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The Creativity Toolkit
Book

The Creativity Toolkit

Provoking Creativity in Individuals and Organizations

H. James Harrington, Glen D. Hoffherr and Robert P. Reid jr.
McGraw-Hill, 1998
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8

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Recommendation

H. James Harrington, Glen D. Hoffherr and Robert P. Reid argue that creativity is not reserved for the few. Rather, it is a skill all humans can develop - if they are willing to step back from their day-to-day routines and focus on their inner lives. This book is a mind-altering system. It is packed with quotes, cartoons, graphs, and exercises to help individuals and organizations realize their creative potential. If the writing seems redundant at times, it is only because the authors want you to be able to open the book anywhere and learn something quickly - and you can. getAbstract recommends this book and its CD-ROM package to high-level managers looking to shake things up in the office or in their personal lives. But lower-level employees who want to move up in the world will benefit from it as well.

Summary

Stifling Creativity

Children burst with creativity. For them, the world is a series of possibilities. Every moment is an opportunity to invent something. But what happens to children when they grow up and enter the world of business? Influenced by social or business conventions, they lose their creative knack. In reality, they have only buried their creativity; it is waiting just below the surface, as eager as ever to transform the world. Let it out. You do not lose your creativity as you grow older. You simply use it less, because you think it has no practical application. Like any other skill that isn’t practiced, it grows stale. The environment that you grow up in, first as an adolescent and then as a young professional, is largely to blame for stifling your creativity. But if you can recognize exactly how, you can start recovering one of your most precious resources.

The first enemy of creativity is education. When you are taught to memorize the right answers, use someone else’s solution, and collect other people’s knowledge, you are "un-taught" to find your own answers, solutions, and knowledge - or how to approach problems creatively. Likewise, when you enter...

About the Authors

Dr. H. James Harrington has more than 45 years of experience in quality systems. He currently serves as the International Quality Advisor with Ernst & Young, LLP. Glen D. Hoffherr is a senior consultant for James Martin Government Consulting. He has written, co-written, or contributed to more than fifteen books. Robert P. Reid, Jr. is known for his dynamic presentations. He has made many contributions to the literature of organizational change management, creative thinking, and systems design.

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