About the Book
Time and space. Genetics and robotics. Education and fashion. Possibilities limited only by our imaginations. The future is yours to create. Could you be the Leonardo da Vinci of our times? Most ideas are incremental, quickly copied and suffocated by conventions. "Future back" thinking starts with stretching possibilities then makes them a reality "now forward". The best ideas emerge by seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking like nobody else. Newness occurs in the margins not the mainstream. Solutions emerge through powerful fusions of the best ideas into practical, useful concepts. Creative people rise up. Visionaries, border crossers and game changers. Engage your right brain, open your eyes, think more holistically... intuition rules.
From Apple to Blackberry, GE to Google, innovative companies stand out from the crowd not so much for their exceptional products, despite what one might assume, but for the way they challenge conventions, redefine markets, and change consumer expectations. Apple didn't just create the iPod; it envisioned the future of music and then made a product to service that future. And the same holds true for every highly innovative company. In Creative Genius, Peter Fisk presents ten tracks for innovation and provides business blueprints for making that innovation happen.
Creative Genius is inspired by the imagination and perspective of Leonardo da Vinci, in order to drive creativity, design and innovation in more radical and powerful ways. It includes practical tools ranging from scenario planning and context reframing to accelerated innovation and market entry, plus 50 tracks, 25 tools, and 50 inspiring case studies.
Creative Genius is "the best and last" in the Genius series by bestselling author Peter Fisk. Others include Business Genius, Marketing Genius and Customer Genius.
Table of Contents:
Future back
1 Leonardo da Vinci 3
Inspired by his relentless curiosity and perspective, what are the creative talents that enable you to think differently, better and deeper, to create a better future?
2 Time and space 35
Exploring the future world, through time travel and whitespaces to find the best opportunities … with the spaceships and stardust of Virgin Galactic
3 Creative minds 44
New thinking for work and life, where ideas are the new currency of success … as demonstrated by Nintendo’s ultimate game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto
4 World changing 50
Seismic shifts that are transforming your markets, invisible but with immense implications … like the new vision for India of Aravind Eye Care
5 Whitespaces 59
Women and the elderly, genetics and water, networks and 50 billion devices … the big opportunities that demand the creative animation of Pixar
6 Future back 73
Start with the impossible, then work out how to make it possible with more dramatic results … like Nobel prize-winning entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus
7 Creativity 81
The extraordinary power of ideas, inspired by jesters and sages to make new connections and possibilities … with the elegance of Donna Karan
8 Design 87
The fusion of function and form to give new ideas structure and style … learning from the ‘tae kuk’ of the new technology star, Samsung
9 Innovation 91
Making the best ideas happen successfully, and ultimately make life better for people … with sand dune-running, cyclone-powered James Dyson
10 Creative genius 102
Welcome to ‘the Genius Lab’, where inspiration meets perspiration, and how this book can help … plus the reality distortion field of Steve Jobs
The ideas factory
11 Getting started 113
The ‘fuzzy front-end’ of problems and opportunities, dreams and napkin diagrams … and the ‘grande fromage’ of the creative world, Philippe Starck
12 Seeing things differently 119
Ideas and imagination achieved through different worldviews, and by simply getting out there … seeing the bigger picture like Tim Berners-Lee
13 Patterns and paradox 125
Making sense of the uncertain futures, through pattern recognition and paradox resolution … where the future is a little robot, the Honda ASIMO
14 Future scenarios 133
Building visions of alternative futures that stretch your vision and sharpen your decision-making … with rocket scientist to the stars, Burt Rutan
15 Deep diving 141
Immersing yourself in the customer world, through intuition and deep diving to understand more … like a day in Mumbai with Ratan Tata
16 Crowdsourcing 148
Harnessing the power of people, because many are smarter than few … creating the wonderful user-generated T-shirts of Threadless
17 Extremes and parallels 152
Finding the deviants and border-crossers, in the margins not the mainstream, and even the Masai Mara … with the distinctive twist of Paul Smith
18 Rule-breakers 157
Seizing discontinuity and disruption, breaking rules and conventions to do things differently … oh, and the sheep, sharks and skull of Damian Hirst
19 Ideation 163
Igniting the power of ideas and hypotheses to stretch, challenge and imagine better solutions … with the enlightened teamwork of IDEO
20 The ideas toolkit 170
Five essential tools to generate better ideas – to stretch thinking from the future back, and bring together ideas from different perspectives
The design studio
21 Design thinking 179
Design as a mindset for the creative business, one that creates, shapes and communicates ideas … like the real man of Apple, Jonathan Ive
22 Context reframing 184
Finding your bigger idea by changing the frame of reference by which ideas are perceived … like when graffiti becomes artwork with Banksy
23 Co-creation 188
