Download or read book Creativity Inc The Expanded Edition written by Ed Catmull and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

Download or read book Creativity at Work written by Jeff DeGraff and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-10-10 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although many leaders acknowledge and invest in creativity, we seldom see it hold a credible place in the business development process. Creativity at Work takes a practical approach to creativity, showing how to select practices to produce results and add value. The authors explain how to: * Understand the creative preferences of organizations, departments, work groups, and individuals * Identify and compare the different creativity profiles that describe specific purposes, practices, and people * Produce the desired results by developing the right practices * Blend creativity practices to meet the complex needs that characterize most work situations o Develop required creative abilities in a team and in oneself

Download or read book Change by Design written by Tim Brown and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Change by Design, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the celebrated innovation and design firm, shows how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business. Change by Design is not a book by designers for designers; this is a book for creative leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service to drive new alternatives for business and society.

Download or read book Big Little Breakthroughs written by Josh Linkner and published by Post Hill Press. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up. Instead of shooting for a $10-billion payday or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs—small creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By cultivating daily micro-innovations, individuals and organizations are better equipped to tackle tough challenges and seize transformational opportunities. How did a convicted drug dealer launch and scale a massively successful fitness company? What core mindset drove LEGO to become the largest toy company in the world? How did a Pakistani couple challenge the global athletic shoe industry? What simple habits led Lady Gaga, Banksy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda to their remarkable success? Big Little Breakthroughs isn’t just for propeller-head inventors, fancy-pants CEOs, or hoodie-donning tech billionaires. Rather, it’s a surpassingly simple system to help everyday people become everyday innovators.

Download or read book Handbook of Research on Leadership and Creativity written by Michael D. Mumford and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid pace of technological change and globalization of products, competition and services have conspired to place a new premium on innovation for firms across the world. Although many variables influence creativity and innovation, the effective leadership of creative teams has proved especially important. This timely Handbook presents the state of the art for what leaders must do to lead creative teams and how they should do it.

Download or read book Creativity written by John Cleese and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legendary comedian, actor, and writer of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and A Fish Called Wanda fame shares his key ideas about creativity: that it’s a learnable, improvable skill. “Many people have written about creativity, but although they were very, very clever, they weren't actually creative. I like to think I'm writing about it from the inside.”—John Cleese You might think that creativity is some mysterious, rare gift—one that only a few possess. But you’d be wrong. As John Cleese shows in this short, practical, and often amusing guide, creativity is a skill that anyone can acquire. Drawing on his lifelong experience as a writer, Cleese shares his insights into the nature of creativity and offers advice on how to get your own inventive juices flowing. What do you need to do to get yourself in the right frame of mind? When do you know that you’ve come up with an idea that might be worth pursuing? What should you do if you think you’ve hit a brick wall? We can all be more creative. John Cleese shows us how.

Download or read book Big Wins Small Steps written by Ronald A. Beghetto and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2016-04-25 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don’t sink your school’s creativity— encourage it to set sail! In this book, educational leaders will find the definitive resource for fostering schoolwide creativity. Introducing a groundbreaking framework known as the Small Steps Approach to Instructional Leadership (SAIL), Ronald A. Beghetto shows the way to amazing improvements through small adjustments. Content includes: "Creative leader checklists” summarizing actionable points in each chapter The keys to removing the most difficult creative barriers How to sit with uncertainty instead of letting it derail innovation efforts When to “flow like water”, and when to “stand like a mountain” as you re-focus your school towards creativity

Download or read book Idea Agent written by Lina M. Echeverría and published by AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. This book was released on 2012 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can you manage creativity--and turn it into innovation? Learn the seven proven principles for leading a team that delivers groundbreaking results.

Download or read book Making Creativity Practical Innovation That Gets Results written by Stan Gryskiewicz and published by Center for Creative Leadership. This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creative solutions can be challenged and defended in the pursuit of profitability. But first, creativity must be demystified. A process that targets innovation provides leaders with just such a problem-solving approach. The goal is to produce high-quality ideas that are appropriate to the task - which means groups and organizations can implement them with less risk. Work with the targeted innovation process consists of activities in five areas: stating the problem in a way that encourages creative problem solving, learning and understanding different problem-solving styles, learning and understanding creative pathways and their relationship to problem solving, generating ideas, and evaluating those ideas. Targeted innovation reconciles creativity with management. Managers can use it to solve problems that meet their organization's call for innovative answers to current challenges.

Download or read book Unlocking Creativity written by Michael A. Roberto and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-01-07 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 provide a creative framework. Unlocking Creativity offers effective methods and real-world examples of how the most successful organizations create cultures of innovation and experimentation. Best-selling author and scholar Michael Roberto presents a thorough investigation of organizational obstacles to creative thought. Highly relevant to the growth crises many enterprises face in today’s economic landscape, this book examines how to break barriers to spark creativity and foster new ideas. This insightful and informative work allows business executives, senior managers, and organization leaders to: Recognize the six organizational mindsets that impede creativity and innovation Learn how to tear down the barriers that obstruct the creative process Create an environment that allows talented people to thrive Encourage creative collaboration in teams throughout an organization Leaders do not have to conceive innovative ideas, but rather open the path for curious and creative employees within their organization. Unlocking Creativity: How to Solve Any Problem and Make the Best Decisions aids organizations in removing obstacles to the creative process and helps to form an atmosphere of imagination and innovation.

Download or read book Creative Confidence written by Tom Kelley and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.

