The Dummies Guide to Change, Diffusion and the Tipping Point

Understanding how to initiate change is becoming a central issue for our time. Fortunately nature has given us a model that has a much better chance of working than all the change book's ideas so far.

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3 step formula for creative success

This is an excellent video for anyone wanting to create anything be it a life, a business, or a creative project.

Adapting to Change

A few disparate ideas and experiences funneling into this post…
Recently I heard Robert Garmston speak about the need to adapt in times of significant change. He wasn’t speaking specifically of schools but about any organization, and he made an interesting distinction between technical change (which is what most schools have been undertaking) and real, adaptive change. Adaptive change, he said means:

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The Power of Ordinary Practices

Seemingly mundane things that managers do can have great impact on their workers, says Professor Teresa Amabile. In this conversation with Professor Mike Roberts, she updates her ongoing research on creativity in the workplace by investigating how people's intense inner work lives affect their productivity—and how managers can encourage production.
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The Ten Faces of Innovation

The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization

by Thomas Kelley and Jonathan Littman

From the reviews

Innovation is now the single most decisive competitive advantage. How to establish and then sustain that advantage?

This book provides a wealth of information and counsel which can help any decision-maker to "drive creativity" through her or his organization
The book is easy to read and contains powerful, persuasive arguments about some of the activities teams need to participate in to unblock the rut they're in or to combat negative environments.

The authors suggest that all good working definitions of innovation pair ideas with action, "the spark with fire. Innovators don't just have their heads in the clouds. They also have their feet on the ground." Kelley cites and then examines several exemplary ("great") organizations
I especially appreciate the fact that Kelley focuses on the almost unlimited potential for creativity of individuals and the roles which they can play, "the hats they can put on, the personas they can adopt...[albeit] unsung heroes who work on the front lines of entrepreneurship in action, the countless people and teams who make innovation happen day in and day out."

The authors define 10 personas, including Anthropologists, who contribute insights by observing human behavior; Experimenters, who try new things; Hurdlers, who surmount obstacles; Collaborators, who bring people together and get things done; and Caregivers, who anticipate and meet customer needs.

The book is breezy and well written, with plenty of self-promotion.

Kelley and Littman use classic and recent stories of business innovation,

Kelley devotes a separate chapter to each of the ten "personas," including real-world examples of various "unsung heroes who work on the front lines of entrepreneurship in action, the countless people and teams who make innovation happen day in and day out."

Two final points. First, most of those who read this book can more easily identify with "unsung heroes" such as those whom Kelley discusses than with luminaries of innovation such as Thomas Edison or with celebrity CEOs such as Andrew Grove, Jeffrey Immelt, Steve Jobs, and Jack Welch, all of whom were staunch advocates of constant innovation in their respective organizations. Also, presumably Kelley agrees with me that those who read and then (hopefully) re-read his book should do so guided by a process which begins with the curiosity of an anthropologist and concludes with the empathy of a caregiver.

This is emphatically not an anthology of innovation recipes. Rather, it offers a rigorous intellectual journey whose ultimate value will be determined, entirely, by the nature and extent of innovative thinking which each reader achieves...and who then uses the breakthrough insights to drive creativity throughout her or his own organization.

"Essential reading for every single person in your organization--even the CEO should read it! Each page contains a nugget that's worth the price of the entire book. Wow." —Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow

“A consensus is emerging that Innovation must become most every firm's ‘Job One.’

‘Hurdle One,’ however, is a doozer: establishing a Culture of Innovation. IDEO thought leader Tom Kelley offers a thoroughly original and thoroughly tested approach to creating that ‘culture of innovation.’ Rigorously applying his ‘Ten Faces’ will get the innovation ball rolling ... fast. Bravo!” — Tom Peters

Study: Creativity is important but neglected

Educators and employers agree that creativity is increasingly important in U.S. workplaces, according to a recent report. Yet, the report suggests a disconnect exists between what survey respondents say they believe and how they act: In fact, findings indicate most high schools and employers provide creativity-conducive education and training only on an elective or "as needed" basis. Read More

How creative thinkers tinker

Did you know that developing your ability to think creatively is simply utilizing the priceless gifts you've been given: a fertile mind, a colourful imagination, and an endless array of newspapers and magazines!

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