What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, and the story developers at Pixar films all have in common? Bestselling author Peter Sims found that all of them have achieved remarkable results using a surprisingly similar approach: methodically taking small, experimental steps. Rather than believing they have to start with a big idea or plan a whole project out in advance, trying to foresee the final outcome, they make a methodical series of little bets about what might be a good direction, learning critical information from lots of little failures and from small but significant wins that allow them to find unexpected avenues and arrive at extraordinary outcomes.
Entries Tagged as 'Creativity'
Peter Sims - Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
April 27th, 2010 · Comments
Tags: Creativity
Scott Belsky - Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
August 26th, 2005 · Comments
Though creation always begins with an idea, ideas don't always lead to creation; examining why that's so, online entrepreneur Belsky finds that, no matter how unique or radically different ideas may be, the individuals and teams who carry those ideas to fruition share a number of common traits, such as engaging peers and leveraging communal forces. In this guide to realizing ideas, Belsky examines those traits in detail. Chapters like "The Chemistry of the Creative Team" set forth an action-based plan that forgoes time-wasting meetings and other corporate culture standbys, citing studies, progressive thinkers and case studies of companies like Best Buy, IBM and Sun Microsystems. Modern-day successes, Belsky contends, have traded "the traditional butts-in-chairs mindset" for a "Results Only Work Environment," where employees are compensated based on achievement of specified goals, rather than work hours. Ultimately, Belsky insists, creative success is a matter of rethinking methods and increasing focus, while emphasizing and rewarding old-fashioned passion and perspiration.
26bbTags: Creativity
Summer Pierre - The Artist in the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week
August 26th, 2005 · Comments
A guide to living a creative life from 9 to 5 and beyond.
Based on the hit handmade 'zine, The Artist in the Office is an inspirational, interactive book for any artist living in the real world. It encourages small acts of creativity and a simple shift of perspective to help readers bring their artistic selves into the workplace and thrive in all aspects of their lives.
Readers are prompted to undertake a wide range of liberating activities, from the mundane to the sublime, that won't put their 9-to- 5 job at risk, including:
•Take lunchtime adventures to rouse your spirit: a bookstore, a flower shop, or a park
•Pick one ordinary object each day and take pictures every time you see it: coffee mugs, shoes, office plants
•Get up an hour early or stay up an hour later and devote the time to your creative work. Schedule it in like any other mandatory appointment or meeting
•Collect doodles from Post-Its or notebooks and reassemble them in a sketchbook
About the Author
Summer Pierre is a consummate artist: she writes, she draws, she sings. And, most important, she knows how to reach people with her art. Summer's writing has appeared in The Time Argus, Skirt! Magazine, and Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs.
Tags: Creativity
