Creativity Inc. Building an Inventive Organization

From all the research and literature on the topic of innovation in organizations, it appears that as an entrepreneurial spark grows into an organizational behemoth, much of the creativity that sparked success gets lost.  It is as though the very nature of business growth kills the creative juice that started the business. 

Does this have to be true? 

Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman don't think so.  In their book, Creativity Inc. they look at forty years worth of research and outline how creative ideas happen and how these ideas become innovations.  The authors, both from Synectics Corporation, a corporate creativity consulting firm, provide a set of foundational principles and practices they say a company needs in order to build its own framework for creativity and innovation. 

What I like about this book: 

• Lots of examples and case studies to illustrate the points they are making.
• They draw on some excellent research in the field.
• They have organized the book into three sections: Creativity Thinking, Climate, and Action.
• They provide some exercises to use to help individuals and teams embrace some of the practices required to foster creative thinking.
• They take a deep look at what leaders can do to foster a climate that supports creative thinking and move ideas into action for innovation.

They are clear that they do not believe that there is a fixed formula for creative success for all companies to follow, but rather some principles that will help support creativity. Certainly there has been more recent literature claiming there is a formula for innovation, however, I tend to agree with the authors that not all companies are created equal and that the company has to come to their own methodology - what works at IDEO does not necessarily work for your organization. 

Bottom line: Worth the read - the richness of the research covered makes this book stand out in the innovation literature.