I was the kid who colored outside the lines and marveled at the special effects of monster movies. Yet, as I grew, I became aware of certain ārulesā and āexpectationsā that seemed to limit my innate creativity. When I became a professional educator, I became even more cognizant of how studentsā creativity was shut down. I read tons of books on creativity, but soon discovered that no one had ever written a book on the ingrained practices in family life, education, work environments, and personal beliefs that stamped out our natural creativity. Why do so many people consider themselves as ānon-creative?ā I wanted to find outā¦and change the equation.
This is the āRock of Gibraltarā of creativity books.
First published in 1983, it still stands as the pre-eminent tome of how to infuse more creativity into your life. This is a book I refer to time and time again. Its strategies have helped me address and solve more problems and conundrums than any other book.
From writing my blog for Psychology Today to fixing the kitchen sink to teaching undergraduate student how to think more productively, this book has given me the tools necessary to, not only think outside the box, but create entirely new boxes for most of lifeās challenges.
Over the years, A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD has been praised by business people, educators, scientists, homemakers, artists, youth leaders, and many more. The book has been stimulating creativity in millions of readers, translated into eleven languages, and used in seminars around the world.
Now Roger von Oech's fully illustrated and updated volume is filled with even more provocative puzzles, anecdotes, exercises, metaphors, cartoons, questions, quotations, stories, and tips designed to systematically break through your mental blocks and unlock your mind for creative thinking. This new edition will attract an entire new generation of readers with updatedā¦
For as long I can remember, Iāve been an ideas guy. I even like the idea of ideasā¦I guess that makes me a meta-idea guy. But not just any ideas. Ideas that achieve the maximum impact with the minimum means. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, āI wouldnāt give a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity, but Iād give my life for simplicity on the other side of complexity.ā Creative ideas are the main event of the imagination, and the simpler the better. I've written and published several books, hundreds of articles and blogs, and even had dozens of songs published. But by far my favorite creative accomplishment is winning the New Yorker cartoon caption contest in 2008.
I love contrarian thinking. Itās by definition creativeā¦new, novel, useful. Thatās what David Burkus does with this book. There are a lot of conventional thoughts about creativity and the generation of innovative ideas that are held out as universal truths, but just arenāt. True, that is. David takes them all to task, pokes holes in them with science and logic and good old thoughtful insight, and dispels an entire family of mythology...misconceptions all relating to creative thinking: brainstorming, collaborating, incentivizing, and about a dozen more. Prepare to have much of your current understanding of creativity shaken.
How to get past the most common myths about creativity to design truly innovative strategies We tend to think of creativity in terms reminiscent of the ancient muses: divinely-inspired, unpredictable, and bestowed upon a lucky few. But when our jobs challenge us to be creative on demand, we must develop novel, useful ideas that will keep our organizations competitive. The Myths of Creativity demystifies the processes that drive innovation. Based on the latest research into how creative individuals and firms succeed, David Burkus highlights the mistaken ideas that hold us back and shows us how anyone can embrace a practicalā¦
I was the kid who colored outside the lines and marveled at the special effects of monster movies. Yet, as I grew, I became aware of certain ārulesā and āexpectationsā that seemed to limit my innate creativity. When I became a professional educator, I became even more cognizant of how studentsā creativity was shut down. I read tons of books on creativity, but soon discovered that no one had ever written a book on the ingrained practices in family life, education, work environments, and personal beliefs that stamped out our natural creativity. Why do so many people consider themselves as ānon-creative?ā I wanted to find outā¦and change the equation.
This slim volume is packed - no packed! - with eighty-nine practical, innovative, and absolutely incredible creativity strategies that will change your lifeā¦right now.
This is an absolute bonanza of easy-to-use advice that will fire up your creative engines as no other book. Here you will discover how to approach any challenge in your work or family life.
This is creativity at its best - a wealth of super-charged possibilities from the worlds of writing, music, architecture, painting, technology, and more.
These brief entries include how to surprise yourself, why you should plan to have more accidents, how to contradict yourself more often, how to look forward to disappointment, and how to be more incompetent, among others.
Your thinking will change and so will your approach to any problem.
Get ready to get inspired Ā In short and engaging entries, this deceptively simple volume presents examples of creative thinkers from the worlds of writing, music, architecture, painting, technology, and more, shedding light on their process, and showing how each of us can learn from them to improve our lives and our work.
Subjects range from the grueling practice schedule of the Beatles and the relentless revisions of Tolkien, Sondheim, and Picasso to the surprisingly slapdash creation of The Simpsons. Youāll learn about the most successful class in history (in which every student won a Nobel Prize), how frozen peas wereā¦
Dr. Gerhard Plenert has a PhD in Resource Economics and Operations Management, which are fancy words for āa whole lot of math.ā He spent 12 years as a university professor and the remainder of his life living and working all over the world in places like Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and of course North America. He has 8 children, and his grandchildren are just starting to get numbered, the last count was 15. He has successfully published over 30 books and close to 200 articles on various business and academic topics. But his loves include Sci-Fi movies like Avatar, Star Trek, and Star Wars, and mysteries like Jason Bourne and James Bond.
