"From the author of the groundbreaking book Reinvent Your Business Model, a new approach for thinking about the future and turning your most promising and creative ideas into reality. We all know visionary leaders when we see them. In business, they are last-name-only disrupters like Jobs, Bezos, and Hastings, and, in politics, they are such transformative figures as Mandela and FDR. They're bold and prophetic and at the same time pragmatic. They...

"The Harvard Business Review looked at 300 of the most creative, successful executives in business and found that they shared a number of tendencies and characteristics, but one stood out at the top of the list--they all were master questioners. It's not necessity, but a question--a "beautiful" question--that is the mother of invention. The world's leading innovators, inventors, business entrepreneurs, and creative minds, seem to be exceptionally...

What, exactly, is creativity? Take a closer look at what makes a creative person in this introductory lecture that explores ancient ideas about creativity (including the muses of the ancient Greeks); debunks common myths about the sources of creativity; and examines how play, passion, practice, and purpose can enhance your own creative thinking.

You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group, but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead, shot down. You're furious. Everyone has lost: Those who would have benefited from your proposal. You. Your company. Perhaps even the country. It doesn't have to be this way, maintain...

How do you gain influence for an idea? In Breaking Out, idea developer and adviser John Butman shows how the methods of today's most popular "idea entrepreneurs"-including dog psychologist Cesar Millan, French lifestyle guru Mireille Guiliano (French Women Don't Get Fat), TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, and many others-can help you take an idea public and build influence for it. It isn't easy. Butman argues that the rise of the "ideaplex" (TED, Twitter,...

From Quincy Jones, the legendary musician, producer, and beloved mentor, comes 12 Notes, his collection of wisdom and musings on creativity and life. To Jones, creativity is a calling that can and should be answered, no matter your age or experience. Drawing from his own life, and those of his many creative collaborators past and present, Jones presents readers with an accessible guide to lessons he has learned throughout his legendary career. --...

A behavioral scientist explores why "rebels" with unconventional outlooks who break the rules find the greatest success, discussing how they drive innovation and reinvention by defying the status quo.

"In 1986, Ed Catmull co-founded Pixar, a modest start-up with an immodest goal: to make the first-ever computer animated movie. Nine years later, Pixar released Toy Story, which went on to revolutionize the industry, gross $360 million, and establish Pixar as one of the most successful, innovative, and emulated companies on earth. This book details how Catmull built an enduring creative culture -- one that doesn't just pay lip service to the importance...

"Some people are just natural innovators, right? With no apparent effort, they discover ideas for new products, services, and entire businesses. It may look like innovators are born, not made. But according to Jeffrey Dyer and Hal Gregersen, anyone can become more innovative. How? Master the discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from ordinary managers. In The Innovator's DNA, the authors identify five capabilities...

Life isn't about "finding" fulfillment and success – it's about creating it. Why then has creativity been given a back seat in our culture? No longer. Creativity is a force inside every person that, when unleashed, transforms our lives and delivers vitality to everything we do. Establishing a creative practice is therefore our most valuable and urgent task - as important to our well-being as exercise or nutrition. The good news? Renowned artist,...