New Ideas about New Ideas [Hardcover]

Shira P. White (Author), G.patton Wright (Author), G. Patton Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2002

New Ideas About New Ideas introduces us to a dynamic, eclectic collection of creators, whose far-out and far-reaching experiments are changing the world. Drawing from interviews with dozens of mavericks such as contemporary artist Jeff Koons, technology oracle Nathan Myrhvold, celebrated physicist Brian Greene, and biotech visionary Henri Termeer, Shira White explores the exhilarating process of generating new ideas and bringing them successfully to fruition. Blending important concepts from the worlds of management, the arts, science, and technology, Shira White reveals profound insights into what makes today's most creative people and organizations tick. You'll meet Corning chairman, Roger Ackerman, who led a series of extraordinary corporate transformations; genius architect Frank Gehry, who shocked the world with his earth-shattering Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao; pioneering Progressive Insurance chairman, Peter Lewis, who records his flashes of brilliance while swimming; Satjiv Chahil, who made Palm a household name; and many other innovators. New Ideas About New Ideas is bound to change the way you look at your life, your work, and your world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Innovation--that elusive but vital ability to generate and foster new ideas--has been touted as the key to success in many a book, for many a year. But since the New Economy's nosedive and the market battering of some of the most loudly lauded "innovative" companies, the term's reputation has begun to seem a little tarnished. Not so fast, says Shira White in her revealing book New Ideas About New Ideas. Whether in good economic times or in bad, creativity is always the ultimate competitive advantage, and the repercussions of practicing innovation are often even more widespread and longer lasting in the latter. White's assertion that "we always need new ideas--and we need new ideas about how to get, grow, and better manage them" underpins valuable insights on where innovation begins; how ideas are developed, nurtured, valued, brought to life, and put into action; and even how an entire organization's culture can be imbued with innovation. Refreshing in its broad coverage, New Ideas is chock-full of the inspiring advice and experiences of leaders in business, science, technology, and the arts. Hot, hip, and happening is how White describes these innovators, and they include people like former AOL Internet Services president and current chairman of the organic foods company Acirca Inc. David Cole, physicist and author of The Elegant Universe Brian Greene, technology wizard Nathan Myrhvold, world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, as well as the movers and shakers at companies such as Corning Inc., Genzyme Corporation, Transmeta Inc., and Macromedia. Though references to Enron have been updated, its inclusion in this otherwise motivational collection of innovation adventures seems unfortunate; the former energy giant may still be smoking hot in one sense, but revelations postbankruptcy would seem to negate much of its previous brilliance. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly

Architect Frank Gehry, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, physicist Brian Greene and Progressive Insurance chairman Peter Lewis are among the luminaries who share their thoughts on creativity in New Ideas About New Ideas: Insights on Creativity from the World's Leading Innovators. Author Shira P. White, a painter and the president of SPWI, a firm consulting on new product development, weaves together dozens of interviews to describe the creative process, from the first glimmering of an idea to practical implementation. Her subjects among them former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling discuss their success and failures in detail, explaining how they cultivate a state of consciousness conducive to fresh ideas.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (February 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738205354
• ISBN-13: 978-0738205359
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,053,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Same Old Ideas Produce the Same Old Results, April 22, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Ideas about New Ideas (Hardcover)

For some readers at least, the title of this book may well have much more significance than they may now realize. In recent months, I have been centrally involved with cross-functional teams to simplify production process inorder to reduce cycle time while increasing first-pass yield. Almost immediately after we began our work, I realized that we had to simplify the process by which we were attempting to simplify process. I think this is what White has in mind: To generate new ideas, it is first necessary to generate new ideas about how to do that. Otherwise, the results will probably be the same. I have yet to encounter anyone who denies the importance of "creative" or "innovative" thinking. We all realize that Edisons are few and far between. However, as White and others have correctly pointed out, all of us can develop perspectives and then skills by which free ourselves from mindsets which preclude (and often denigrate) creative, innovative thinking. In Leading Change, mindsets which Jim O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."

