<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: 40 years of creativity research delivered in a fun package
Review: Creativity cannot be reserved for the R&D team or the marketing department. Every enterprise needs to be creative at all times, in all areas, and in all activities. This is what Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman call "systematic creativity". Their call for universal and constant creativity might be a slight stretch but it stretches in the right direction. The universal nature of their opening message does not carry over into some unique formula for fostering systemic creativity. Instead of one "right" way, they draw on four decades of research in the field of creativity to set out basic principles and practical techniques that have endured. The emphasis on tested principles and practices in place of a fixed recipe is the first of six underlying central assumptions for the book. The second assumption is that creativity and innovation are two distinct concepts. The authors follow clear practice in distinguishing creativity - "the generation of novel and appropriate ideas" - from innovation - which "implements those ideas". A third central assumption is that creativity occurs in three areas: individuals, coalitions and teams, and organizations.
The remaining pillars that hold up the perspective of Creativity, Inc.: Underlying creativity are four interconnected dynamics that form the "heartbeat" of systemic creativity: motivation, curiosity and fear, the breaking and making of connections, and evaluation; Creativity depends on climate; Systematic creativity asks everyone to be a leader. This stimulating, informative, and cleanly written book is organized in three parts. Part I, Creative Thinking, Part II, Climate, and Part III, Action. The first two parts examine a range of aspects involved in building individual and organizational creative capability, while the final part shows how to connect creativity to purposeful work. Happily, the authors understand that organizations find it easier to boost creativity temporarily; making it stick as an integral part of the organization is much tougher. They devote the final chapter to "Sustaining the Change". If you're the kind of reader who likes to go beyond the main text and dig into the authors' sources and references, you'll be delighted to find that the compact (185 pages) of the main text is followed by copious chapter notes and references. Creativity, Inc. provides a rich set of principles and tools for steeping every aspect of your organization in creativity. Mauzy and Harriman's book on systemic creativity complements work on systematic innovation processes. Businesses that manage to get the twin engines of creativity and innovation running at full power will have the only enduring competitive advantage left.
Rating:
Summary: 40 years of creativity research delivered in a fun package
Review: Creativity cannot be reserved for the R&D team or the marketing department. Every enterprise needs to be creative at all times, in all areas, and in all activities. This is what Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman call "systematic creativity". Their call for universal and constant creativity might be a slight stretch but it stretches in the right direction. The universal nature of their opening message does not carry over into some unique formula for fostering systemic creativity. Instead of one "right" way, they draw on four decades of research in the field of creativity to set out basic principles and practical techniques that have endured. The emphasis on tested principles and practices in place of a fixed recipe is the first of six underlying central assumptions for the book. The second assumption is that creativity and innovation are two distinct concepts. The authors follow clear practice in distinguishing creativity - "the generation of novel and appropriate ideas" - from innovation - which "implements those ideas". A third central assumption is that creativity occurs in three areas: individuals, coalitions and teams, and organizations.
The remaining pillars that hold up the perspective of Creativity, Inc.: Underlying creativity are four interconnected dynamics that form the "heartbeat" of systemic creativity: motivation, curiosity and fear, the breaking and making of connections, and evaluation; Creativity depends on climate; Systematic creativity asks everyone to be a leader. This stimulating, informative, and cleanly written book is organized in three parts. Part I, Creative Thinking, Part II, Climate, and Part III, Action. The first two parts examine a range of aspects involved in building individual and organizational creative capability, while the final part shows how to connect creativity to purposeful work. Happily, the authors understand that organizations find it easier to boost creativity temporarily; making it stick as an integral part of the organization is much tougher. They devote the final chapter to "Sustaining the Change". If you're the kind of reader who likes to go beyond the main text and dig into the authors' sources and references, you'll be delighted to find that the compact (185 pages) of the main text is followed by copious chapter notes and references. Creativity, Inc. provides a rich set of principles and tools for steeping every aspect of your organization in creativity. Mauzy and Harriman's book on systemic creativity complements work on systematic innovation processes. Businesses that manage to get the twin engines of creativity and innovation running at full power will have the only enduring competitive advantage left.
