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The Forgotten Half of Change: Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception

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Luc de Brabandere's book The Forgotten Half of Change: Achieving Greater Creativity Through Changes in Perception is a useful work in that it discusses many of the core elements concerning the stimulation of creative thinking. I picked this book in particular because more importantly, de Brabandere largely views the topics of creativity and innovation from the perspective of deconstructing stereotypes. Much of his work is concerned with going beyond the movements of creativity and innovation. He devotes a great deal of time addressing the necessity of altering one's persepective on problem solving, as well as the workings of businesses in general.

The book's chapters are broken down as follows:

Introduction:
This summary will attempt to provide the reader with a general overview of the topics that the author addresses in his book, and will provide some interesting anecdotal information regarding the issues of Creativity and Innovation, and their past and present applications in the business world.

Chapter 1: "Changing Twice"
De Brabandere discusses that change occurs in two phases: firstly, it happens through an alteration of reality-that is, changes in methodologies. Yet the second and more important phase of change is brought about through a change in perception, and in the way individuals see problems in relation to themselves and the greater world.

Chapter 2:
Discusses the notion that in our global socioeconomic system, frontiers are rapidly vanishing, and it may not always be possible to explain how or why things happen or function-be it organizations, individuals, or economic systems.

Chapter 3:
The author turns to the issue of perception, and how true innovation and creative thought stems from abandoning established ways of perceiving problems. Argues that human beings are hard-wired to think in a certain way, and that we must step out of these modes of thinking in order to be more creative.

Chapter 4:
Seeks to address the growing notion that change itself is ending in our modern society, and argues that change on a more local level occurs through "breaks," or instances in which an individual or organization makes a break from a preconceived way of looking at a product or process.

Chapter 5:
Generally discusses the notion that no idea is born good, and that ideas must be nursed into fruition through collaboration with others, and also through thinking that melds the creative with the rational mindsets.

Chapter 6:
The "eureka" moment is not simply a moment of instant creative freedom; it's a multi-phasic process that can be generated.

Chapter 7:
Talks about ideas in several broad senses, most notably that there exists a definite need to anticipate the future even as uncertainty increases in situations where new ideas are driving progress towards a goal. Stresses the need of constant, not erratic, creativity. Discusses the need for feedback in any creative process, regardless of the cost, be it material or temporal.

Chapter 8:
Discusses specific advice for managers on how to stimulate creativity in a workplace. For example, the author advocates giving small, symbolic gifts for every instance in which a creative idea is generated by an employee.

On the broadest sense, I feel that the book was a bit too abstract at times. While de Brabandere does an excellent job of interspersing his narrative with colorful examples, his subject matter occasionally drifts away from what I feel should have been emphasized more in his work: the notion that creative thought and innovative processes result in things that sell, and that any business that does refuses to act in accordance to that principle is doomed. I would further improve on de Brabandere's work by expanding on his advice regarding management in relation to the ideas of gaining new perspectives on existing problems, and using innovating techniques to crate new and revolutionary solutions.

On balance, however, I felt that The Forgotten Half of Change is an immensely useful book because it does place creativity and innovation in a practical light. De Brabandere's writing effectively conveys the urgency with which companies, organizations, and individuals need to embrace methods of creative thought. To de Brabandere, learning to think outside of one's traditional perspectives is not an infusion of technique. Rather, it is a process of finding capabilities and facets of the self that were previously hidden by existing stereotypes and fixed modes of thought.

I was trying to put together a review for this book (which I found immensely helpful)---i could not come up with the right words and then it struck me---the following says a lot:

There are two kinds of change.

The first change has to do with reality. This kind of change is produced within a system that stays the same. It modifies a component, it still follows the rules.

The second change, however is the one that really counts, the change in perception. For it to happen at least one of the rules of the system---a hypothesis, a judgement, or a stereotype--has to be broken.

If you want to change you have to change twice. You not only need to change the reality of your situation, you also need to change your perception of this reality.

Consider people who always arrive late. They could do a lot of things to change the "reality" of their situation. They could get an appointment book, or wake up earlier for meetings, or schedule more time between meetings. But change is not just a matter of better organization. If they limit their change to action only, they will arrive late again within weeks, back to their old habits. To really make the change, they need to change the way they look at punctuality. This is the second type of change, when being on time is perceived as efficient an no longer as a constraint. Only the 2nd change can make the first change irreversible.


