A key to unleashing creativity and imagine / act on "what if?"
580864
Mona weaves her own personal journey, history and inimitable wit and authenticity into this book.  It is a common sense approach that applies to companies and teams large and small about how we can all get out of our own way and reframe the way we look at anything.  This can be a personal goal, a start-up's mission or a big company's ability to get beyond fear and create a culture that encourages and rewards "what if" thinking.  Simply put, it is a way for each of us to look at the "stories" that get in our way of thinking about what is possible and owning our own creativity.  She ties it back to our field of user experience design where our mission is to engage, delight customers and align customer and business goals.  What is motivational about the book is the focus on taking on big challenges and ones you are really passionate about so the journey is a personal one and, often, focused on addressing big, ornery challenges that result in solutions that are bigger than we ever dreamed of -- and often ones that serve the greater good.  Seeing opportunity where others don't is how the disruptors in business succeed.  They are not only able to envision an unmet need, they have the audacity to challenge all the reasons it hasn't been solved and go for it!  It is why companies like Uber, Netflix and others have disrupted whole industries as they deliver products and services that no one exactly knew they needed yet have irrevocably disrupted the status quo.  Reframe is of value to readers who want to reframe themselves, how they view opportunity, how they lead, innovate -- and, in so doing, align customer and business goals.

Tammy Sachs, CEO, Sachs Insights
914691
Your Next Big Thing is easy to read and feels much more like an exercise than it does pouring through pages. Dr. Michaelis outlines practical steps to get your own creative juices flowing and your vision for your future kicked into high gear. For anyone feeling in need of a nudge in a more positive direction and a deeper connection with their purpose, this book is a valuable tool in the process!
2563290
From Chapter 8 "If you want to thrive you must dedicate yourself to doing the little things that few people are willing to do."

Rarely is a book simultaneously inspirational and practical - The Accidental Creative is both in the brilliantly well written book.  If you create value with your mind - intellect or imagination - you are a "creative".  Todd Henry treats creativity not as a mystical force that strikes unpredictably but as a resource that is available to all if we are willing to adopt practices that support it.  Effectiveness trumps efficiency - in a hyper competitive world she who has the best ideas/solutions wins.

I am a Human Resources leader, glass artist and creativity coach and passionately recommend this book whether you are a "left brain" corporate professional or a "right brain" visual creative or a hybrid like me.  Read it, put the practices into place and see what happens.
1229461
Really quite something. It always seemed to me innovation and creativity is random (and it is, as you will learn reading this book). The trick is learning how to increase the odd of poking at the right spot and I think this is a great guide book to kickstart that for anyone.
23291
Finally, I've found a book on Logic that is .... well, logical!  It fills in the missing links in the processes that were breaking my flow of creativity before.  There is so much you can do with any musical idea during the creative process, and the last thing you want is to get hung up with a technical hurdle that interrupts you and demolishes your idea.  I used to skip from point A to point C in order to make sure I at least got the idea down, but point B was usually the ingredient that could have potentially made a good idea great.  In other words, this book helps you access deeper levels of technical music making in a creative, and most importantly fun way.  It will bring out new ideas that you might not have dreamed of before.  "Wow, I can do that, and it's that easy?"  These are the thoughts and words I used during the first few musical examples I tried.  It is also a book that doesn't have to be read from the beginning to the end.  You can open it up to any page and find a really cool idea or something new to try.  I had a feeling this would be the experience I would encounter when first learning about this book.  It is written by someone who not only knows the program and it's history, but by someone who has been using Logic to create and collaborate with top level musicians, world-wide for many years.  In a day and age where most technical help books are sterile and merely just extensions of manufacture's manuals, it's a welcomed surprise to find a technical book that is both fun to read and musically inspiring. You will stop what you are doing and boot up Logic as quickly as you can once you read the first few pages!  Thanks for writing this book Dot!
856517
An amazing fun way to look at creativity at its core.
694371
I recently heard Charles "Chic" Thompson at a leadership seminar and picked up a copy of this book.  This book is full of great ideas/methods to help you think creatively and outside the box.  He covers overcoming assumptions- big idea killer and moves on to expression and questioning of ideas - which begins to shape new ideas.  The fredom to cultivate creatively is a step that transcends linear thinking.  It removes the blinders of assumptions to allow organizations to idea map forward.  Taking action is the next step.  This is where the process of creativity meets the various organizational stages like sales, marketing, distribution, etc.  Prior to reading this book I thought - as the leadership world teaches, creativity was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.  Now I realize that I should be inspired to think creatively and I will perspire less!  If you want to learn how to think act, plan creatively - buy this book - It really is inspiring!
148819
"Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found."
--James Russell Lowell