This book describes a methodology of thinking that is used in Japan by Toyota for innovation and creativity. It describes a series of principles that are used to discover new ideas and gives examples and stories that demonstrate how these principles have been applied in industries throughout Japan. The āBreakthrough Thinkingā methodology has been applied in businesses of all types throughout the world.
The Anatomy of Successful Problem Solving How do great leaders solve problems differently from the rest of us? In Breakthrough Thinking you will learn the seven steps consistently used by those who solve problems most creatively. By taking an analytical approach, Nadler and Hibino discovered that there is a specific method used to successfully make decisions that is both teachable and duplicable. This program is now presented to you in this volume. "Finally, we have a beautifully lucid book which tells you how to get from here to thereāhow to get to 'excellence.'" āWarren Bennis, co-author of Leaders "I've usedā¦
Iām an investigative journalist and social historian whoās obsessed with āinvisibleā women of the 19th and early 20th century, bringing their stories to life in highly readable narrative non-fiction. I love the detective work involved in resurrecting ordinary womenās lives: shop girls, milliners, campaigning housewives, servants. . . The stories Iāve uncovered are gripping, often shocking and frequently poignant ā but also celebrate womenās determination, solidarity and capacity for reinvention. Each of my two books took me on a long research journey deep into the archives: The Housekeeperās Tale ā the Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Etta Lemon ā The Woman Who Saved the Birds.
A perfectly formed, intimate epiphany of a book about birdwatching, by a non-birdwatcher. Unmoored by her fatherās illness, Maclear tries to find a way of making life make sense. She experiments with calligraphy; she wrestles with writerās block. One day she meets a birdwatching musician, who explains how the activity helps dissipate his worries and daily pressures. Intrigued, she asks if she can tag along. Reluctant at first, and almost despite herself, the author begins to find peace and unexpected beauty in the urban landscape. She discovers that simply being still triggers introspection. This is also a book about the tension between freedom and confinement ā something that resonates particularly for me, as a writer with children.
We live in a world that prizes the fast over the slow, the new over the familiar and work over rest. Birds Art Life Death is Kyo Maclear's beautiful journey to stake out a sense of meaning amid the crushing rush.
One winter Kyo Maclear felt unmoored. Her father had recently fallen ill and she suddenly found herself a little lost. In the midst of this crisis, she met a musician who loved birds. When he watched birds and began to photograph them, his worries dissipated. Curious, she began to accompany him on his urban birdwatching expeditions and witnessed theā¦
So quite a few years ago now, while juggling a hundred and one things ā some paid, some voluntary; some work-related, some not ā I developed a new obsession in my quest to change the world: productivity. I have now written multiple books on the subject, and I am the founder of Think Productive which helps people and organisations around the world to increase productivity & wellbeing. These are the top 5 books that have shaped the way I look at productivity and the way I work and live my life.
I'm sure this is not Seth's best-selling book, but for me, it's the most impactful one. He talks a lot about procrastination, doing work where you are indispensable, being creative, and ultimately he just defines productivity in a way that has so much heart to it and that I really relate to. I also think Seth, out of all the people whose books I read, is the most natural writer. I just love his writing.
In this compelling, accessible and purpose-filled book bestselling business author Seth Godin shows how you have the potential to make a big difference-and make yourself indispensable in the process-wherever you are.
Why are some people easily outsourced, downsized, or freelanced into obscurity, while others have their pick of opportunities? In his most powerful book yet, Seth Godin argues that it's more essential than ever to become indispensable - to become a linchpin. Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations: they invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They loveā¦
I've been making messes with paint, string, and words, as well as in love, mothering, and in virtually every other way imaginable my whole life. Eventually, an expertise began to grow, and the confusion in my life began to make sense through my creations, while at the same time, the seemingly irrelevant words and textures I was making started to tell me something about my life. Eventually, my lived experience and training in the Expressive Arts Therapies have led me to the roles of teacher, educator, and contemplative artist. If we pay attention to what we express and how we express things, we can find our way through any mess we find ourselves in.
Of all the creative self-help books out there, Twyla Tharpās perspective stands out as one fueled by awareness and curiosity rather than grit and force.
For me, this gentler, more curious cultivation of creativity has proved sustaining as opposed to the conventional wisdom that suggests life must be pushed away or overcome to create. As a choreographer and dancer, her wisdom on building a life of creative expression is broad and encompassing, focusing on how one interacts with the world rather than the products one creates.
