, companies are anxious to identify the cutting-edge trends that have the potential to follow in the footsteps of these "big things."

Enter the coolhunters, who identify trendsetters, spot innovations, and create ways to turn cutting-edge ideas into the hottest new trends. While many seem to think that coolhunting involves seeking out the individual who personifies cool -- like the coolest snowboarder on the slopes or the hippest, fashion-forward dancer at a nightclub -- and then co-opting his or her unique style in a new product line or design, authors Peter A. Gloor and Scott M. Cooper believe there is a lot more cool to be mined from examining "how groups of people work together to innovate."

In Coolhunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing, Gloor and Cooper provide a guide for readers to become effective coolhunters by tapping into the collective mind and utilizing the information they find to great advantage. "It's one thing to talk about coolhunting," write the authors, "It's another to do it. With the right tools and a firm grasp of the axioms by which great innovations -- ones that truly benefit us -- can be coolhunted and coolfarmed, you can be a coolhunter."

Gloor and Cooper believe that coolhunters can learn a lot from bees. They draw parallels between the behavior of bees in a colony and what they call "swarm creativity," a situation where like-minded people work together towards a common goal, using collaboration to produce winning ideas. In this technologically advanced era, groups of creative and self-motivated individuals can come together almost instantaneously to form what the authors call a "Collaborative Innovation Network" or COIN. Similar to how bees organize their hives around a common purpose or goal, members of a COIN share a collective vision and collaborate by sharing work, information, and ideas to achieve a common goal. The organization or individual that effectively taps into this swarm creativity understands the basic principles that govern COINs, such as the free sharing of knowledge and power, and an emphasis on self-organization. For example, the large number of Google search engine users enabled the company to make most of its money by selling advertising on its site - while giving its core product away for free.

According to the authors, coolhunters identify viable new trends by working with strong, creative COINs, identifying trendsetters and by recognizing that it is better to be part of a galaxy than to simply be a star. They offer Ben Franklin as a prime example of a truly effective trendsetter, discussing his formation of an early and archetypical COIN and how its success and Franklin's own success as a trendsetter relied on his desire to be connected to a network of creative, innovative individuals rather than to stand alone as a star.

Their book is titled Coolhunting, but Gloor and Cooper provide methods for the reader to engage in both coolhunting and coolfarming, such as how to deal with out-of-control swarm creativity, how to coolhunt through the use of automated social network analysis, and how to make the leap to becoming a coolfarmer.

WHY WE LIKE THIS BOOK
Gloor and Cooper provide a realworld, practical approach to hunting something as elusive as "coolness." They back up their theories with examples of individuals and organizations. They don't just show the success stories; they also provide examples of trendsetting gone wrong, so the reader can see what mistakes were made and how to avoid them.

Excerpted with permission. Copyright © 2007 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries. www.summary.com, 1 (800) SUMMARY, 1 (610) 558-9495.