I am deeply immersed in the book Disciplined Dreaming:  A Proven Guide to Drive Breakthrough Creativity by Josh Linkner (Founder & Chairman, ePrize).  This is my selection for this Friday’s First Friday Book Synopsis.  (yes, I know that this is the 2nd Friday — we postponed due to the holiday weekend).  Bob Morris posted his review of this book here, and his interview of Linkner, the author, here.

This book presents quite a challenge — it drills into the reader just how hard it is to shake free from the “we’ve always done it this way” thinking.  It is so hard to be creative on purpose, and practically on demand — perpetually.  But without the discipline to practice disciplined dreaming, we, and our companies and organizations, will be left behind.

Here is just one terrific slice from the book:

• Five skills separating the most accomplished innovators from the rest:
1)    Associating – creating links between seemingly unrelated items
2)    Questioning – questions are at the core of creativity
3)    Observing – raising your level of awareness, observing in greater detail what is happening in the world, and then imagining what could be different
4)    Experimenting – be unafraid of failure
5)    Networking – finding diverse people whose ideas challenge your own thinking and expand your perspective

——-

If you are near the DFW area, come join us this Friday, 7:00 am.  Just follow this link to register.  This book is a terrific book, and I think my presentation will be worth your time.  And my colleague, Karl Krayer, will present his synopsis of Onward by Howard Schultz, the man behind the success of Starbucks.  It should be a good morning of learning.