Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity [ハードカバー]

This book was sent to me for review. The title is particularly apt. Linkner encourages dreaming but the emphasis is on discipline. Unlike many authors, he actually shows how to integrate creativity into a corporate setting, even one that has a buttoned-up culture.

For the most part I enjoyed reading the book. I would recommend it especially as a book to give someone who either is a senior executive or who owns a business. All books on creativity face this challenge. Most organizations (deep down inside) don't value creativity; they just give it a lot of lip service. Unless you're in a position to be a change agent without losing your career, you may just get frustrated with unexplored possibilities.

The book makes a convincing argument for why we need creativity in business today and why we need to care. Hopefully this section will give readers some ammunition to make a case to their higher-ups.

Linkner is a good writer who illustrates each point with vivid examples. He gives particularly detailed explanations of creativity briefs, which will be a good way for companies to introduce these ideas in the corporate framework.

The best parts of the book were the questions he uses to encourage readers to open their minds. I particularly liked Chapter 4, which proposes a series of exercises and ends with a section on developing your creativity chops. The meat loaf story (which most of us will recognize at once) and the cosmetic color story were fun to read and made the point. We also can benefit from taking classes that bring out our creativity, such as art classes or improv acting.

I think it's important to add that you need a strong sense of your market before applying any innovation, creative or otherwise. When innovations work well and are embraced by a market the effect seems magical. Starbucks and Zipcar are great examples. However, I think it's all too easy to ignore an innovative idea and dismiss it because we're sure the market isn't ready, nobody else is doing it, and our business consultants shake their heads firmly. I for one plan to try the exercise "Do the opposite."

First let me note I tend to dislike titles that have 'Dream' in them. Disciplined Thinking would have been a better title. More mature and leadership mode.

And I agree 100% with reviewer Dr Cathy Goodwin from Seattle who wrote 'For the most part I enjoyed reading the book. I would recommend it especially as a book to give someone who either is a senior executive or who owns a business. All books on creativity face this challenge. Most organizations (deep down inside) don't value creativity; they just give it a lot of lip service. Unless you're in a position to be a change agent without losing your career, you may just get frustrated with unexplored possibilities.'

Unless you are in a position to actually put the ideas in this book in play, there is little useful information that can be used. For the individual, Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It by Henriette Anne Klauser PhD is a book I would highly recommend because it helps change how you think, or how to focus and know the difference between just wanting something and knowing specifically what it is you want or need and then getting it.

Sometimes you the underling need to change how you do things in order to help effect change in others and especially in groups of people. Its why we have more followers than we have leaders.

The title of this book refers to what its subtitle promises to provide: "a proven system to drive breakthrough creativity," one that requires highly-developed mental and emotional discipline. Josh Linkner introduces a methodology, a five-step process, that he calls "Disciplined Dreaming." He interviewed more than 200 people whose creativity has driven their success. What he learned is shared in this book. After making the case for creativity in the first chapter and then explaining the Disciplined Dreaming system, Linkner organizes his material within a sequence of five steps: Ask (Chapters 3&4), Prepare (5&6), Discover (7), Ignite (8&9), and then Launch (Chapter 10). He adds an Epilogue, followed by two appendices. In the first, he invalidates "six common myths that inhibit creativity"; in the second, he provides "Additional Warm-Up Exercises to Jump Star Creativity."

Back to Disciplined Dreaming. Consider the differences between (a) allowing your mind to wander aimlessly and (b) filling your mind with a wealth of information relevant to answering a question or solving a problem and then allowing it to absorb and digest the information. I call the latter "mulling" and it can either be active and aggressive or passive and patient. During the course of his narrative, Linkner explains how to

o Define a "creativity challenge" (e.g. answering an important question, solving a serious problem or taking full advantage of a major opportunity)

o Prepare (mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and environmentally) for the process by which to create or reveal a correct answer or effective solution

o Discover various "avenues" by which to reach that answer or solution

o Ignite forces (i.e. "juices") with various techniques to generate an abundance of creative ideas

o Launch the process by which to realize (literally, to make a reality of) each of the best ideas within a framework provided in Chapter Ten.

Those who are curious to know the nature and extent of their readiness to embark on Disciplined Dreaming process will be delighted to know that Linkner includes "Building Your Creativity Chops: The Self-Assessment" on Pages 31-38, an exercise that includes detailed explanations of what the results indicate. I also commend him on his eloquent as well as rigorous examination of immensely complicated issues associated with terms such as creativity, innovation, co-creation, integrative thinking, and inspiration. Whenever possible, he anchors information, insights, and even recommendations in a real-world context with which most readers can identify.

Readers will also appreciate what he calls "The Eight Commandments of Ideation" (Pages 164-166) as well as the aforementioned invalidation of "six common myths that inhibit creativity" and "Additional Warm-Up Exercises to Jump Star Creativity" in the two appendices. Josh Linkner brilliantly integrates what he learned from more than 200 interviews with what he has learned his own observations and (yes) disciplined dreaming. He has prepared his reader well for a journey only the reader can take. I join with him in expressing "Bon voyage!" to those who embark on it.

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Note: I wish to acknowledge my debt to Oliver Wendell Holmes who inspired the title of my review. Long ago, he observed, "I would not give a fig for simplicity this side of complexity but I would give my life for simplicity on the other side of complexity."