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Organizational Creativity
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Organizational Creativity
A Practical Guide for Innovators & Entrepreneurs

  • Gerard J. Puccio - Buffalo State - State University of New York
  • John F. Cabra - Buffalo State - State University of New York
  • Nathan Schwagler - The Dali Museum (St. Petersburg, FL), University of South Florida - St. Petersburg


April 2017 | 264 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Reignite your creative-thinking skills to produce innovative solutions

 

Organizational Creativity: A Practical Guide for Innovators and Entrepreneurs by Gerard J. Puccio, John F. Cabra, and Nathan Schwagler, is a compelling new text designed to transform the reader into a creative thinker and leader. Arguing that creativity is an essential skill that must be developed, the authors take a highly practical approach, providing strategies, tools, and cases to help readers hone their creative abilities. Whether students are preparing to become entrepreneurs or to work in an established firm, this text will help them survive and thrive in an era of innovation and change.


 
Introduction: Purpose and Design of This Book
 
About the Authors
 
PART I. KNOWING: CREATIVITY KNOWLEDGE TO SUPPORT A 21st-CENTURY INNOVATOR
 
Chapter 1. Innovation Wired: You Evolved to Create
Knowing—You Were Born to Be Creative

 
Doing—Tuning in to the Creativity Already Inside of You

 
Being—Making Reflection a Habit

 
 
Chapter 2. How to Survive and Thrive in an Era of Innovation and Change
Knowing—The Forces for and Against Creative Thinking

 
Doing—Removing the But in Your Thinking

 
Being—Reflecting and Redirecting Yes-But Thinking

 
 
Chapter 3. What We Know About Creativity
Knowing—Sorting Creativity Fact From Fiction

 
Doing—Creating Your Own Mood

 
Being—Developing an Internal Locus of Control

 
 
Chapter 4. The Practical Benefits of Creativity: Becoming an Innovation Asset
Knowing—Top Reasons for Studying and Developing Your Creativity

 
Doing—Selling Creativity

 
Being—Making Creativity a Habit

 
 
PART II. DOING: PROVEN PRACTICES FOR 21st-CENTURY INNOVATORS
 
Chapter 5. Think: How to Improve Your Fundamental Capacity to Think in Creative Ways
Knowing—Understanding the Creative Mind

 
Doing—Training the Creative Mind

 
Being—Internalizing the Divergent Thinking Principles

 
 
Chapter 6. Understand: The Power of Observation and the Importance of Problem Definition
Knowing—Seeing and Questioning What Others Miss

 
Doing—Acting Like a Serial Opportunist

 
Being—Living Like a Serial Opportunist

 
 
Chapter 7. Ideate: Ways to Visualize and Generate Breakthrough Ideas
Knowing—Ideating: The Mind’s Capacity to See the Future

 
Doing—Using Associative Thinking to Visualize Anew

 
Being—Living Like an Idea Generator

 
 
Chapter 8. Experiment: Strategies to Develop and Validate the Best Solutions
Knowing—Developing and Validating Through Experimentation

 
Doing—Acting Like an Idea Developer

 
Being—Living Like an Idea Developer

 
 
Chapter 9. Implement: Gaining Buy-In and Driving Change
Knowing—Everyone Is in the Business of Sales

 
Doing—Acting Like an Influencer and Change Agent

 
Being—Influencing and Leading Change

 
 
PART III. BEING: WAYS TO SUSTAIN YOURSELF AS A 21st-CENTURY INNOVATOR
 
Chapter 10. The Emotionally Intelligent Leader
Knowing—Emotional Intelligence Is Not a Soft Skill

 
Doing—Tools and Strategies for Overcoming Creative Blocks

 
Being—Actively Learning From Failure

 
 
Chapter 11. Sustaining Your Creativity: Learning to Defy and Transform the Crowd
Knowing—Investment Theory of Creativity

 
Doing—Addressing Resistance to Change

 
Being—Becoming a 21st-Century Innovator

 
 
Notes
 
Index

“This book is about creativity and how students can better understand a complex subject that is both subjective and ever changing. This book brings about some practical examples of creativity from a historical perspective as well as a current perspective and pushes students to think differently than their peers.”  

Susan Fant
University of Alabama

“Creative and thought provoking.” 

AnnMarie DiSiena

“An engaging text for students that is structured to reflect the theoretical frameworks it presents to not only teach through the written word, but through the applied exercises it assigns to the reader.” 

April J. Spivack
Coastal Carolina University

“…a text has finally been written that gives proper attention to the "Creativity" side of creativity & innovation.” 

Eric M. Stark
James Madison University

“An easy-to-read, easy-to-use basis for teaching AND DEVELOPING creativity knowledge, skills, and dispositions for students at any level: undergraduate or graduate, or adult learning/community learning course offerings.” 

Patricia K. O’Connell
Lourdes University

"Simple, deep, entertaining and useful: that rare combination can be found in this engaging book. A must read for anyone interested in innovation and creativity. I enjoyed it and strongly recommend it."

Sergio Fajardo
Ph.D. in Math UW-Madison. Mayor of Medellín (2004-2007) and Governor of Antioquia (2012-2015), Colombia

"Organizational Creativity is one of the most lucid, thoughtful, and insightful books on how organizations can leverage creativity to produce innovative results. The “know-do-be” theme and the engaging writing style convincingly articulate ways to develop creativity skills and traits. Anyone interested in fostering innovation in organizations needs to read this book."

Srikant M. Datar
Harvard Business School

"Another insightful contribution to understanding creativity from Buffalo's International Center. The significance of creativity for innovators and entrepreneurs is badly in need of such clarification."

Tudor Rickards
University of Manchester

"Creative thinking is widely considered a 21st century skill. To best prepare students for today's complex work world, colleges and universities must find pedagogically sound practices that promote creative thinking. Here at Sheridan we have adopted, with great success, many of the principles, methods and tools described in Organizational Creativity. There is little doubt that these strategies are contributing to our students’ creative-thinking capabilities."

Mary Preece
Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada

"Educational experts and business leaders throughout the world have consistently cited creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial skills as vital for professional success in this century.  At the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga we have taken the contents of this book to help guide a powerful institutional intervention to make our university the first creative campus in Latin America. As a result, our students now have strategies to release the utmost potential they have within them."

Alberto Montoya Puyana
Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia
Key features

KEY FEATURES

  • A Know-Doing-Being learning model in every chapter moves the reader through understanding knowledge to learning how to apply knowledge and to making knowledge a part of his or her make-up. Each section concludes with an appropriate learning activity to encourage readers to interact with and apply the material in the book.
  • Original case studies at the end of each chapter show readers how developing individual creativity can translate into organizational success. The cases range from well-known contemporary brands to individual innovator success stories and from large, successful organizations to community-based innovation initiatives. Debrief questions following each case provide an opportunity for the reader to test his or her understanding of the concepts taught in that chapter and provide instructors with a framework for group discussion. 
  • Thought Bubbles in every chapter invite readers to directly interact with the concepts presented in the book and to practice one of the creativity skills taught in the chapter. Readers consequently make connections and then tune into their own creative thinking. Moreover, the Thought Bubbles encourage social interaction by providing hashtags that readers can use to tweet their thoughts; instructors can follow through and thus create a social dialog in the classroom.
  • An engaging and conversational writing style stimulates thinking, reflection, and growth in the reader by making him or her feel as though the author is having a conversation with the reader.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction

Chapter 5


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