In 1968 3M invented a "low tack" pressure sensitive reusable adhesive.  One problem, though.  No one at 3M knew what to do with it.  In fact, it seemed like a failure for an adhesive since it was anything but "Gorilla" glue.

Finally, in 1980, after a lot of creative thinking and marketing, 3M released those iconic, yellow "Post It Notes."

The rest is marketing history.

Todd's book gets after this process of creativity, invention, and discovery--and the preparation it takes to make the magic happen with an idea.

I'm especially attracted to his thesis that in most cases the work has to begin well before the light bulb goes on.  Todd's book provides a thoughtful, reflective slant on the creative process and how to best manage it.

For what it's worth, this book deserves a wider audience than creatives and marketing folks, who are clearly its primary target.  As an educator, I found it insightful and helpful.  I think anyone in the K-16 world would benefit from Todd's observations and useful advice.  We're all struggling to think of new ways to engage our students, design a more effective curriculum, or meaningfully assess our students.  Todd writes in an authentic voice, providing specific, useful, and insightful ideas and inspiration to be the best you can be as you struggle to bring new ideas into being and action.

I also recommend that you Google "The Accidental Creative" and check out Todd's web site.
4041615
Remove the block to your creative drive and find yourself once again enjoying your own drawing, painting, writing, crafts, or whatever it is that brings you joy!

The Creative License: Giving Yorself Permission To Be The Artist You Truly Are is all that the title claims. Own it and you have (one of) the keys that will open the door back into the world of your own creativity, unfettered by a need to be perfect.

Be you. Create what you want. Be happy.

What a concept! What a book!

Highly recommended!
1076366
Good book that gets the creative mindset flowing. One favorite tip from the author was to go to Wal-Mart and randomly grab two items in an isle and see if they can be combined for a new item. Basically think outside the box.
1336705
Powers of Two is a Big Idea book that will change the way you think about creativity.  The pairs profiled are mostly famous (Lennon/McCartney, Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo, Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, etc.), but the basic idea, that the pair is the ideal unit to foment creativity, applies to any life, and any creative project, whether you are writing a hit song or planning a local fund raiser.  The best sort of idea book, Powers of Two is eminently readable, full of great stories, and most importantly, will leave you feeling inspired to take on your next collaborative challenge, big or small.  Highly recommended.
4088633
"Pronoia Is The Antidote for Paranoia" is so much more than a book, and even more than an inspirational tome... it is, in fact, a phenomenal opportunity on several counts. It is not just an opportunity to grow into a happier, healthier, more fascinating and more creative life -- it is also an opportunity to see into the mind of a person who has made that journey, and chosen to carry what xhe's learned back to us.

One of the most enjoyable parts of "Pronoia" is actually -participating- in the process. The activities in the book give every reader the opportunity to develop inspiration and awaken creativity. It is like walking with Rob Brezsny on the road to a future ignited by cosmic passion and profound jubilation.

