People tend to think of creativity and strategy as opposites. This book argues that they are far more similar than we might expect. More than this, actively aligning creative and strategic thinking in any enterprise can enable more effective innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and organizing for the future. By considering strategy as a creative process (and vice versa), the authors define ‘creative strategy’ as a mindset which switches between opposing processes and characteristics, and which drives every aspect of the business. The authors draw experiences and cases from across this false divide – from the music industry, sports, fashion, Shakespearean theatre companies, creative and media organizations and dance, as well as what we might regard as more mundane providers of mainstream products and services – to uncover the creative connections behind successful strategy. “Creative Strategy is a talisman for those looking to take a new path” Matt Hardisty, Strategy Director, Mother Advertising “It has been said that business is a hybrid of dancing and calculation – the former incorporating the creative within a firm, the latter the strategic. Bilton and Cummings show how these apparently contradictory processes can be integrated. Their insights about how firms can ‘create to strategize’ and ‘strategize to create’ are informative for managers and management scholars alike.” Jay Barney, Professor and Chase Chair of Strategic Management, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University “In today’s world, new thinking – creativity – is required to tackle long-standing problems or address new opportunities. The trouble is few organizations understand how to foster and apply creativity, at least in any consistent manner. This book provides new insights into just how that can be done. It moves creativity from being just the occasional, and fortuitous, flash of inspiration, to being an embedded feature of the way the organization is run.” Sir George Cox, Author of the Cox Review of Creativity in Business for HM Govt., Past Chair of the Design Council

William DugganÕs 2007 book, Strategic Intuition, showed how innovation really happens in business and other fields and how that matches what modern neuroscience tells us about how creative ideas form in the human mind. In his new book, Creative Strategy, Duggan offers a step-by-step guide to help individuals and organizations put that same method to work for their own innovations. DugganÕs book solves the most important problem of how innovation actually happens. Other methods of creativity, strategy, and innovation explain how to research and analyze a situation, but they donÕt guide toward the next step: developing a creative idea for what to do. Or they rely on the magic of ÒbrainstormingÓÑjust tossing out ideas. Instead, Duggan shows how creative strategy follows the natural three-step method of the human brain: breaking down a problem into parts and then searching for past examples to create a new combination to solve the problem. ThatÕs how innovation really happens. Duggan explains how to follow these three steps to innovate in business and any other field as an individual, a team, or a whole company. The crucial middle stepÑthe search for past examplesÑtakes readers beyond their own brain to a Òwhat-works scanÓ of what others have done within and outside of the company, industry, and country. It is a global search for good ideas to combine as a new innovation. Duggan illustrates creative strategy through real-world cases of innovation that use the same method: from Netflix to Edison, from Google to Henry Ford. He also shows how to integrate creative strategy into other methods you might currently use, such as PorterÕs Five Forces or Design Thinking. Creative Strategy takes the mystery out of innovation and puts it within your grasp.

The Business Skills Every Creative Needs! Remaining relevant as a creative professional takes more than creativity--you need to understand the language of business. The problem is that design school doesn't teach the strategic language that is now essential to getting your job done. Creative Strategy and the Business of Design fills that void and teaches left-brain business skills to right-brain creative thinkers. Inside, you'll learn about the business objectives and marketing decisions that drive your creative work. The curtain's been pulled away as marketing-speak and business jargon are translated into tools to help you: Understand client requests from a business perspective Build a strategic framework to inspire visual concepts Increase your relevance in an evolving industry Redesign your portfolio to showcase strategic thinking Win new accounts and grow existing relationships You already have the creativity; now it's time to gain the business insight. Once you understand what the people across the table are thinking, you'll be able to think how they think to do what we do.

Most of the papers in this volume focus on innovation strategies. Others on organization, communication and education, discuss preconditions of innovation which, of course, are also of a strategic character. The work focuses more on general principles and philosophical considerations than on techniques. The increase in interdisciplinary relations with other fields of research has been a determining factor in specific methods receding into the background. The volume presents papers in the academic, scientific and research fields as well as contributions related to practical implementation within the field of innovation management. Discussion results and fields of future research are summarized. The work will be of interest to experts and managers in the field of management technology and innovation practice, as well as scientists and students involved in the field of innovation research.

A path-breaking book--the first to examine the evolution of community organizing in U.S. cities. While embracing mobilization, the contributors acknowledge the challenges inherent in globalization and the norms and values that shape contemporary American culture. Still, they reaffirm that community organizing has an important role to play as part of a broader progressive movement.

"Written for the undergraduate student in liberal arts, journalism, and business schools. ... A resource guide to the best work in the field for students in art and graphic design courses and for professionals in the field."--Preface, p. vx.