Review of Creativity From Constraints: The Psychology Of Breakthrough by Patricia D. Stokes

Here is a review of Creativity from Contraints: The Psychology of Breakthrough by Patricia Stokes. Stokes is a former advertising graphic artist who became a psychologist following her desire to understand creative behaviour as she had observed it in her profession. In summary, Stokes proposes there are four main constraints to creativity - domain, cognition,variability, talent - and it is how come to understand and articulate these constraints in context that will enable the kind of creative behaviours reuired to  obtain decision making breakthroughs that can be considered creative as opposed to more of the same.   

Preparing your organization for growth - McKinsey Quarterly

Companies that address their organizational weaknesses as they implement growth strategies give themselves an advantage.

Most senior managers pay close attention to the strategic side of growth—the “wheres,” “whens,” and
“hows.” Yet many underestimate the importance of organizational factors in translating a growth strategy into reality. This oversight can dampen a company’s growth plans: organizational processes and
structures that are well suited to today’s challenges may well buckle under the strain of new demands or
make it impossible to meet them. Likewise, key employees may lack the skills needed to cope with the additional complexity that growth brings. By reviewing the experiences of three organizations that faced the stresses imposed by new growth initiatives, this article seeks to illustrate such “pain points” and
suggests some approaches for coping with them.

Click here to read the article in full.

See how the Management Innovation Index supports and assists the premise of this article

A Better Choosing Experience - Strategy & Business - Sheena Iyengar and Kanika Agrawal

When consumers are overwhelmed with options, marketers should give them what they really want: ways of shopping that lower the cognitive stress argue Sheena Iyengar and Kanika Agrawal.

Read the full article here

The Four Strands: Creating Companies Aligned With Human DNA - Dr Henry Cloud, Change This

“There are universal developmental issues and milestones in the construction of all people, which like gravity, must be obeyed. They are like the laws of physics, non-negotiable. Break these laws and dysfunction occurs. But, obey these laws and people thrive. They will be what we call “healthy.”

So, when a company is designed and operates in ways that are aligned with how people are constructed, it will be like an airplane aligned with the laws of physics that govern force or torque. It will reach the altitude, speed and course that its horsepower allows. But if its design is not aligned, it will fly in circles, stall out, crash, or break apart.”

Click here to download and read the full manifesto

About Henry Cloud, Ph.D | Dr. Cloud is a psychologist, communicator and leadership coach. As the author of many best-selling books, his writing reflects experience not only in the clinical world, but the arenas of business, leadership consulting, and live audience interactions. For over twenty years, his practice has focused on working with leaders in a wide range of organizations and corporations, from family held firms to Fortune 25 and Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Cloud is the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio program New Life Live heard in over 150 markets with a weekly audience estimated at 2,000,000 listeners. He serves on the board of the Los Angeles Mission, a rescue mission on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tori, and their two daughters, Olivia and Lucy.

The new business school strategy: customer becomes king - well that's the intention

Here is an article from the Financial Times that provides some insight to the thinking of business schools and business management education. There are two biaises in this article you need to consider whilst you are reading it. The first is that those working in business schools are not in business. They are in the education industry and a very specific part of the education industry. In the main their concern is not the concerns of business. Business is concerned with risk, entrepreneurship and free markets. Business schools operate in a regulated environment, a regulated market where risk has been removed by the very construct of the industry. Further business is revolves around entrepreneurial behaviour. Business schools and their personnel completely lack those skills. Business school personnel work at business schools because they don't like, desire or most importantly feel the need to develop entrepreneurial skills.

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