Organizational Creativity

Gerard J. Puccio is the Department Chair and Professor in the Department for Creativity and Change Leadership, SUNY-Buffalo State. Dr. Puccio has written more than 60 articles, chapters and books. His most recent book titled Organizational Creativity and Innovation: A Personal Journey for Innovators and Entrepreneurs (2018 by Sage Press), highlights the crucial role creativity plays in an economy driven by innovation. Prior to this publication, Dr. Puccio co-authored The Innovative Team, published by Jossey-Bass, a fable about a team that was able to apply proven creative-thinking tools to turn around a dysfunctional and unproductive situation. Dr. Puccio is an accomplished speaker and consultant; he has worked with major corporations, universities, and numerous school districts. Some of his recent clients include the BBC, Fisher-Price Brands, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Kraft Foods, The Smithsonian Institution, BNP Paribas, Rubbermaid, Coca-Cola, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has delivered creativity workshops and presentations across the United States and in more than 20 different countries. In 2013 Dr. Puccio was selected by the Teaching Company as one of America's Great Lecturers and as such was invited to design and deliver a course comprised of twenty-four 30-minute video sessions. This "Great Course," titled The Creative Thinker's Toolkit, was released in January 2014. Dr. Puccio was also a featured speaker at a TEDx event held in New York City in December of 2012. Gerard holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Manchester, England. John F. Cabra is an Associate Professor at the State University of New York College at Buffalo's International Center for Studies in Creativity where as part of a team he focuses on teaching, assessing and researching the science of creativity. John specializes in facilitating and accelerating scientific and interdisciplinary innovation. John has written journal articles, books chapters and books in the areas of business, technology, engineering, and creativity. In recognition for his work, he was awarded the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and grants from the National Science Foundation and the State University of New York. John is also a Fulbright Scholar. Some organizations that have benefited from John's training and organizational development expertise include IBM, Pfizer, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, British Home Office, National Science Foundation, NASA, Drexel University, Penn State University, Purdue University, and The Ohio State University. Dr. Cabra held internal consulting positions for American Airlines in the fields of training and development, employee relations, and organizational development. Before joining American Airlines, he was a training and organizational development specialist for Fisher-Price Toys. Nathan Schwagler is a founding Co-Director of The Dali Museum Innovation Labs, where he serves as lead program designer and executive facilitator. Before joining the Museum, Nathan served as the nation's first Business School "Creative-In-Residence" at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, where he designed and delivered courses on Creativity and Innovation and New Venture Creation. His students were back-to-back-to-back national champions in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organizations' business simulation competition, and his 3-member startup academic department was recognized as the top Emerging Entrepreneurship Education Program across the entire United States by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) in 2013. As a consultant, Nathan has supported more than 150 organizations including: Abbott Labs, Transamerica Insurance, DuPont Chemical, Novartis, the Miller/Coors Brewing co., the Converse Shoe co. (NIKE), the Tampa Bay Rays, the Home Shopping Network, Bloomin' Brands, Raymond James Financial, and thousands of innovators as they've deployed their innovation capabilities to drive business outcomes. Nathan holds a BA in Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Creativity from SUNY - Buffalo State, and a Master of Science degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of South Florida. He is a published author of peer-reviewed and popular press articles.