Not a day goes by that I do not hear someone refer to "thinking outside the box." My own experience has convinced me that (a) eventually it is necessary to get back in the "box" because that is where problems must be solved or (b) replace the "box" with another, one which is more appropriate to the given enterprise. In this volume, White shares her own experiences and insights (of course) but her primary focus is on a wide, deep, and varied selection of what the book's subtitle refers to as "the world's leading innovators." Based on the evidence provided, they are indeed. In the Preface, White introduces her core concept of "hot, hip, and happening" (or "H3"): cutting-edge organizations and individuals to whom the book's subtitle refers. She interviewed more than 100 corporate executives. Following an especially thought-provoking Introduction ("Sizzling Spaces: Making Innovation Happen"), White organizes her material within seven chapters:

1. Spark Soup: Where Innovation Begins

2. Bubbling: New Approaches to Idea Development

3. Bargaining with the Future: The Valuation Struggle

4. Going Live: Bringing New Ideas to Life

5. Integrated Circuitry: Mechanisms of Innovative Action

6. Rocket Design: Innovating the Organization

7. Making an Apple Pie: Beyond the Organization

Don't be deterred by these chapter titles. (At first, I was. They seemed a tad cutesy-pie. I was wrong.) The titles are eminently appropriate to the material provided; also, as you will soon realize, they comprise a thematic narrative in precisely the correct sequence. Along the way, she includes dozens of especially apt quotations. My personal favorites include " If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (Sir Isaac Newton), "You can't depend on your eyes when your mind is out of focus." (Mark Twain), "Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers ''Grow, grow.'" (The Talmud), "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative." (Oscar Wilde), and "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Mahatma Gandhi). White concludes her book with "Featured organizations and Individual Profiles" which I presume to suggest be read after the Introduction, just as you would a "Cast of Characters" before reading a play or observing the performance of one.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gimmicky, but Where's the Substance?, April 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: New Ideas about New Ideas (Hardcover)

The title of this book, NEW IDEAS ABOUT NEW IDEAS really grabbed me.
Behind all that, and a lot of jargons, what could readers like me really
get out of that? No eye-opening creativity skillsets or practical, well-thought out case studies on innovations to share,
nor clear-cut author's perspective on creativity and innovations.
The ideas in book are fuzzy, jumping from here and there, complicating rather than simplifying things for the readers.
Buyers be aware! In the New Economy, here comes a lot of Innovations or Creativity Gurus, who wrote books, but hardly have any solid practical and theoretical backgrounds on Innovations or Creativity. So many writers want to cash out from such a Creativity and Innovation Boom.
Read classics like" Whack the Side of Your Head", "Technique For Producing Ideas", "Serious Creativity", "Aha", and "Conceptual Blockbusting" to save your hard-earned dollars, my friends!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brainstorm in a book, June 6, 2003

By 

K. Sampanthar "Inventor of ThinkCube" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: New Ideas About New Ideas: Insights On Creativity From The World's Leading Innovators (Paperback)

I have to admit that I bought this book over a year ago and started to read it and put it down out of frustration due to a feeling that this was just a rehash of creative ideas, with no real direction. I have read many books on creativity and innovation and this book seemed to be nothing new.
BUT 1 year rolls around, I am looking to have something stimulating to read and this book seems to be calling me again. I pick it up and scan it, there seems to be some interesting ideas here, some interesting profiles of innovators that I have admired (Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Greene etc.). So I decide to take it on a business trip with me. I start reading it again and this time I am immersed in this creative storm. The book is stimulating so many ideas and thoughts; I can't put the book down. I find myself waking up at 3am and devouring the book. I get out my post notes and highlighter and go back through and start marking pages and paragraphs.
I am not sure what this book was aiming to do, but the most amazing aspect of this book is that it gives an insight in a creative thinkers mind. It's like taking a peek at Shira White's Idea notebook. I am not sure that she keeps a notebook of ideas, but this book is chock full of ideas and snippets from many diverse sources reflecting her research. It is hard to get used to the style, which others have described as confusing with no direction. But if you read this book and let your self go and follow along with White as she brainstorms ideas, random connections between thoughts and facts you will find yourself immersed. I am not sure there is a genre for this book; it's a brainstorm in a book. It is like being inside White's mind as she bounces from one idea and thought to another, making some very interesting conclusions along the way. If you have ever read any of James Burke's books "Knowledge Web", "Circles", where he walks you through how ideas are connected to each other. This book gives you a similar feeling of being on creative journey through ideas.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a stimulating and inspirational read. This book can be very rewarding if it is read in the right state of mind (in this case the right state mind = using the right hemisphere of your brain).