Rating: 
Summary: A welcome paradox
Review: I have been doing seminar and study on the subject of creativity and innovation as i run my webdesign company, and i found this book interesting. Published by HBS and written in the more "formal" language, it seemed like the paradox of creativity itself, funky fancy fun theory in the heavy corporate type of text book. Most of creativity books are fun, delicious, crunchy, and toward the right brained style of writing with pictures and funs and games etc. But this book try to formalize into a textbook format. Hench my thought of the paradox. The writers devide the book into 3 parts: CREATIVITY THINKING, which basically tell you wht creativity is, CLIMATE, which is more like culture with some differences, and ACTION, how individual or corporation can implement the creativity. The authors also describe 7 steps of PURPOSEFUL CREATIVITY, which i found quiet interesting, and formalize creativity into intended innovation. All in all this is a good book which formalize creativity and make it more corporate-like. However i think it will still be a fuzzy thing if you only read this book alone and expect that you can drive your organization to become a creative organisation. This book has a good way of telling you the direction and what it is all about, with a lot of samples (mostly taken from big famous brand name company). I surely hope there are more serious creativity book in the future.....
Rating:
Summary: A unique insight
Review: In a sea of books describing on how the PROCESS of innovation, Jeff does a good job of reminding us that without creativity, without the big idea, innovation may be possible, but it won't be very interesting. He provides a solid framework, to expalin why may organizations conforatably build systems and provide infrastructure to support innovation but do not achieve what they set out to do.. a interesting book worth a read
Rating:
Summary: Exemplary creativity
Review: Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman's seminal volume on systematic creativity garnered a lasting impression largely due to his gift for making the corporate world intelligible. The book is not solely intended for the tenacious "higher-ups" that dictate the feel of the workplace, but instead tends towards the hands-on approach that is the hallmark of the individuated sucessful corporation.<br />
<br />
The main thrust of his approach is to create a kind of learning environment that allows for "growth" and "specialization" in a particular field. Mauzy's knack for egalitarian leadership is firmly based in his experience in child-rearing. Allowing a young person to mature into a specialized and highly competant individual is analogous to the process that Mauzy and Harriman espouse.<br />
<br />
I found it to be especially useful when the book described the creative process as being like the teaching of mathematics. It seems counter-intuitive to link creativity to mathematics, but in fact one can be expressive within a rigidly defined field, much like the corporate world itself. I highly recommend this book for its emphasis on the educational and mathematical aspects of corporate creativity.
Rating:
Summary: Exemplary creativity
Review: Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman's seminal volume on systematic creativity garnered a lasting impression largely due to his gift for making the corporate world intelligible. The book is not solely intended for the tenacious "higher-ups" that dictate the feel of the workplace, but instead tends towards the hands-on approach that is the hallmark of the individuated sucessful corporation.<br /><br />The main thrust of his approach is to create a kind of learning environment that allows for "growth" and "specialization" in a particular field. Mauzy's knack for egalitarian leadership is firmly based in his experience in child-rearing. Allowing a young person to mature into a specialized and highly competant individual is analogous to the process that Mauzy and Harriman espouse.<br /><br />I found it to be especially useful when the book described the creative process as being like the teaching of mathematics. It seems counter-intuitive to link creativity to mathematics, but in fact one can be expressive within a rigidly defined field, much like the corporate world itself. I highly recommend this book for its emphasis on the educational and mathematical aspects of corporate creativity.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Read!
Review: Mauzy seems to really know what he is talking about. When he separated the concept of creativity from the innovation in the first chapter he really got my attention. Imagine creating a corporate culture that actually fosters creativity. Lots of folks talk about this but Mauzy and Harriman actually showed how to do this. And the answer isn't some defined formula so it might just work in my company. This book is full of essential ideas, and shows a wealth of experience and great writing!
Rating:
Summary: Essential Read!
Review: Mauzy seems to really know what he is talking about. When he separated the concept of creativity from the innovation in the first chapter he really got my attention. Imagine creating a corporate culture that actually fosters creativity. Lots of folks talk about this but Mauzy and Harriman actually showed how to do this. And the answer isn't some defined formula so it might just work in my company. This book is full of essential ideas, and shows a wealth of experience and great writing!
<< 1 >>
| 
