Customer Reviews

New Ideas about New Ideas

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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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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!

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).

I agree with a previous reviewer's comment that the book is a long advertisement for White's consulting business, which had to include that motherlode of creativity, Enron, although she doesn't admit it in the book and offers some lame upfront comment about regardless of what happens to Enron it's to be admired for it's creativity. The quotes from Skilling are "great" entertainment when you consider they occured all pre-meltdown, but the author's defense of Enron's "creativity" (which resulted in the loss of billions of dollars and had a negative impact on millions of lives) really turned me off.

Instead of trying to justify the inclusion of such a ethically bankrupt company such as Enron, the author should have added a chapter on, when creativity turns criminal.

Reading this book is like being at a cocktail party - you hear an interesting thing here and there and it seems like everybody is trying to brag about something. There is little subject matter organization: it feels like it was written simply by listening to tape recording of Shira and what she calls H3s: "hot, hip and happening" business people / eclectic people.

Strange assertations are regularly made that are not backed up anywhere (like where she mentions that some scientists say our brains only process one-billionth of the information around us, yet gives us no source for this claim).

The H3 definition gives you a good idea of what this book is about: fads. It made me laugh to see her preach so highly about ImClone and Enron. I know there probably are some truly innovative people in these companies and the other H3s, but Shira is only interested in money, titles, and cool stories as justification of successful innovation.

(There is a great story in the book about former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling running a television station from age 12 to 17 - all quoted directly from him - after reading that I said, yeah, and you probably got some energy company stock to sell me, too.)

The book is disorganized. She rapidly moves from one idea and one story to another, sometimes within a single paragraph. Perhaps if she had taken each H3 as a case study, then presented chapters on common themes it would be easier to see the points she is trying to make.

There are better books our there on this kind of stuff. Look for them.

Great title, but it's a little like eating rice cakes...you're full for a minute and then realize you digested a few rice kernels puffed up with air to look and feel like something substantial. This felt like an ad for herself and her consulting business. It's the psychological profile of a sychophant. Do you think I liked this book? I was drawn in by the hype...the work of some amazing PR person...which resulted in a story in the NY Times Biz Section. I really can't imagine what these reviewers are talking about. It was difficult to navigate through the poorly designed (editorially and artistically) text. What's more, you can flip through this thing in a half hour and get all you're going to get. I respect new, interesting thinking...and it sure wasn't here. The stories were nothing...spiderwebs.

The "look inside" feature allows you to find sentences like, "Work-life balance is a newly emerging concern". Is the author saying it was never a concern to anyone until now? Or just never a concern to "New Economy" writers?

On the cover, Seth Godin's spruik concludes, "Innovation isn't hard, it just takes practice". Does the author believe that?

This book is guru wannabe central, designed as a client generator and biography padder. For insight look elsewhere.

This book is an advertisement for her consulting business. It's
a sad poorly designed and poorly written book. With so many books on creativity out there, don't waste your money on this one.

I've read many books on creativity and innovation -- tons! And this is the first book that ever really had something new to say. It is full of fascinating insights and stories about how innovation can be managed successfully in the workplace and in life in general. And, it is the first one of those books that I really, really enjoyed reading. I loved it!

And this book has plenty. I run a small business of my own and I am always looking for little nuggets in business books that I can apply. I took notes all over this book. If you are looking for a well for your creativity this book can definitely be of help. I gave it as a gift to some other entrepreneurially-minded friends and they all had good things to say about it.