Creativity that unlocks the power of customer ‘ubuntu’ to develop more relevant solutions … with the push to pull of Procter & Gamble
24 Creative partners 195
Collaboration that exploits open innovation and ideas exchanges with the spirit of ‘Koinonia’ … and the enduring magic of Disney
25 Experimentation 201
Prototypes and simulations, accelerating time to market with ‘test learn test’ … and the molecular gastronomy of the world’s best restaurant, El Bulli
26 Concept fusions 205
Connecting ideas to create better solutions, and articulating the concepts that will make life better … inspired by the huge sculptures of Anish Kapoor
27 Simplicity 209
Beauty, say the scientists, is in the simplicity of complexity. And so it is in the real world … with the eight laws of digital artist John Maeda
28 Experience design 213
Experiences add theatre and passion to products and services, they do more for people … as Frank Gehry did for the Guggenheim Bilbao
29 Evaluating concepts 218
Which are the winning designs? How to evaluate ideas that have no history and so numbers are not enough … and the winning formula of Alessi
30 The design toolkit 224
Five essential tools to design better concepts – the practical steps to turn creative ideas into winning concepts
The impact zone
31 Launch pads 233
Accelerating new ideas to market, using the diffusion of innovation, whilst ensuring you cross the chasm … and taste the amazing chocolate pots of Gü
32 Creative scripts 239
Selling ideas through storytelling, learning from the hype and hysteria of Apple launches … and the ‘just do it’ advertising of Wieden & Kennedy
33 Profit models 243
Making sure ideas make money through innovative business models and effective pricing strategies … with the commercial flair of Giorgio Armani
34 Brand propositions 249
Making ideas relevant and distinctive through propositions that focus on the key benefits to customers … like the sports cars that care, from Tesla
35 Contagious ideas 254
Capturing the memes and viruses that make ideas spread, whilst overcoming the ‘hype curve’ … like rockstar with more ideas, Dave Stewart
36 Market shaping 258
Winning in the vortex of fast-changing markets through continuous in-market innovation … with the relentless persistence of Zaha Hadid
37 Protecting ideas 266
Copyrights, trademarks and patents that become your most valuable assets in a creative world … and the new entertainment world of Live Nation
38 Going further 270
Reaching out to adjacent markets though licensing and franchising to do more with your creative assets … like Ed Hardy revolutionary Christian Audigier
39 Delivering results 276
Harnessing the value drivers and performance metrics to ensure that innovation delivers profitable growth … with the creative rigour of Whirlpool
40 The impact toolkit 283
Five essential tools to ensure that the best ideas have the most impact in their markets … and to sustain their success over time
Now forward
41 Creative leaders 291
Recreating the Medici effect, the ability to support and connect people and partners for extraordinary results … and the oriental fashion of Shanghai Tang
42 Innovation strategy 299
suring that ideas drive profitable growth through alignment of business and innovation … as demonstrated by ‘design for business’ at Lego
43 Creative culture 306
Hotspots and happiness in the innovative organization that embraces change and imagination every day … recreating ‘the spirit of Enzo’ at Ferrari
44 Innovative processes 313
New product development that learns from the stage gates of NASA to become open and networked … and reinventing innovation at 3M
45 Creative people 324
Visionaries, border crossers and game changers. How to ignite the power of creative people … and create fireworks like Cai Guo-Qiang
46 Innovation ventures 332
Ventures and incubators that make ideas happen faster inside and outside your business … and Silicon Valley’s most connected entrepreneur, Reid Hoffman
47 Creative networks 338
The creativity of people and places and how creative companies come together to create better ideas … like the InnovationJams of IBM
48 Managing innovation 345
Managing the people, projects and portfolios that make the best innovations happen time after time … and life in the Googleplex with Google
49 Game changing 353
Creative revolutions and the ‘X Prizes’ that deliver breakthroughs that normal processes can’t … and the relentless innovator, Niklas Zennström
50 Now forward 359
So what will you do today? How to make your own ideas happen and find your edge in the changing world … here’s to the crazy ones
Appendix 1 Creative resources 365
Appendix 2 About the book 369
Index 375
About the Author :
Peter Fisk (Middlesex, UK) is an experienced strategist and marketer who has spent many years working with companies such as American Express, British Airways, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. He is an inspiring and popular speaker on marketing subjects.
Review :
'... filled with facts and stories...serves as a perfect addition to the well-rounded businessperson's library of knowledge.' (LeadershipExpert.co.uk, April 2011). ' Those who say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover have obviously not yet come across a nice one. This is a lovely example'. (Management Today, May 2011). ' The book stimulates thinking about options and opportunities for your business challenges in new and different ways.' (Business Executive, May 2011). '...more than anything, Fisk wants to inspire you to begin being innovative to find your edge, to stay crazy and be a little more like the best ad industry creatives every day' (Admap, January 2013)
