Books like Bright ideas by Susan Synarski

In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Topping bestseller lists for almost ten years, Thinking, Fast and Slow is a contemporary classic, an essential book that has changed the lives of millions of readers.

When asked to talk to students at Broome Community College in upstate New York in the spring of 2011, Austin Kleon wrote a simple list often things he wished he'd heard when he was their age: 'Steal like an artist; Don't wait until you know who you are to start making things; Write the book you want to read; Use your hands; Side projects are important; Do good work and put it where people can see it; Geography is no longer our master; Be nice (the world is a small town.); Be boring (it's the only way to get work done.); and, Creativity is subtraction.' After giving the speech, he posted the text and slides to his popular blog, where it quickly went viral. Now Kleon has expanded his original manifesto into an illustrated guide to the creative life for writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, photographers, musicians, and anyone attempting to make things - art, a career, a life - in the digital age. Brief, direct, and visually interactive, the book includes illustrative anecdotes and mini-exercise sections calling out practical actions readers can take to unleash their own creative spirits.

When asked to talk to students at Broome Community College in upstate New York in the spring of 2011, Austin Kleon wrote a simple list often things he wished he'd heard when he was their age: 'Steal like an artist; Don't wait until you know who you are to start making things; Write the book you want to read; Use your hands; Side projects are important; Do good work and put it where people can see it; Geography is no longer our master; Be nice (the world is a small town.); Be boring (it's the only way to get work done.); and, Creativity is subtraction.' After giving the speech, he posted the text and slides to his popular blog, where it quickly went viral. Now Kleon has expanded his original manifesto into an illustrated guide to the creative life for writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, photographers, musicians, and anyone attempting to make things - art, a career, a life - in the digital age. Brief, direct, and visually interactive, the book includes illustrative anecdotes and mini-exercise sections calling out practical actions readers can take to unleash their own creative spirits.

In his book, The Innovator's Dilemma [3], Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School describes a theory about how large, outstanding firms can fail "by doing everything right." The Innovator's Dilemma, according to Christensen, describes companies whose successes and capabilities can actually become obstacles in the face of changing markets and technologies. ([Source][1]) This book takes the radical position that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right. It demonstrates why outstanding companies that had their competitive antennae up, listened astutely to customers, and invested aggressively in new technologies still lost their market leadership when confronted with disruptive changes in technology and market structure. And it tells how to avoid a similar fate. Using the lessons of successes and failures of leading companies, The Innovator's Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. These principles will help managers determine when it is right not to listen to customers, when to invest in developing lower-performance products that promise lower margins, and when to pursue small markets at the expense of seemingly larger and more lucrative ones. - Jacket flap. [1]: http://web.mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2000/teradyne/clay.html

"IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers. "--

The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't. Drawing on research from around the world, Pink outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are absolute essentials for professional success and personal fulfillment-and reveals how to master them. A Whole New Mind takes readers to a daring new place, and a provocative and necessary new way of thinking about a future that's already here.

Presents over seventy-five simple arts and crafts activities related to holidays, school, occupations, travel, nature, home, and friendship.

"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 demonstrated by the best innovators: ʺ Associating: drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields ʺ Questioning: posing queries that challenge common wisdom ʺ Observing: scrutinizing the behavior of customers, suppliers, and competitors to identify new ways of doing things ʺ Experimenting: constructing interactive experiences and provoking unorthodox responses to see what insights emerge ʺ Networking: meeting people with different ideas and perspectives The authors explain how to generate ideas with these skills, collaborate with "delivery-driven" colleagues to implement ideas, and build innovation skills throughout your organization to sharpen its competitive edge. They also provide a self-assessment for rating your own innovator's DNA. Practical and provocative, this book is an essential resource for all teams seeking to strengthen their innovative prowess"-- "How can I innovate? How do I spot people who are more likely to generate disruptive business ideas for my organization? How can I help my team be more innovative? If you've ever asked yourself these questions, then you know there is no silver bullet for learning how to be more innovative. Indeed, conventional wisdom says that some people naturally and habitually have that "spark" and other people just don't. Picking up where The Innovator's Solution leaves off, authors Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen offer a different view, and instead argue that all people can learn how to be more innovative. In The Innovator's DNA, the authors now show that you can train yourself -- and others -- to think and act more like an innovator, even like those high profile innovators such as Scott Cook, Mike Lazardis, Meg Whitman, and AG Lafley. In partnership with Clayton Christensen, Dyer and Gregersen launched an in-depth study of "innovative entrepreneurs" -- that is, founders and CEOs of companies based on a unique value proposition relative to incumbents -- and compared them to other successful (but not innovative) CEOs and executives. Through in-depth interviews, 360 and survey data, Dyer, Gergersen, and Christensen identified a set of five "discovery skills" ( associational thinking, questioning, observing, experimenting, and idea networking) that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs from typical executives. This book explains each of the discovery skills, how to develop them, and how to use them in combination to generate new ideas. It shows how to rate, and then build upon, your own "Innovator's DNA", using the same diagnostics used in their study of successful innovators"--

"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 demonstrated by the best innovators: ʺ Associating: drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields ʺ Questioning: posing queries that challenge common wisdom ʺ Observing: scrutinizing the behavior of customers, suppliers, and competitors to identify new ways of doing things ʺ Experimenting: constructing interactive experiences and provoking unorthodox responses to see what insights emerge ʺ Networking: meeting people with different ideas and perspectives The authors explain how to generate ideas with these skills, collaborate with "delivery-driven" colleagues to implement ideas, and build innovation skills throughout your organization to sharpen its competitive edge. They also provide a self-assessment for rating your own innovator's DNA. Practical and provocative, this book is an essential resource for all teams seeking to strengthen their innovative prowess"-- "How can I innovate? How do I spot people who are more likely to generate disruptive business ideas for my organization? How can I help my team be more innovative? If you've ever asked yourself these questions, then you know there is no silver bullet for learning how to be more innovative. Indeed, conventional wisdom says that some people naturally and habitually have that "spark" and other people just don't. Picking up where The Innovator's Solution leaves off, authors Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen offer a different view, and instead argue that all people can learn how to be more innovative. In The Innovator's DNA, the authors now show that you can train yourself -- and others -- to think and act more like an innovator, even like those high profile innovators such as Scott Cook, Mike Lazardis, Meg Whitman, and AG Lafley. In partnership with Clayton Christensen, Dyer and Gregersen launched an in-depth study of "innovative entrepreneurs" -- that is, founders and CEOs of companies based on a unique value proposition relative to incumbents -- and compared them to other successful (but not innovative) CEOs and executives. Through in-depth interviews, 360 and survey data, Dyer, Gergersen, and Christensen identified a set of five "discovery skills" ( associational thinking, questioning, observing, experimenting, and idea networking) that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs from typical executives. This book explains each of the discovery skills, how to develop them, and how to use them in combination to generate new ideas. It shows how to rate, and then build upon, your own "Innovator's DNA", using the same diagnostics used in their study of successful innovators"--