Creative Intelligence: Discovering the Innovative Potential in Ourselves and Others [Hardcover]

Alan J. Rowe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2004

The complete guide to identifying, measuring, promoting and applying creativity! Thriving in today's fast-changing world requires unprecedented creativity--in business, and in every facet of life. This book makes the reader consider: How creative are you? How can you be more creative? Creative Intelligencehas the answers. Alan J. Rowe shows readers how to understand exactly what creativity is, identify it, measure it, promote it and apply it more effectively. Rowe begins by presenting the four ways in which creativity manifests itself: intuition, innovation, imagination and inspirational leadership. Next, he introduces the Creative Potential Profile, an exclusive, systematic test for measuring creativity that is already used by the Irish government and many other high-profile organizations worldwide. Drawing on the latest research, Rowe identifies commonalities amongst highly creative individuals, then identifies powerful strategies for tapping into your hidden creative potential. He shows why most organizations suppress creativity, and offers comprehensive strategies for attracting more creative people to your organization and unleashing the creativity of everyone who's already there. In the 1990s, Daniel Goleman popularized "emotional intelligence," a concept that resonated with our long-held intuitions about human beings, while offering powerful new insights for action. Creative Intelligencewill do the same for THIS decade.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advanced praise for Creative Intelligence—

"Organizations will not be in the phone book five to seven years fromnow unless they understand the significance of creativity and creativeleadership. Rowe's useful and readable book provides rich insightsabout how creativity affects the bottom line."

—Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor and co-author of Geeks andGeezers, Harvard Press

"In Creative Intelligence, Alan Rowe makes a compelling case thatcreativity is essential for success in today's complex, rapidlychanging world, and that all of us can discover and unlock our creativepotential. He presents a clear and practical roadmap for how we canunderstand, measure, and apply our creative capabilities. Moreover, Roweshows how leaders can develop creative talent and support creativitythroughout their organizations. This book is a must read for anyoneseeking creative solutions to life's difficult and messy problems."

—Tom Cummings, University of Southern California School of Management

"Creative Intelligence convinces you that you do possess creativity. Itshows you how to determine the types you have, and encourages you to dosomething with your talents."

—Gerald Nadler, IBM Chair Emeritus in EngineeringManagement, University of Southern California, and co-author of thebestselling Breakthrough Thinking

"Like passion, creativity is highly prized in people and companies, yetso difficult to manufacture. Creative Intelligence shows how both peopleand companies can harness creativity as a competitive advantage to getto their goals."

—Louis Columbus, Sr. Analyst, AMR Research

"Alan Rowe makes an important contribution to our understanding ofhuman creativity in the most comprehensive book yet written on thissubject. He offers a powerful new instrument for measuring creativeintelligence and provides penetrating and provocative insights on howeducation can be reformed to produce more creative individuals, and howorganizations can position themselves to tap the creative potential ofall their employees."

—Dr. Burt Nanus, co-author, with Warren Bennis, ofLeaders: Strategies for Taking Charge; author ofStrategies for Taking Charge, Visionary Leadership, andLeaders Who Make a Difference

"This book is an extraordinary effort that will challenge people to become'all that they can be.' Most people can make significant contributionsif they recognize their potential. Our society is changing rapidlyand creative approaches to education are needed to maintain our competitiveposition in the world."

—Dr. Robert R. Dockson, Former CEO and Chairman, CalFed, Inc.

"After a very successful career in industry and education, Alan Rowehas provided us with a roadmap to understanding creativity. His examplesclearly show how we can enhance our lives and make the world abetter place in which to live. He has produced an important work that ishighly readable and extremely useful. He demonstrates how we can alllearn how to use our creative ability to assure human progress. This is abook that I would recommend to business executives, educators, organizationleaders and anyone interested in enhancing their own lives."

—Stephen BollenbachCEO, Hilton Corporation

From the Back Cover

Creative Intelligence: Discovering the Innovative Potential inOurselves and OthersHow to Foster Intuition, Innovation, Imagination, andInspirational Leadership in Your OrganizationAlan J. Rowe

"Organizations will not be in the phone book five to seven years fromnow unless they understand the significance of creativity and creativeleadership. Rowe's useful and readable book provides rich insightsabout how creativity affects the bottom line."

—Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor and co-author of Geeks andGeezers, Harvard Press

"In Creative Intelligence, Alan Rowe makes a compelling case thatcreativity is essential for success in today's complex, rapidlychanging world, and that all of us can discover and unlock our creativepotential. He presents a clear and practical roadmap for how we canunderstand, measure, and apply our creative capabilities. Moreover, Roweshows how leaders can develop creative talent and support creativitythroughout their organizations. This book is a must read for anyoneseeking creative solutions to life's difficult and messy problems."

—Tom Cummings, University of Southern California School of Management

"Creative Intelligence convinces you that you do possess creativity. Itshows you how to determine the types you have, and encourages you to dosomething with your talents."

—Gerald Nadler, IBM Chair Emeritus in EngineeringManagement, University of Southern California, and co-author of thebestselling Breakthrough Thinking

Now's the time to tap your hidden creativity, and unleash more of it inthe people around you. One book will show you how—CreativeIntelligence. Begin by evaluating yourself with the world's mostadvanced psychological test for assessing creativity. Discover yourstrengths. Uncover your potential. Then, learn from the world's mostcreative individuals as you transform your potential into reality.

Along the way, you'll discover techniques for strengthening yourintuition and your imagination...your receptiveness to innovation...evenyour ability to inspire.

Creativity is power. Take that power into your hands with CreativeIntelligence.

How creative are you? How can you be more creative? Alan J. Rowe drawson the latest research to help you understand creativity, identify it,measure it, promote it, and apply it more effectively.

Rowe introduces four types of creativity: intuition, innovation,imagination, and inspirational leadership. Next, he presents theCreative Potential Profile, a systematic test for measuring creativepotential. This test instrument is an outgrowth of the highly successfulDecision Style Inventory that has been adopted by the Irish ManagementInstitute and other leading organizations.

Discover what creative people have in common, and learn powerfulstrategies for tapping into your hidden creative potential. See how mostorganizations suppress creativity, and discover start-to-finishstrategies for attracting more creative people and unleashing thecreativity of the people you're already working with.

The heart of creativity

What creativity really is...and how it differs from general intelligence

What's your creative style?

Discovering your personal mix of intuition, innovation, imagination, andinspiration

Making the most of your personal creativity

Specific techniques for becoming a more successful problem solver

Unleashing creativity in business and education

Promoting creativity throughout any organization

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: FT Press (March 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131453572
• ISBN-13: 978-0131453579
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,390,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncovering Innovative Work Place Potential, April 27, 2005

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Intelligence: Discovering the Innovative Potential in Ourselves and Others (Hardcover)

Creativity is power. The author makes a compelling case that in today's complex and chaotic environment, it is essential to solve what increasingly seems like the unsolvable.

The author, an emeritus USC professor of management, breaks his treatment of creativity into four parts:

1. Learning to harness your creative intelligence.
2. Exploring opportunities to apply your creativity.
3. Helping others recognize and use their creativity.
4. Creating open environments to support creative endeavors.

To me the most practical part of the book is a test instrument which identifies a person's creative potential. The 25-question test determines the taker's aptitude for the four basic creative styles:

1. Innovative
2. Imaginative
3. Intuitive
4. Inspirational

With the problems facing business and society, it is surprising more effort is not made to identify and encourage creative thinkers and thinking.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimensions."

Given the number and depth of the problems facing humankind, it is surprising to me that we continually resort to the same, worn-out and tired solutions.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good News. Bad News., August 5, 2005

By 

D. J. Delaney (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Intelligence: Discovering the Innovative Potential in Ourselves and Others (Hardcover)

Good News: Dr. Rowe makes new and useful distinctions on the four demensions of creative intelligence. Bad New: the book is missing the answer key to the Creative Intelligence Profile, which is the heart and value of the book rendering the profile useless. Too bad interesting tool. And attempts to reach out to Dr. Rowe go unanswered.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creativity is essential for success in business and life, July 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Intelligence: Discovering the Innovative Potential in Ourselves and Others (Hardcover)

The best parts of this book are providing an understanding that there are different kinds of creativity and being able to assess one's creative potential, the chapter on education and how essential the creative process is for learning, and how to use our creativity to understand and solve problems in our turbulent society. Creativity helps in taking the risks that improve problem solving.

It is absolutely essential to develop our creativity to our fullest potential in order to be successful in our careers as well as in our personal lives. Creativity helps us see more options in every situation that confronts us.

For today's business people and for educators, I believe this book is an absolute must!