Beyond Brainstorming: Creativity

April 15, 2008

Special Limited Time Offer in Celebration of Creativity and Innovation Day

Today is Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday! Da Vinci was born April 15^th 1452; yes, it has been 556 since one of the most creative individuals in history was born. Happy Birthday Leonardo!!

It’s not a coincidence that today also marks the one week count down to World Creativity and Innovation Day (CID), April 21^st. CID was first celebrated in 2001 after a decade of collaboration between four Canadian faculty members at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) in Buffalo, NY. Their passion for promoting creative thinking has turned into a multinational event that embraces the human creativity and innovative solutions to global challenges.

The goal of CID is to encourage people in schools, communities, businesses, families, organizations, and countries to:

1. Generate new ideas

2. Use imagination

3. Make new decisions

This spirit of this day aligns so well with our mission (bringing people and ideas together) we couldn’t resist doing our part. We brainstormed some ideas of how to give people the tools to generate more ideas, use their imagination, and make new decisions.

I had just finished reading Rohit Bhargava’s new marketing book called Personality Not Included. Rohit tells companies to stop being faceless and leverage techniques and tools to instill personality into every interaction they have with their customers. It’s a great book and, as I do with every book I love, I collect the best ideas to add to my idea library. Well that inspired an idea for the perfect gift to share with our customers! It goes something like this:

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL OFFER
The first 100 ThinkCube orders placed between April 15^th and 21^st, 2008 will receive a free copy of Personality Not Included and 6 bonus ThinkCube cards with ideas from the book.

ThinkCube Personality Included Special CID Offer

Please note, orders placed during promotional period may require extended handling time. Any order placed with expedited shipping will receive ThinkCube as specified, and then the promotional materials in a separate shipment.

As the CID tagline goes, “Admit it. You’re Creative.” Help us celebrate CID; generate ideas, use your imagination, and make new decisions!

Posted at 10:14 PM in Books, Creativity, Ideas | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 28, 2008

Creativity Contest to Win Free ThinkCube

Chris Wilson, over at The Fresh Peel, just announced a very cool creativity contest which MetaMemes is proudly sponsoring.

All you have to do is show what creativity means to you through a digital photograph and you’ll have 2 chances at winning a free ThinkCube. One winner will be chosen by popular vote and the other by organizers Ramon Vullings, co-author of Creativity Today and Chris Wilson, from The Fresh Peel.

For complete contest details, visit The Fresh Peel: Creativity Contest. Get snapping… you only have until February 6^th to enter!

Good luck!

Posted at 02:46 PM in Creativity | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

MetaMemes Reading List

David Kord Murray: Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others
If you want to learn how to innovate; whether you an aspiring or current entrepreneur, working in a large/small corporation or self employed; whether you are working in the corporate world, or entertainment, media or academia; you will find within these pages a process that will lead to higher quantity and quality of ideas. Murray shares with you not only his personal story that illuminates and illustrates the process of innovation, but also gives you a unrivaled view into the journey of an innovator; a hero's journey. This is not for someone that just wants to manage the innovation process; this is for someone that wants to innovate; individually, as a team or company; someone who wants to generate ideas and implement them. (*****)
Keith Sawyer: Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration
Group Genius: The Creative Power of CollaborationThere have been a few books recently that have challenged the commonly held beliefs and myths of innovation. Keith Sawyer; professor of psychology at Washington University in St Louis; tackles probably the most prevalent innovation myth, the lone genius. He has written a fascinating book on the power of collaboration and how it is the secret to breakthrough creativity. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested innovation and wants a practical framework for infusing an innovative culture throughout their company. This is by no means a simple `how to' book, it is far more. Great writing, great ideas and if you act upon it you will get great results!! (*****)
David Weinberger: Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder If you enjoyed any of Weinberger’s previous books (Cluetrain Manifesto, Small Pieces Loosely Joined) you will not be disappointed. This is a pleasure to read and will make you think – my two most important attributes when it comes to books. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in information and the current trends on the internet. Weinberger has been right on the money with his observations of the internet and this book is no different; organizing information in the age of the internet is an important subject. Read why there is more to information than search alone. (*****)
Jessica Livingston: Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days Jessica Livingston has written an amazing book. If you want to read the stories behind some of the most well known software companies in the last 30 years, you will find it in this book. But Livingston hasn’t just covered the usual suspects (Google, Microsoft), she has included a diverse collection from Steve Wozniak (Apple) to David Heinemeier Hansson (37 Signals), Dan Bricklin (Visicalc) to Blake Ross (Firefox). It covers a lot of ground from the early 80’s software boom to the Web 2.0 starts ups. But there is more than just stories about starting companies, there is real advice from the frontline trenches of software start-ups. Keep your post-it notes and highlighter handy, if you are like me you will be annotating and highlighting a lot! (*****)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention Csikszentmihalyi's has studied creative people from all walks of life and condensed his findings into this book. The analysis into common patterns, styles and approaches of creative people is fascinating. This is not a quick how-to book, but you will gain many insights into the creative process. (*****)
Andrew Hargadon: How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate
How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate This is book looks to answer the question, "Can Innovation really be routine?" This book not only answers that questions but actually gets into the details of "How". The title of the book is "How Breakthroughs Happen" and Hargadon definitely successfully explains the `How'. He doesn't proclaim that it is easy, but he does give a road map of how to achieve innovation through technology brokering, he even explains the different paths that apply to different types of companies. If you truly want to create an innovation factory, you should read this book and then apply what it teaches you. (*****)
Scott Berkun: The Myths of Innovation
The Myths of Innovation The book is a fun read, and Scott has a very witty writing style. His stories and personal experiences help to explain some of his counter-intuitive demythologizing. As always the classic sign of a book I love, is that by the end I have many pages highlighted and copious notes written down the margins. Scott’s book definitely fell into the category of ‘stimulating’. Even when I disagreed with him, I agreed with his underlying point. I highly recommend the book. Scott has done a great service by debunking many of cherished myths that hold many people back from innovating. It is ironic that a book that aims to destroy innovation myths actually provides a set of insights that will help anyone come up with ideas. (*****)
Jacques Hadamard: The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field
The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field Hadamard's book has a great description of the mathematical invention process. The detailed story of how Henri Poincare stepped on to a bus and solved a mathematical problem is a perfect example of the power of incubation. This book also has a famous letter from Einstein explaining the power of 'combinatory play' in invention and creativity. This is one of Thinkcubation's foundational books. (*****)
Tom Kelley: The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm
The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm The art of innovation is a classic book on 'How to Innovate' from IDEO - one of the most innovative companies in the world. Read and re-read to master innovation - the secrest are there - but you need to read between the lines for the real gems. (*****)
Jeff Hawkins: On Intelligence
On Intelligence Hawkins delves into a model to simulate intelligence that goes much further than the usual neural network. The memory prediction algorithm is a key to understanding our minds work. Chatper 6 - is well worth the price of the whole book - it is challenging but it will give you some insights into the brain that I have not found in other neuroscience books. If you want to be more creative - you need to understand how the brain works. We still have a ways to go - but I think Hawkins is on to something important. (*****)