Defining A Creative Ecology - John Howkins

Following on from his groundbreaking The Creative Economy in 2001, John Howkins' new book Creative Ecologies Where Thinking is a Proper Job grew out of a research project for the Chinese State Council. Asked to provide a global overview of the creative economy, he took the opportunity to go back to first principles and work out a general theory that identifies three general conditions for a creative ecology: talent, freedom and markets. From this he proposes an evolved concept of the creative ecology. This is leading thinking for a new knowledge economy.

Download the first chapter of the book here.

How To Build a Creative Organization - Alicia Arnold, BusinessWeek

A 2010 study of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM's (IBM) Institute for Business Value identified creativity as the No. 1 leadership competency of the future. This paints a broad role for creativity in the business world in spurring economic growth. Creative solutions are needed for organizations to thrive, but how can business leaders deliberately increase creativity? Allow us to introduce the four Ps of Creativity, a holistic model for looking at creativity that leverages People, Products, Process, and Press to build creative competency, develop radically innovative solutions, and increase revenue.

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Rethink Reform ReBuild Education - The Redu Initiative.

LET'S REDU from Redu on Vimeo.

We chose this video about REDU because it represents to us something more than just another important initiative. It spoke to us directly of the importance of the design of communication in an area such as education. The video is adult, yet playful, aesthetically pleasing, innovative stylistically and provokes the thought..if only we could believe the school of the future could be like this!!

Eight reasons why brainstorming doesn’t work, and what you can do about it.- Linda Naiman, Creativity At Work

Why do people hate brainstorming so much? If the same people who work with the same problems everyday meet and discuss these problems using the same language and procedures the outcome is always predictable. Sameness breeds more sameness. Seeing the world with old eyes only helps produce old ideas. —Arthur VanGundy, PhD Sounds tedious doesn’t it? Here are seven more reasons why brainstorming doesn’t work:

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Creating and communicating meaning: Presentation Zen

What entrepreneurship and the art of presentation have in common is they are both really about creating meaning. This simple fundamental is often forgotten (or was never learned). In business, we need to make money, of course. This is a given. But the focus and the very reason one goes into the business should not be money. This is not because the pursuit of wealth is ignoble, but it may be a signal that one's focus is misplaced. If acquiring wealth is the primary goal of an entrepreneur, ironically the wealth will rarely materialize.

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