Corporate Creativity: How Innovation & Improvement Actually Happen

"Most companies are aware that their creative 'potential' greatly exceeds their creative 'performance.' The problem is that they don't know what to do about it. We believe that this potential cannot be realized until people recognize where it actually lies. Consider this. Most creative acts, as they now occur in companies, are not planned for and come from where they are least expected. It is impossible to predict 'what' they will be, 'who' will be involved in them, and 'when' and 'how' they will happen. This is the true nature of corporate creativity, and it is here that a company's creative potential really lies. For corporate creativity, the real power is in the unexpected" (from the Introduction).In this context, in describing the corporate creativity, Alan G. Robinson and Sam Stern write that a company is creative when its employees do something new and potentially useful without being directly shown and taught. And they argue that in every unexpected creative act the following six essential elements are key to promoting consistent corporate creativity:1. 'Alignment' is the degree to which the interests and actions of every employee support the organization's key goals. Strong alignment requires three things: *clarity about what the key goals of the organization are, *commitment to initiatives that promote the key goals, *accountability for actions that affect the key goals.2. 'Self-initiated activity.' The majority of creative acts in companies are self-initiated, which explains why they are unanticipated by management. To promote it, companies only have to unleash what is already present. The key is an effective system for responding to employee ideas, which must have five characteristics. The system must: *reach everyone, *be easy to use, *have strong follow-through, *document ideas, *be based on intrinsic motivation.3. 'Unofficial activity,' work done without direct official support, is what makes it possible for a company to go where it never expected to. Every unexpected creative act begins with a period of unofficial activity, which might be a matter of minutes or years.4. 'Serendipity' combines a fortunate accident with sagacity. Fortunate accidents can be promoted through strategies that provoke and exploit accidents. Sagacity can be promoted by expanding the company's human potential beyond its immediate needs.5. 'Diverse stimuli.' A stimulus can either push someone in a completely new direction or give that person fresh insight into what her or she has already set out to do. There are four strategies companies can use to promote diverse stimuli: *identify stimuli and provide them to employees, *rotate employees into every job they are capable of doing, *arrange for employees to interact with those outside the company who are likely to be the source of stimuli, *create opportunities for employees to bring into thr organization stimuli they get on their own.6. 'Within-company communication.' Every company tries to ensure effective c

Outstanding work by Robinson & Stern! This book wins the Triple Crown. The first crown is for bringing in academic research, the second for real-world experience, the third for practical application.The numerous backgrounds that reference specific studies and research add credibility and initiate construction on the framework for most of Robinson & Stern's (R & S) points. References to the JMA's work is also noteworthy. These hard numbers give R & S the data to back their points, and gave me the *data* I needed to make my case.In more traditional "business book" fashion, copious references to real-world business experiences bring the researcher's statistics onto the shop floor, and into the office. The pages devoted to American Airlines are especially good. The work here reflected a consultant's-eye-view, with many high level surveys of situations. Last, the practical application method is a good start, and is probably the best approach given R & S's audience. I think, if a creativity strategy is to work, there are broader cultural issues that need more attention, and there are interpersonal issues that need to drive training. I'm new to the topic, with only a smidgen of experience, and a few books under my belt, but five minutes into this book I was saying to myself, "Ah ha, this is what I wanted!".

This book explains what ingredients are needed for a successful, company-wide suggestion scheme (and also points out the ingredients which cause suggestion schemes to fail). This book gets its points across in an easy-to-read and entertaining manner; for example, Chapter 5 describes the worst suggestion scheme in the world, and is fantastically entertaining in a Dilbert-like way. I think this book is flawless and is, without doubt, the best business book that I have ever read.

The world is filled with books that address how individuals can be more creative, and accomplish more. By comparison, few have addressed the subject of how groups of people can be more creative in working together. The literature seems to begin and end with brainstorming until Teresa Amabile and CORPORATE CREATIVITY came along. This book is unusually effective in drawing on examples from around the world, and in a variety of circumstances. Many of the examples were new to me, and I have studied this subject for many years. This is ground-breaking work, that every company should be applying in today's rapidly-changing world. I thought that the insights drawn from the examples were well done, and that the guide in chapter 12 about how to get started was very useful. Please buy, read, use, and prosper!

Robinson and Stern do an unbelievable job of telling about creativity in the work place. This book makes you understand that creative acts are unplanned and can come from anyone in the company. The six elements of creativity all make perfect sense once you read this book. This book breakes down the kaizen system and really shows it's effectivness.