Download or read book The Creativity Leap written by Natalie Nixon and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Natalie Nixon's new book provides a fresh primer on how to cultivate creativity in the workplace.” —Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable Too many people associate creativity solely with the arts, even though to be an incredible scientist, engineer, or entrepreneur requires immense creativity. And it's the key to developing breakthrough products and services. Natalie Nixon, a creativity strategist with a background in cultural anthropology, fashion, and service design, says that in the fourth industrial revolution a creativity leap is needed to bridge the gap that exists between the churn of work and the highly sought-after prize called innovation. Nixon says that since humans are hardwired to be creative, it is a competency anyone can develop. She shows that it balances wonder (awe, audacity, and curiosity) with rigor (discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail), and that inquiry, improvisation, and intuitionare the key practices that increase those capacities. Drawing on interviews with fifty-six people from diverse backgrounds—farming, law, plumbing, architecture, perfumery, medicine, education, technology, and more—she offers illuminating examples of how creativity manifests in every kind of work. Combining creativity tools and techniques with real-world stories of innovative people and businesses, this book is a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity that lies within each of us. It offers a more dynamic and integrative way to adapt and innovate, one that allows us the freedom to access our full human selves.

Download or read book The Ten Faces of Innovation written by Tom Kelley and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2006-02-14 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation reveals the strategies IDEO, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout an organization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity. The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation. Over the years, IDEO has developed ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist—the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation. Filled with engaging stories of how Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Safeway and the Mayo Clinic have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, The Ten Faces of Innovation is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.

Download or read book Leading Innovation Creativity and Enterprise written by Peter Cook and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon cutting edge research from academia but expressed clearly and concisely for the busy person seeking practical inspiration, Leading Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise will feature numerous case examples from companies such as Virgin, Pfizer, Roche and Fuji Film. The book deals with questions such as: What are the roots of creativity and imagination? · How can we create the physiological and mental states under which creativity happens naturally rather than having to rely on creative thinking tools? · What kind of leadership is required to make creativity and innovation business as usual behaviours in your enterprise? · What is the role of technique in engendering creativity within teams? What are the most effective and reliable recipes for team based creativity? · What ensures that creativity turns into innovation? What stops it? In exploring these questions, the book will show you how to produce and lead creative teams, as well as build an innovative company culture.

Download or read book Individual Creativity in the Workplace written by Roni Reiter-Palmon and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rapid technological change, global competition, and economic uncertainty have all contributed to organizations seeking to improve creativity and innovation. Researchers and businesses want to know what factors facilitate or inhibit creativity in a variety of organizational settings. Individual Creativity in the Workplace identifies those factors, including what motivational and cognitive factors influence individual creativity, as well as the contextual factors that impact creativity such as teams and leadership.The book takes research findings out of the lab and provides examples of these findings put to use in real world organizations. - Identifies factors facilitating or inhibiting creativity in organizational settings - Summarizes research on creativity, cognition, and motivation - Provides real world examples of these factors operating in organizations today - Highlights creative thought processes and how to encourage them - Outlines management styles and leadership to encourage creativity - Explores how to encourage individual creativity in team contexts

Download or read book Creative Acts for Curious People written by Sarah Stein Greenberg and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A delightful, compelling book that offers a dazzling array of practical, thoughtful exercises designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection, and make our lives better.”—Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author and host of the Happier podcast In an era of ambiguous, messy problems—as well as extraordinary opportunities for positive change—it’s vital to have both an inquisitive mind and the ability to act with intention. Creative Acts for Curious People is filled with ways to build those skills with resilience, care, and confidence. At Stanford University’s world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka “the d.school,” students and faculty, experts and seekers bring together diverse perspectives to tackle ambitious projects; this book contains the experiences designed to help them do it. A provocative and highly visual companion, it’s a definitive resource for people who aim to draw on their curiosity and creativity in the face of uncertainty. Teeming with ideas about discovery, learning, and leading the way through unknown creative territory, Creative Acts for Curious People includes memorable stories and more than eighty innovative exercises. Curated by executive director Sarah Stein Greenberg, after being honed in the classrooms of the d.school, these exercises originated in some of the world’s most inventive and unconventional minds, including those of d.school and IDEO founder David M. Kelley, ReadyMade magazine founder Grace Hawthorne, innovative choreographer Aleta Hayes, Google chief innovation evangelist Frederik G. Pferdt, and many more. To bring fresh approaches to any challenge–world changing or close to home–you can draw on exercises such as Expert Eyes to hone observation skills, How to Talk to Strangers to foster understanding, and Designing Tools for Teams to build creative leadership. The activities are at once lighthearted, surprising, tough, and impactful–and reveal how the hidden dynamics of design can drive more vibrant ways of making, feeling, exploring, experimenting, and collaborating at work and in life. This book will help you develop the behaviors and deepen the mindsets that can turn your curiosity into ideas, and your ideas into action.

Download or read book Breakthrough Creativity written by Lynne C. Levesque and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2011-10-31 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Howard Gardner's classic book Multiple Intelligences exploded the myth that intelligence can be measured along a single dimension. Now Lynne Levesque shows that creativity, like intelligences, exists in a variety of forms, and demonstrates that high-performance organizations need to make use of creativity in all its dimensions. It takes more than just "thinking outside the box" to build a flexible, adaptive organization that will survive competitive battles, grow and prosper, and provide the environment that attracts and keeps the best talent. On the basis of her research in personality, innovation and creativity, as well as her experience helping top executives achieve their full potential, Levesque describes eight distinct creative talents. People of each talent have a unique way of looking at challenges, collecting data and generating creative solutions. Breakthrough Creativity describes in individual chapters how each talent works, how each contributes to the creative process and how each can improve decision making, team building and strategic planning and thinking. Breakthrough Creativity brings to life the stories and rich experiences of working individuals around the world to help readers discover their own creative talents and use them to further their professional and personal lives.