Introduction: Purpose and Design of This Book About the Authors PART I. KNOWING: CREATIVITY KNOWLEDGE TO SUPPORT A 21st-CENTURY INNOVATOR Chapter 1. Innovation Wired: You Evolved to Create Knowing-You Were Born to Be Creative Doing-Tuning in to the Creativity Already Inside of You Being-Making Reflection a Habit Chapter 2. How to Survive and Thrive in an Era of Innovation and Change Knowing-The Forces for and Against Creative Thinking Doing-Removing the But in Your Thinking Being-Reflecting and Redirecting Yes-But Thinking Chapter 3. What We Know About Creativity Knowing-Sorting Creativity Fact From Fiction Doing-Creating Your Own Mood Being-Developing an Internal Locus of Control Chapter 4. The Practical Benefits of Creativity: Becoming an Innovation Asset Knowing-Top Reasons for Studying and Developing Your Creativity Doing-Selling Creativity Being-Making Creativity a Habit PART II. DOING: PROVEN PRACTICES FOR 21st-CENTURY INNOVATORS Chapter 5. Think: How to Improve Your Fundamental Capacity to Think in Creative Ways Knowing-Understanding the Creative Mind Doing-Training the Creative Mind Being-Internalizing the Divergent Thinking Principles Chapter 6. Understand: The Power of Observation and the Importance of Problem Definition Knowing-Seeing and Questioning What Others Miss Doing-Acting Like a Serial Opportunist Being-Living Like a Serial Opportunist Chapter 7. Ideate: Ways to Visualize and Generate Breakthrough Ideas Knowing-Ideating: The Mind's Capacity to See the Future Doing-Using Associative Thinking to Visualize Anew Being-Living Like an Idea Generator Chapter 8. Experiment: Strategies to Develop and Validate the Best Solutions Knowing-Developing and Validating Through Experimentation Doing-Acting Like an Idea Developer Being-Living Like an Idea Developer Chapter 9. Implement: Gaining Buy-In and Driving Change Knowing-Everyone Is in the Business of Sales Doing-Acting Like an Influencer and Change Agent Being-Influencing and Leading Change PART III. BEING: WAYS TO SUSTAIN YOURSELF AS A 21st-CENTURY INNOVATOR Chapter 10. The Emotionally Intelligent Leader Knowing-Emotional Intelligence Is Not a Soft Skill Doing-Tools and Strategies for Overcoming Creative Blocks Being-Actively Learning From Failure Chapter 11. Sustaining Your Creativity: Learning to Defy and Transform the Crowd Knowing-Investment Theory of Creativity Doing-Addressing Resistance to Change Being-Becoming a 21st-Century Innovator Notes Index

"This book is about creativity and how students can better understand a complex subject that is both subjective and ever changing. This book brings about some practical examples of creativity from a historical perspective as well as a current perspective and pushes students to think differently than their peers." -- Susan Fant "Creative and thought provoking." -- AnnMarie DiSiena "An engaging text for students that is structured to reflect the theoretical frameworks it presents to not only teach through the written word, but through the applied exercises it assigns to the reader." -- April J. Spivack "...a text has finally been written that gives proper attention to the "Creativity" side of creativity & innovation." -- Eric M. Stark "An easy-to-read, easy-to-use basis for teaching AND DEVELOPING creativity knowledge, skills, and dispositions for students at any level: undergraduate or graduate, or adult learning/community learning course offerings." -- Patricia K. O'Connell "Simple, deep, entertaining and useful: that rare combination can be found in this engaging book. A must read for anyone interested in innovation and creativity. I enjoyed it and strongly recommend it." -- Sergio Fajardo "Organizational Creativity is one of the most lucid, thoughtful, and insightful books on how organizations can leverage creativity to produce innovative results. The "know-do-be" theme and the engaging writing style convincingly articulate ways to develop creativity skills and traits. Anyone interested in fostering innovation in organizations needs to read this book." -- Srikant M. Datar "Another insightful contribution to understanding creativity from Buffalo's International Center. The significance of creativity for innovators and entrepreneurs is badly in need of such clarification." -- Tudor Rickards "Creative thinking is widely considered a 21st century skill. To best prepare students for today's complex work world, colleges and universities must find pedagogically sound practices that promote creative thinking. Here at Sheridan we have adopted, with great success, many of the principles, methods and tools described in Organizational Creativity. There is little doubt that these strategies are contributing to our students' creative-thinking capabilities." -- Mary Preece "Educational experts and business leaders throughout the world have consistently cited creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial skills as vital for professional success in this century. At the Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga we have taken the contents of this book to help guide a powerful institutional intervention to make our university the first creative campus in Latin America. As a result, our students now have strategies to release the utmost potential they have within them." -- Alberto Montoya Puyana "Organizational Creativity is a wonderful book - so engaging, enlightening, and inspiring that readers will hardly notice how much they are learning. It gives a guided tour through each stage of the innovation process, from identifying and defining the most important problems, to generating breakthrough ideas, to successfully implementing the best solutions. Aspiring entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders will find here the keys to nurturing not only their best ideas but also their most creative selves." -- Teresa Amabile