The Genius Machine: The Eleven Steps That Turn Raw Ideas into Brilliance (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: advocacy hooks, solar toaster, genius thinkers, Great Conversation, Steve Jobs, United States

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Making reality out of "what the world/workplace/spouse needs now" daydreams into reality doesn't come easy. Intellectual property consultant Sindell, over the past 20 years, has observed and consulted many passionate, successful creative types-authors, business leaders and others-and has managed to chart an eleven-step process to help anyone develop, discover and further capitalize on their intellectual assets-their ideas. His system strives to be fast, complete and strategic. Fortunately, it's also clear and engaging, aiming for a wide audience of independent inventors, corporate marketers and managers of all kinds. Using goal-oriented language, Sindell makes each step a challenge, from Distinction to Testing to Connecting to Advocacy. Heavy on anecdotal evidence and historical genuflection (to visionaries including Charles Goodyear, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein), the text also uses three recurring examples that prove intriguing: designing "an eco-friendly toaster," "the best way to educate children," and "a way to retain talented people." Sindell's systematic approach to idea development comes with a healthy side of self-discovery, making this a thorough strategy for creative types wishing to turn an inspired napkin doodle into a plan.
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Review

“All of us have a genius inside. This is how to use it.”
— Jeffrey J. Fox, author of How to Become a Rainmaker

“Gerald Sindell is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of breakthrough thinking.”
— Ken Dychtwald, PhD, author of The Power Years

“Gerry Sindell gets the creative process better than almost anyone. If you want your own creative engine to run faster and work better, this book is an ideal user’s manual.”
— Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind

“The Genius Machine shows how any innovator can become a brilliant thinker. As Gerald Sindell walks you through his straightforward eleven-step process, his clear thinking, smart style, and colorful examples will make a genius of you.”
— Christopher Barr, senior editorial director of Yahoo!

“The Genius Machine is passionate, provocative, powerful, and practical. Gerald Sindell weaves his experience into an essential guide for creating ideas with impact. What better gift for today’s troubled world than this compelling method for finding smarter solutions and getting them working.”
— Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor of business at Harvard Business School and bestselling author of Confidence

“Author Gerry Sindell’s system has the unique ability to help people discover and apply their innate genius. It is a gift to us all.”
— Larry Ackerman, president of the Identity Circle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577316509
• ISBN-13: 978-1577316503
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #114,833 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the world (really) works..., April 26, 2009

By	Laurence D. Ackerman "Identity Consultant" (Westport, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am living testimony to the impact of Sindell's processes, as he used them to help me become conscious of, and articulate, the 8 natural laws of identity that are the foundation of my work and my life. Identity Is Destiny: Leadership and the Roots of Value Creation The Identity Code: The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World In this respect, Gerry Sindell's book is really a primer on how to change the world for the better. His precepts, taken together and applied millions of times over, would yield a far more productive society, with benefits for everyone - from the innovators to the populations of people they touch. Read The Genius Machine as a way to revitalize the meaning and impact of your life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Running Ideas Through the Genius Machine, April 14, 2009

By	Janet Boyer "JanetBoyer.com" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Innovation begins with a need--whether it's the next-generation high-speed switch, a change in corporate culture, the design for a flagship product, or finishing a book on deadline. Throughout our lives we are met with challenges to create something that isn't already there. We can either do decent work and make something that, at the very least, does the job, or we can come up with something that is simply brilliant. In many ways, the choice is yours." - From The Genius Machine

What is a genius thinker? According to author Gerald Sindell, founder of Thought Leaders International, a genius thinker is one who looks at what everyone else has looked at and sees something new.

In his new book The Genius Machine, Sindell distills the eleven-step revolutionary system he has used to guide leaders, organizations, and authors. By taking an idea and then running it through Sindell's innovation hopper, concepts are subjected to critical thinking, including differentiation, implication, refinement and advocacy.

Sindell calls his eleven-step system Endleofon (END-leo-fahn), an Old English word for "eleven", but his clients call it the "Genius Machine"--and for good reason: by subjecting any plan or proposed solution to these critical steps, an individual, team or business can go from the beginning of a problem to the point where an idea/work becomes fully developed and ready to take its rightful place in the world.

Here are few fascinating nuggets from Genius Machine:

* "Identity is the source of that feeling deep inside us that says we have something we were meant to do in this world, and that if we could just find it, we'd be on the right path. Fortunately, we *can* find it."

* "Geniuses always have their antennas out for shuffle-the-deck breakthroughs in their own immediate area and in the world in general. This is one reason why we need to develop our own personal array of filters that we bring us the information we need as soon as it happens. Shuffle-the-deck breakthroughs in the Great Conversation changes the conversation."

* "Elegance is inherently attractive: simplicity is artful. In thinking and writing, too, elegance is appealing. When we have refined our thinking to the point that our hard work has become invisible, then we will have achieved elegance. Elegant thinking has many advantages over its cruder competition: elegance communications more efficiently, is likely to be adopted faster, and will often have the strength to fend off the competition."

* "If you were not successful in getting your way of seeing things out in the world, what is it the world would have lost?"

* "We can often discover our entire framework by looking closely at any single element of what we're creating, since the truth of the whole is carried in every one of its parts. Everything we create, in each of its parts, expresses our values, our expression of what we think is the nature of life and humankind, our hopes for ourselves and the world."

From business to psychology, publishing to education, medicine to software development, the Genius Machine provides anyone with a brilliant vision, complex problem, or timely invention with a step-by-step plan for defining, refining, polishing and producing those ideas and solutions. In fact, a development cycle that might take months or years could feasibly be reduced to days or weeks using the Endeofon system.

Have a book you want to write? Put it through the Genius Machine. Invented a product that could change the world? Run it through the Endleofon system. Up against a corporate problem, human resource hemorrhage, or strategy snafu? Again, take it through Gerald Sindell's eleven-step process to gain clarity.

At first glance, this 145-page book seems so commonsensical, I was somewhat surprised to find that Endleofon is so revolutionary. But then I soon realized that the reason it seemed so "common sense" to me was because I processed book ideas, entrepreneurial opportunities, and creative solutions through very similar tests! In fact, it's how I weed out "good ideas" from ones that won't work for me, especially in terms of identity (what I'm driven to contribute) and impact (if an idea will help me to fulfill my goals in alignment with my values).

Whether you're a CEO or an educator, a writer or a student, a scientist or farmer, the Genius Machine can literally take your intellectual property, put it through the Endleofon hopper, and churn out brilliance. The funny thing is, though, that once you begin thinking like a genius via Sindell's method, you'll never see yourself, your ideas, or the world quite the same again.

-- Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius Machine is Brilliant, April 29, 2009

By	Ron Mattocks "Ron" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews

The Genius Machine shines brilliantly as a tribute to Gerald Sindell's lifelong commitment to crafting raw ideas into sparkling gems, and helping others do the same. Sindell declares that "Genius thinkers recognize that, when they have created something of value in any one area, it will probably be of value in many areas." The maxim applies perfectly to this book, which is of value to creatives in so many different walks of life.

If you are involved in creative development on any front, this book is for you. I have worked through many of these concepts with Gerald Sindell's help, which resulted in the publishing of my first book, Zone of Insolvency. Practical applications of the eleven steps are bigger than life. Read The Genius Machine today!