Through some of the strangest, most difficult transitions of my life, Pronoia has been there to help me sort out the pieces so I could put them back together into a work of art -- and when the 2nd edition came out, I considered it my pleasure to share the experience with my grown offspring and my companions!
4720856
Completing the Wheel: An Adventure in Creativity and Life, is an inspiring book that seeks to encourage its readers to look introspectively and make a conscious effort to become more creative. It takes you on a journey of both discovery and rediscovery of ones true self, not the one created by situations and circumstances. The author encourages us to rediscover that inner child that may have been lost; to restart the imagination we had as children, so that we can live beyond the hum drum of daily life and imagine all the possibilities that truly exist. Motivate yourself to go beyond the present. As children we were free of worries, free spirited and did not keep a record of wrongs. We were forgiving, not self-centered, willing to try new things and discover what the world had to offer. Dittmar encourages the unleashing of our creativity; we should dream bigger, set new goals and strive to attain them even if at the moment we think its impossible. We sometimes lose our perspective because of lifes uncertainties, however standing still does not release those fears, we should work through them.  Fear cripples many of us and because of fear we hold ourselves back and never truly realize our true potentials. As the author suggests, we need to let go the things that we cannot control, and make peace with things that have happened long ago, as holding on just creates more limits. These things affect us in all aspects of our lives, personally and professionally. There is only one life to live, we should dream big and achieve, utilizing all the resources at our fingertips.
1708517
I was attracted to this book because I like to get ideas for how to improve my writing from reading about what others use to feed their creative efforts.  I have been an admirer of Twyla Tharp's for a long time, and feel slightly connected to her by having attended the same high school after she graduated and knowing her twin brothers and sister there.
The Creative Habit is a remarkable book on creative activities that anyone involved in dance, music, painting, sculpting, writing or theater will find very relevant.  If you have a good imagination, you will also be able to extend the concepts here to other fields that require creativity such as business.
Where most books on creativity focus on helping you get into a brief creative groove, Ms. Tharp's work focuses on having that groove all the time in your life.  Her book is informed by not only her own very creative career . . . but also by extensive contact with other creative people and having read about how others have created in the past.  I found her to be the best read person on creativity whose writing I have seen.
Some of the issues she addresses include how to get started ("I Walk into a White Room"), preparation processes ("Rituals of Preparation"), your creative perspective ("Your Creative DNA"), drawing on your experiences ("Harness Your Memory"), getting your research and organized ("Before You Can Think out of the Box, You Have to Start with a Box"), finding inspiration when you have none ("Scratching"), taking advantage of the unexpected ("Accidents Will Happen"), having a clear idea of what you are trying to create ("Spine"), becoming competent in the necessary disciplines ("Skill"), dealing with stalls ("Ruts and Grooves"), learning from setbacks ("An 'A' in Failure"), and building on what you have done before to be more creative ("The Long Run").  Each chapter has exercises, many of which were new to me.  I found the idea of either moving or thinking about moving to add new dimensions to my understanding of creative problems I am trying to solve now.
I felt tremendously validated to find that most of my writing habits are identical to Ms. Tharp's ones for choreography.  I even keep boxes full of material for projects I'm working on.
The material in the book on how she switched from being a choreographer who could dance all of her roles to one who had to use others to dance those roles was especially interesting.  Few works on creativity talk about how to shift from doing to enabling others to do as part of your creativity.
I was impressed that she disciplines more hours of her day than I do.  That made me realize that I have room to improve in my creative habits . . . and inspired me to want to improve.  That was a great gift.
If you want to be more creative in your profession, I strongly urge you to read and apply this book.  It will make an enormous difference in the long run!
Thanks you, Ms. Tharp!  Please take another bow!!
12256
This fun, exciting read suggests many ways to develop your "right-brain" thinking - the kind of relationship-based thought patterns that author Daniel Pink argues will be essential in the emerging "Conceptual Age." Pink draws examples from numerous disciplines, industries and locations. The result is thought-provoking and applicable. We recommend this work to individuals and companies committed to change and open to originality; its tools will raise your capacities. Pink's reasoning about the forces shaping this new age is striking in its simple rigor, as are the questions he offers that let you check how ready you and your business are for the economy that is emerging. His emphasis on the positive is the book's one weakness. He doesn't really address how trauma or turmoil would affect the driving forces of the Conceptual Age. Also, he only briefly touches upon those aspects of business where right brain thinking is hard to apply. What's here is good, but what's left out is somewhat troubling.
129819
Forget all you know about creativity! This book realy amazed me with clear-cut method to improve creatvity skills in my job. Most recommended!
4033132
Marjory Harris shares 3 Essential Skills to personal empowerment: Imagination, which creates visions, Cognition which creates solutions, and Motivation which gets us going.
Using case-studies and personal examples, she has created a fun and easy 7 step system which will help you avoid the School of Hard Knocks and unlock the problem solving potential in every person, avoid procrastination, and make effective decisions to create unique opportunities in life. Her Roadmap tool is particularly helpful. I recommend this book highly for those who've tried other methods to turn their ideas into reality, and failed.