Customer Reviews

Collaborative Creativity: Unleashing the Power of Shared Thinking

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the author of "Thinkertoys (A Handbook of Business Creativity)" and "Cracking Creativity (The Secrets of Creativity Genius)," I rarely recommend books about creative thinking, because, after all they compete with my books. With this book, I must make an exception. It's a superb book on brainstorming. If you want to become more creative in your business and personal life, buy this book. I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

As a marketing professional for the past 15 years, I am always looking for innovative and exciting ideas. Jack Ricchiuto's "Collaborative Creativity" offers beginners and seasoned professionals with new ideas that have proven successful in my workplace. The "idea garden" and "random words" are two tools that haved worked for me and my staff, and at the same time are fun to use. I was introduced to this book through an Executive MBA program and know that my classmates too, have found the power from "Collaborative Creativity."

At best, half this book directly involves collaboration. The half that doesn't is handled in a much more interesting way by Mike Michalko and others in the field. Also, to say that there are 72 essays is very misleading- many of these 'essays' are three paragraphs long and one is only three sentances. There are some good things in here, and Ricchiuto is probably a very good consultant, but I have to agree with the reviewer who said most of it is not really very new.

Collaborative Creativity is a wonderful resource for leaders of creative teams. The book is a great read for managers, providing an introduction to the creative process and tips on how to enable the creative process in your organization. Ricchiuto's "Idea Garden" offers practical examples to help managers identify pitfalls to creativity.

Collaborative Creativity is an insightful resource. Members of my creative staff found the book to be a catalyst for brainstorming sessions on how to improve the flow of ideas and creativity in our large, nonprofit organization.

Collaborative Creativity is a concise, practical introduction to the creative process.

I have yet to read a good book about collarboration, with the exeception of "When Sparks Fly" published by the Harvard Business Review. This book, like many others, rehashes the same old stuff.

I read this book and used it for a community college seminar I taught Spring 1998. While the focus of the seminar was rather broad, including music, computers, scientific process and creative exercises, an underlying theme was simply collaboration: working in teams to accomplish a semester task. The students were a highly competitive group and getting them to work at a common goal was a terrific challenge.

I used the book as a resource for those problems that arose between students, trying to help them understand why collaboration could work and why it is important. I found the author to be witty, succinct, and read the entire collection of 72 essays drawn from business, the arts and sciences over and over through the term. Ricchiuto describes how the best ideas are "harvested in the garden of shared minds". Some of the more relevant topics for the course are listed below:

* Reinventing organizations to be more inventive * Collaboration technology * When you're not the facilitator * Two tips on teams * We are smarter together than we are apart

This book leads you through the pathways of collaboration and creativity. It provides the tools necessary for dynamic creativity as an individual or an organization. The "Idea Garden" is a stop we all need to make! Ricchiuto helps us to unleash the power of the possibilities in our lives.

Rarely, do you find a book that has descriptions of experiences that you can try with your group immediately. Collaborative Creativity is the exception. I've had the opportunity to test these ideas - and have seen impressive results -- results that can add to your organization's bottom line.

As a resource to help companies unleash their creativity, this book is a must. In easy-to- understand terms, the author identifies creative cultures and through a novel "idea garden" approach offers a tool to enable groups to reach creativity goals, painlessly.

Everyone who hates being on a team should read this book. Ricchiuto challenges our sensibilities by providing compelling illustrations of collaborative success stories. He combines the wisdom of those who have gone before us with his own field insights. His is a world of creativity and happy surprise. You will find yourself quoting this one.