The inspiration in this book is followed up with practices that have changed the way I approach seeing the world, focusing my thoughts, and allowing the creative process to transport me to surprising places.
What makes someone creative? How does someone face the empty page, the empty stage and making something where nothing existed before? Not just a dilemma for the artist, it is something everyone faces everyday. What will I cook that isn't boring? How can I make that memo persuasive? What sales pitch will increase the order, get me the job, lock in that bonus? These too, are creative acts, and they all share a common need: proper preparation. For Twyla Tharp, creativity is no mystery; it's the product of hard work and preparation, of knowing one's aims and one's subject, ofā¦
I am the former Principal bassist with the Cincinnati Symphony and am currently active as a soloist, educator, and author of three books on the mind, body, and spirit of music. My first book is about the mind, The Inner Game of Music, followed by The Mastery of Music on the human spirit of over 120 great musicians and Bringing Music to Life exploring physical skills of communication of all artists, actors, and dancers.Ā I hope to inspire artists of all disciplines, that our performances come from our hearts and souls and not the technical form of dance, music, or words. Performers express feelings and use this gift to spread inspiration and joy to the world.
This amazing book draws on nearly one hundred interviews with creative people in every field and thirty years of research on the subject of creativity. There are multiple stories from musicians and composers while Csikszentmihalyi abstracts the common characteristics of the creative process that transcends the arts, science, architecture, and technology. He studies personalities, family backgrounds, and the environments that inspire the creative process. We learn to accept that many uniquely creative people have channeled their contributions by focusing their energy through unique structures that include conflicts, disease, handicap, stress, poverty, and emotional instability. The 426 pages of research and interviews are captivating, informative, and insightful and can inspire creative expression from new sources of understanding.Ā
Creativity is about capturing those moments that make life worth living. The author's objective is to offer an understanding of what leads to these moments, be it the excitement of the artist at the easel or the scientist in the lab, so that knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. Drawing on 100 interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders, poets and artists, as well as his 30 years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous theory to explore the creative process. He discusses such ideas as why creative individuals areā¦
Currently a Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Hult, Iāve been on the faculties of other top business schools, and an executive officer of a NASDAQ company. Iāve led ānew to the worldā technology projects and advised CXOs of global companies. These experiences convinced me that poor leadership is the biggest reason organizational initiatives fail. Two decades ago, I switched from being a technology scholar; I began researching leadership and writing for practitioners, not academics. My first book was on a 2009 ābest business booksā list. This one is in Sloan Management Reviewās Management on the Cutting Edge seriesābooks that its editors believe will influence executive behavior.
I often pose a simple thought experiment: āHow many renowned 20th century CEOs created something new to the world? Now, how may renowned 21st century CEOs havenāt done so?ā
The answer, in both cases, is near zero. Our organizations are moving from being productivity-focused (doing more with less) to creativity-focused (giving form to something that doesnāt exist). Most managers and aspiring leaders are clueless about this profound change even though they will probably fail if they donāt make this shift.
Roberto argues that six flawed beliefsāsuch as in benchmarking and in focused executionāpreclude creativity and provides tools to help reinvent moribund organizations.
Tear down the obstacles to creative innovation in your organization
Unlocking Creativity is an exploration of the creative process and how organizations can clear the way for innovation. In many organizations, creative individuals face stubborn resistance to new ideas. Managers and executives oftentimes reject innovation and unconventional approaches due to misplaced allegiance to the status quo. Questioning established practices or challenging prevailing sentiments is frequently met with stiff resistance. In this climate of stifled creativity and inflexible adherence to conventional wisdom, potentially game-changing ideas are dismissed outright. Senior leaders claim to value creativity, yet often lack the knowledge to provideā¦
I have studied creativity for 40 years and, along with the textbook I wrote, I am continually teaching my marketing students how to become more creative. I have unequivocally demonstrated that everyone who wants to become more creative can do so with the appropriate tutelage. This is why I get so much satisfaction from teaching creativity and it is why I wrote my book that I am highlighting here.
Leonardo da Vinci was arguably the most creative person who ever walked the earth. He is known by many as an artist but his most impressive contributions came in the form of inventions. Imagine in the fifteen hundreds conceptualizing tanks, automatic weaponry, and parachutes. He was so far ahead of his time that people thought he was crazy.
This inspiring and inventive guide teaches readers how to develop their full potential by following the example of the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo da Vinci.
Acclaimed author Michael J. Gelb, who has helped thousands of people expand their minds to accomplish more than they ever thought possible, shows you how. Drawing on Da Vinci's notebooks, inventions, and legendary works of art, Gelb introduces Seven Da Vincian Principlesāthe essential elements of geniusāfromĀ curiositĆ ,Ā the insatiably curious approach to life toĀ connessione,Ā the appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things. With Da Vinci as your inspiration, you will discover anā¦
