Looking at creativity …. for all of us in 2013!
Author: gingergrant
Dr. Grant is a strategist, business anthropologist and organizational designer whose work is grounded in narrative as a tool for transformation. Her passion is the development of talent management programs and creativity clusters that drive innovation practices and prosperity.
Idea Agent: Leadership that Liberates Creativity
If you are interested in how to manage creative people to maximize your innovation potential, here is a book to read over the holidays. Or give to you boss as a (hint) gift. Lina Echeverria is a leadership consultant with over 25 years experience in science and technology. At Corning, Lina went from scientist to Vice-President and tended both people and process that resulted in products ranging from faster optic fibre to flat-panel glass used in smart-phones and LCD TVs. Her emphasis is on culture that is defined by beliefs, attitudes, energy, interaction styles and rituals. Her focus is on the values that drive creative engagement. I love her commitment to establishing an oral tradition – the stories told that drive passion and respect individual freedom to create in a space that authentically welcomes innovators. A yummy, yummy book hot off the press!
Idea Agent: Leadership that Liberates Creativity and Accelerates Innovation
The Intention Economy
It’s been a busy Fall! From classes starting again and working with the Conference Board here in Canada, I’ve been running. At our last meeting of the Customer Experience Council, we had the pleasure of listening to a presentation on VRM – Vendor Relationship Management – by Doc Searles.
Searles has done it again. From the Cluetrain Manifesto and ‘all markets are conversations’ to ‘caveat venditor‘ – let the seller beware. Customers are beginning to take charge of their own data, maybe not tomorrow but its coming. The market is shifting to being driven by demand – the customer. Beyond customer-centric, The Intention Economy shows us a world ruled by customer intent – vendors must respond to the intentions of the customer instead of responding to a crowd.
Consider a world where you were able to build your own loyalty programs and dictate terms of service to the vendors that you favor? Control the flow and the usage of your personal data? Once again, the message is ‘The end of business as usual’.
Big data gives you big data. Insight into the marketplace is what is required. VRM is forerunner of what is to come.
The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge
Becoming China’s Bitch
The title may offend you but the message needs to be heard. Following up on Bill Clinton’s recent speech, the message needs repeating, over and over if necessary. Regardless of your political affiliation, the speech resonates because the main message is true. The only advantage left in North America is our incredible aptitude for creativity and innovation. Innovative organizations come from creative people. Each and every one of us. And working together we can rebuild a broken economy. The key is together – because if not – the title of this book will become a reality.
Peter D. Keirnan has written a manifesto for the radical center and outlines nine catastrophes we currently face and five factors that are freezing our ability to act. It’s a tough read but stick with it. He states “Ask any foreigner what the essence of America is and they will tell you it is our unfettered ability to dream the big dreams. And then make them happen.” Canada and the US have the largest undefended border in the world as we partner in economy. It’s time to reclaim our creative capital and put it back to work.
Becoming China’s Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Clayton Christensen is well known as the author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. In this new offering, he has drawn upon his business experience as a consultant and professor to explain how high achievers can often fall into traps that lead to unhappiness. But how to measure happiness? satisfaction? achievement? How to avoid compromising your integrity in our current economic maelstrom? Christensen provides both wisdom and inspiration for anyone searching for a path to fulfillment. A great summer read!
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Shop Class as Soulcraft
Matthew Crawford has written an excellent book on the value of working with your heart as well as your hands – the reality of practical activity. What have we lost in moving away from the art of ‘making’? How does the modern working environment deaden our senses? Is the emphasis on the knowledge worker in our economy missing a valuable resource? Some interesting questions for anyone whose heart lies in ‘making’. The work of skilled ‘builders’ cannot be outsourced and forges a strong bond with the community in which the builder resides. Crawford makes his case for the sheer pleasure of manual labor – emphasizing the skilled artisan of the past and needed as a valuable asset in our future. An interesting addition for any reader who studies the world of work.
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
Working with Images
Depth Psychology challenges orthodox psychological thinking by insisting that the field of psychology must itself revision its ideas. For the student of the imagination, Benjamin Sells has compiled formative articles from the Spring Journal that explore the use and the power of images. Its generative ground for both theory and practice is ‘psyche’ or soul, that is the source of our imagination.
Working With Images provides a method for reaching into the imagination and feeding the creative source. For anyone interested in maximizing creative potential, this work provides an aesthetic foundation from which to build. A great reference guide!
The Story Solution
For anyone who is interested in how story works, author Eric Edson has provided a compact framework from which to build a powerful tale. Edson has written seventeen feature screenplays for companies including Warner Brothers, Sony, Disney and Showtime and is a Professor of Screenwriting and Director of the Graduate Program in Screenwriting at California State University.
He outlines 23 interlocking actions used in every successful screenplay that can create dynamic heroes and captivating plots. For the corporate reader, this is an excellent reference guide to the transformational arc that every character needs in order to grow. So does your CEO quality? You be the judge!
Hello world!
The heart and soul of strategy is action – the purpose of planning. Have a ‘wicked’ problem? One that is not so easily solved? Struggling to find your core ideology? Wondering how to make action out of ideas? Come on in and visit.
Creative Intelligence Lab 