Featured Book

It's ironic that books on creativity consistently lack the very imagination that they purport to demonstrate. I bought Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A corporate fool's guide to surviving with grace at the airport to read on the flight to a creativity conference in Canada. I was so impressed that by the time I landed, I decided to completely change my presentation. From the title, to the format, to the artwork, to its inspirational content, this book distinguishes itself from all the rest.

Gordon McKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years ultimately achieving the (self-created yet thoroughly respected) position of "Creative Paradox." He uses the metaphor of a "Giant Hairball" to represent the tangle of impenetrable rules, procedures, policies, and historic processes that organizations devise to maintain their existence. Far from an idyllic celestial body, however, the gravitation of this virtual "Death Star" is capable of sucking the life forces of creativity, imagination and vitality out of an organization. The hairball constructs a vast wasteland of mediocrity that constantly increases its own mass and powerful attraction killing the lifeblood of existence - ideas.

Rather than being tempted to escape to another planet, McKenzie suggests that we learn to orbit the Hairball, stating that in his thirty years at Hallmark, "there was not a day when I was not subject to the inexorable pull of Corporate Gravity tug, tug, tugging me toward (and during one unhappy year, right into) the tangle of the hairball where the ghosts of past successes outvote original thinking." Using anecdotes, strategies, and truly imaginative drawings, McKenzie inspires us to find a place of balance that will enable us to benefit from the resources of the organization without becoming "entombed in the bureaucracy of the institution." Hard to believe that this started out as a sefl-published book. It will change the way you think! 

Ironically, requiring seven more principles, yet presented within considerably fewer pages, John C. Maxwell's The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player constructs a simplistic model of teamwork that will likely be only useful to the reader seeking the most basic information. Taking a little more than a half hour to read and an even a shorter time to digest, Maxwell's outline of the most basic of team concepts is supplemented by his characteristic extensive utilization of popular quotes, bulleted lists, and very short case examples. Extremely basic, yet useful for high school academic or athletic contexts or as an introduction to basic teamwork concepts to new board members of non-profit organizations. Recommenced for basic training!

The Arbinger Institute's Leadership and Self Deception: Getting out of the box, convincingly illustrates the process of self-deception that we engage in both our professional and personal lives. Utilizing a modified Socratic method within an engaging parable format, the authors make a persuasive argument that we often imprison ourselves by perceiving and treating others as objects rather than human beings. Even though this is often (self) justified as an attempt to "do the right thing" or further the cause of productive expediency, it frequently distorts reality.

The authors refer to this distortion as an act of self-betrayal ultimately remanding us to "solitary confinement" within a set of constricted boundaries that limit our ability to lead, be an effective team member, and/or successfully engage in the creative process. Left uncorrected, the recursive patterns that construct the "box" become indelibly integrated into our personalities creating more limitations for us and those whom we interact with in our daily lives.

Although the principles outlined in this book are somewhat similar to those Dan Goleman put forth in Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Self Deception focuses more specifically on the problems (and solutions) of leadership and collaboration within an organizational context. Peppered with spirited and thoughtful dialogue, this 181-page gem is illustrated with clever diagrams supplementing its important message. Highly recommended!

It turns out that while creating the most cutting edge product designs in the last 25 years, the folks at IDEO managed to have a great time. In the book, The Art of Innovation: Lessons in creativity from IDEO, Tom Kelly, the company's general manager, illuminates the pioneering design firm's distinctive creative process while emphasizing the importance of maintaining an open, collaborative, and (sometimes) wacky atmosphere where great ideas are free to evolve. While this book recounts many fascinating stories about designing and redesigning familiar products - who would have thought that a small hand demanded a fatter toothbrush - it is succeeds most when outlining the human factors that are key of to IDEO's success.

On an engineering level this best characterized by the concept of "observation fueled insight" focusing on the importance of actual human needs and interactions with a potential new design. On a collaborative level, Kelly believes that teamwork always beats the myth that creativity flourishes within blissful solitude. On a purely practical level, IDEO's seven secrets for better brainstorming and the six ways to kill a brainstorm are significant contributions to any process of creative collaboration. All of this, Kelly points out, must be supported with a framework of trust, risk taking, and fun. Brilliant!

Demonstrating a genuine reverence for the fragility and potential of ideas, Jack Ricchiuto's Collaborative Creativity is a "small" book with a lot of "big" ideas. A highly respected project management, research, design, and development consultant for many years, he presents no less than 72 collaborative creativity tools and observations in a little more than 100 pages.

Of particular usefulness are his four innovation competencies that should be present in relation to the creative process. Comparing these competencies to the dynamic "riffs" of jazz improvisers, he proposes that teams and individuals collaboratively engaging in creative pursuits should be ": 1) provocative, 2) open-minded, 3) practical, and 4) inventive." This is one of the best books that we have found integrating the critical ingredients of creativity and collaboration. Big ideas in a small book!