Customer Reviews

Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If your looking for a book that will inform, inspire and invigorate your idea process at your company this is the book to read.

Ditkoff's take on "Wheely Good Practices" alone is worth the price of the book itself. I particularly loved the "Tooling up Tool Box" and the detailed information on the Edison/Dali creative thinking technique.

Brilliant stuff!

Ditkoff uses his own creativity and humor to convey an approach to utilize both of these essential skills in the work place. Humor is serious business - or should be. I bought copies for each of my top management and will use it as a center piece for discussions at an upcoming manager's retreat. Everyone has many great ideas but few come to fruition without a proper approach. It takes a caveman mentality to help sometimes. Thanks OG!

Mitchell Ditkoff's new book is so cool! Finally, someone has written an innovation book that is fun to read AND provides a roadmap for innovation success. I've read some of his work in the past, and this is the best yet.

This book is deceiving. It's small, it has drawings and it made me chuckle as I read it. The deceiving part is that is is also insightful and provides terrific tips for taking my ideas and making them happen. Good things come in simple, humorous packages!

Mitchell Ditkoff has written a book that's fun, funny and useful - a great combination. The idea of "being creative" can seem daunting, and Ditkoff takes the scariness out of it: he makes it clear that anyone can learn to take ideas from a niggle at the back of the mind to fully-fledged and manifested. Awake at the Wheel will support your success both personally and professionally.

A work of genius!! Even got me out of my own way and allowed me to work on my own projects...brilliantly written, easy read...he talks to you in easy, real language that lets you just love the entire concept of what Ditkoff is relating.
A must for anyone with any ideas who can't get moving or has no ideas of what or how to do anything...should be college text for any profession...best reading I've done in 40 years!

Since becoming a Professional Coach back in 2001, I've had numerous books recommended to me and for this bibliophile, business books are equivalent to a nice stout order of broccoli (not that there's anything the matter with broccoli....). "Awake at the Wheel" is equivalent to a nice portion of fresh well-prepared broccoli with lots of good ole cheese dribbled throughout.

I recommend this book for movers and shakers and/or entrepreneurs or anyone that feels stuck in a rut or hopeless when it comes to their ideas. Don't let the simple lay out of the book nor the subtle (and not so subtle) humor distract you from the wisdom that lays just below the surface of the words. You will feel a spark of hope even after reading the first couple of pages.

Take your time to read through the usual topics for a book. Even the acknowledgements portend what is in store for the reader down the road. The quotes sprinkled throughout the story of Og are refreshing and some of them are from people we know very well but may have never heard them say the quote that is captured. I'll not spoil the fun about the footnotes, but if you ever wanted to heal your inner-footnote reader this would be a good time.

The book is rich in content and ideas and the back of the book has at least 35 great ideas that individuals and groups could use to unstick their stuck idea!

Get this book, it's cheaper than filling your car up with gas.

Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World) by Mitchell Lewis Ditkoff can, in my opinion, be compared to the classic "Who Moved My Cheese?". Ditkoff does for creativity what Johnson and Blanchard did for living with change... It gives the reader a short, humorous story loaded with meaning and concepts that hit the reader right where they live.

Contents:
What's The Big Idea?; Choosing; Author's Note; The Story of Og; Og Gets an Idea; Dazed By the Possibilities; Aargh!; The Grunt of the Town; Getting Around To It; Og's Head Is Full, But the Cupboard is Empty; The Big Meating; The Path Is Made By Walking On It; Crouch; An Arrow to the Heart of the Matter; Nothing to Get; Smoke From a Fire, Flakes From a Stone; The Happy Accident; The Center is Everything; Sleeping Like a Rock; Follow Your Feet; Everyone's Turn; What Og Learned - 12 Wheely Good Best Practices; Tooling Up - 35 Ways to Get the Wheels Turning; Writing It In Stone - The Tools and Techniques Contest; Nexting - How to Invent the Future; Staying on a Roll - Resources for Thinking Outside the Cave; OgCasting - Your Free Audio Bonus; About the Author

Ditkoff explores the world of ideas and creativity though the story of Og. Og is a caveman who spends more time thinking than the average Neanderthal. He stumbles upon the concept of a circle, and becomes obsessed with what it could mean to the group. Of course, most of his fellow cavemen are more concerned about maintaining the status quo... hunting, eating, staying warm. Og takes a journey to talk with a wise one, and from that trip the wheel is born. But even then, others in his clan are more interested in shooting it down as something that will never work. But one person *does* figure out the practical application, and pretty soon everyone is "rolling along" with the greatest thing since dried mammoth...

I really did like this book. Taking the concept of ideas and putting them in caveman terms freshens up what could be just another book on creativity. At the end of the book are 35 "tools" you can use to spur your own idea machine, as well as how best to make sure these fleeting thoughts don't disappear like smoke from a campfire. Like many companies have done with "Cheese", this should be a mass purchase, handed out to all employees, and then discussed in team meetings. Those who are into this genre will love it, and the Neanderthals who are cynical will likely spend the 30 minutes or so it should take to read it. And they *might* even come out of that experience as the new Og of your organization.

I am a consultant and often do gigs to spark creativity in organizational leadership. I take myself pretty seriouisly. Ditkoff's book is way more fun than my work. I laughed aloud repeatedly. Yet, his welcoming and fun approach delivers serious goods. It kind of pisses me off that it is so good, so easy, and so much more fun than my approaches. But I confess I will be including his book in my work because it is entirely sound in its foundation, and effective in engaging people. It is really good, take it from an envious pro.

Mitchell Ditkoff is the master storyteller and his book draws you into discovering your creativity effortlessly. An inspiring read that leaves you knowing your right brain far more intimately, and with renewed excitement to think outside the box and let loose whatever great ideas have been waiting to burst forth!