When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups - Hardcover

Dorothy Leonard; Walter Swap

3.44

25 ratings by Goodreads

9780875848655: When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0875848656 ISBN 13: 9780875848655

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press, 1999

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Where do the best creative ideas come from? Most managers assume that it's the readily identifiable "creative types" that offer the quickest route to out-of-the-box thinking. Yet, say Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, most innovations spring from well-led group interactions. The authors sweep aside conventional thinking about creativity and offer proven strategies for stimulating and directing the group dynamics that lie at the heart of innovative thinking. When Sparks Fly outlines and analyzes each step in the creative process and gives practical suggestions for managing teams. According to Fortune, "The insights in the lively book could turbocharge your team (and maybe even your career)."

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Review:

Want to fire up creativity in your company? When Sparks Fly just might be the fuel you're looking for. Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap describe a method that can help people become more innovative and better at teamwork. "Whether you lead a group of three in a nonprofit foundation or 300,000 in a Fortune 500 business, the basic process of creativity is the same," write Leonard, a Harvard Business School professor, and Swap, a Tufts University dean. The process involves five steps: selecting the right mix of people to spark creativity; identifying the problem needing novel ideas; developing alternatives; taking time to consider choices; and selecting one option.

Leonard and Swap bolster their ideas with real-life examples of corporate creativity and analysis of dozens of psychological studies about human innovation. The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), for instance, generates breakthrough ideas by teaming up such diverse people as artists, anthropologists, and computer scientists. And to support diversity's role in creativity, they cite a 1992 study of 199 bank CEOs. The research found that top management teams are more innovative if they include people with varying expertise. Each of the book's chapters begins with a fictional management scenario and concludes with a summary of key points. It also includes chapters on designing the best physical and psychological environments for igniting new ideas. When Sparks Fly is a good tool for managers and others interested in fanning the flames of creativity. --Dan Ring

From the Back Cover:

"Finally, a book that dispels the notion that creativity is limited to rare individuals working in isolation. When Sparks Fly is a wide-ranging, readable compendium of strategies for stimulating innovative thought in organizations." -Jerry Hirshberg, President, Nissan Design International "In the years that I've been studying creativity, I haven't seen a single business book on the topic that adequately conveys the major findings about group creativity. When Sparks Fly does-and in an engaging, clear, and enjoyable way. Drawing on their combined talents in the domains of psychology, organizational behavior, and technology development, Leonard and Swap have written a comprehensive and unique book." -Teresa Amabile, MBA Class of 1954 Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School "Leonard and Swap marshal an impressive array of evidence that group creativity can be taught, nurtured, managed, and even grown from scratch. With creativity and innovation poised as the next frontier of international business competition, every manager who wants to make a difference should read When Sparks Fly." -David M. Kelley, CEO, IDEO Product Development, and Engineering Design Professor, Stanford University "An invaluable and thoroughly contemporary guide to the practice of business creativity." -John Kao, Author of Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, and CEO, The Idea Factory "People are an organization's only true long-term competitive advantage-an advantage that grows exponentially when group creativity is unleashed. When Sparks Fly shows how to ignite this creativity in real life." -Richard Teerlink, Former Chairman and CEO, Harley-Davidson, Inc.

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