If you are ready for more insights on the process of change as it applies to work (and even life) you must read this book.

Built on the thesis that sustained change (and in particular the change to living with continuous change) requires that we 'change twice'. The first change - in arrangements, structures, relationships, processes and so on - does not stick without the second change, which is in perception - how we see the world. The author works through tools and techniques that challenge our established mind-sets and so facilitate this second change. The text contains useful lists - for example of types of questions and the impact of asking questions in different ways - and a variety of visual puzzles designed to challenge our view of 'the obvious'.
The style and coverage is somewhat reminiscent of the de Bono books, but with a tighter linkage to change in organizations.

The tone of The Forgotten Half of Change could easily become preachy and admonishing, touting the value of change for change's sake. It doesn't. Instead, de Brabandere embraces the reader's own past experiences and gently challenges them with the question "what if...?".

In business, as in life we've all faced the disappointment of the great plan hamstrung by flawed execution or been amazed at the even middling success of the seamlessly executed, though fundamentally weak plan. De Brabanedere offers balance. He obviously respects and honors the thinker, the planner, the architect, and the inventor. At the same time though he pays homage to the mechanic, the guy with a metaphorical cutting torch, roll of baling wire, and can-do attitude.

Perception, it's a powerful thing. The end product might not be the conventionally beautiful artwork that the creative mind developed. Innovations tend to leave lumps, burns, and scars. We learn from de Brabandere though to love the scars, to acknowledge their role in the growth experience.

Put this book in your toolbox. Whether it rests beside fourteen pencils or a cutting torch you will find yourself putting it to work.

Being a full time conference interpreter, I've had the inmense fortune of hanging around great thought leaders and change gurus. What DeBrabandere explains in this great work is a reality few have seen before: you need to be re-born twice to really change. He goes on citing many great examples, old and new alike, about what it takes to change. One of the many quotable passages I remember was about bad decisions not being caused by mis-information, but rather by the way our minds function... I'm down to the second reading of the book, and still can't get my eyes off it! Great read, simple, but very profound.

The Forgotten Half of Change is a not just a text book for business managers. It is for everyone. Broken into eight chapters, the author writes about perception, creativity and the need to change and inserting examples throughout the book. Although, only 192 pages, it is filled with great ideas that make me change the way I think and will do the same for you. I truly recommend this book to those who like to think differently.

This book is aimed at business types but it isn't just for business types, IMHO. The subtitle is "Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception" and I think that this says more than the title itself. The author presents the idea that it isn't enough just to toss an incentive in front of someone to get improved performance; you need to change perceptions and change actions. He refers to some of the well known philosphers (such as Heraclites and Francis Bacon) and shows a heap of eye games sketches - the kind that you can look at from one angle and see one thing and then from another angle and see something else. It is all about changing perceptions.

If you want to survive complexity read this book.

This book is more than it seems, in a sense it even exceeds its author's expectations. It has been extremely helpful to me, as a person doing research in complexity and change, even more so than de Brabandere may understand.

de Brabandere calls it perception, so be it. He explains better this concept than anyone else. Perception is the key to surviving complexity.

Others have called in orientation, culture, paradigm....the essence of it is your world view, how you think things work. None of us are self-conscious or introspective enough for this to be top of mind all the time. de Brabandere uses "creativity" (something we seek like the Golden Fleece) as a context to force us to consciously abandon our norms, values and assumptions to remove sub rosa intellectual blinders.

Read and understand this and we have taken the first step toward learning the key skill in surviving an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

Bravo! Absolutely brilliant work.

Es un muy buen libro esta realmente interesante y deja unas lecciones de vida muy buienas

Change is a normal part of life and as such it is also a normal part of business and the need to adapt. The problem is that the change is only the first step and there is more to change than change by itself. Dealing with the other half of change - a change of perception is what this book is about. The author challenges the reader to examine such things as thinking about how you think and inspiring creativity so that you can change perception.

With a light writing style that is at times humorous Mr. Brabandere leads the reader to an enlightening view of the human mind and how it traps us into particular ways of thinking. Escaping from this trap by changing our perception is what this book is all about. A lesson in creative thinking and getting out of the stereotypes that we have learned and handicap our thinking, The Forgotten Half of Change is highly recommended and fun to read.