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The Houdini Solution: Why Thinking Inside the Box is the Key to Creativity
 
 
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The Houdini Solution: Why Thinking Inside the Box is the Key to Creativity (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: red hexagon, small ideas, Walt Disney, Madison Avenue, New York (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Customers buy this book with Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business (Adweek Books) by Jon Steel

The Houdini Solution: Why Thinking Inside the Box is the Key to Creativity + Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business (Adweek Books)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Transform the shackles of conformity into the tools for generating amazing, unconventional results

Houdini performed his greatest tricks within the confines of a box. Now one of the advertising industry's brightest and most innovative stars shows you how to do likewise: to use the power of thinking inside the box to unleash the power of innate creativity.

Who hasn't been extremely creative when boxed into an exceedingly tight deadline or budget? The Houdini Solution introduces a radical theory of how to generate more focused and powerful ideas by accepting, and even thriving on, constraints instead of being controlled by them. Filled with inspiring anecdotes and intriguing exercises that will yield surprising results, this book will spur you on to unleash the full power of your creativity, work magic in the workplace, and succeed beyond your wildest dreams.



From the Back Cover

Don't struggle against limitations. Think like Houdini­­and work your magic!

You've heard it a million times: Think outside the box. But what about Harry Houdini? The legendary magician did his best work shackled, handcuffed, and chained inside the smallest of boxes­­--and yet he managed to find his way out every time. The same is true with creativity. It's the restraints themselves that spark the creative process, inspiring the most ingenious solutions.

That's the secret of The Houdini Solution. Written by Ernie Schenck, the award-winning creative mind behind some of today's hottest advertising campaigns, this eye-opening book smashes through the clichés you've heard about creative thinking and shows you how to use that proverbial "box" to full advantage. You'll learn how to:

  • Slip through the loopholes of the professional straightjacket
  • Use that last-minute deadline as your chance to dazzle
  • Face a wall of resistance and see an opening for success

It's not magic. It's creativity at work. And, inspired by Houdini, it's your golden opportunity to beat the odds, amaze your audience, and come out on top.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 14, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 007146204X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0071462044
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #355,719 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Ernie Schenck
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12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No more excuses!, November 10, 2006
By Tom Monahan (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
What a simple, elegant concept - thinking inside the box - the precept shattering perspective behind The Houdini Solution. Not only is it brilliant, it's damn true. The best ideas often do happen in the box, and, with all the realities beyond our control, if you can't succeed there, well, good luck.

As a creative thinking coach, weekly I work in different industries helping people find fresh ideas. I have yet to encounter an area in business - hell, any area of human endeavor - that doesn't have to deal with a box, be it the boss' preconceptions, the industry's regulations, the budget, the deadline, whatever. Ernie Schenck points out, in story after story, illustration after illustration, some very big ideas that emerged not only in spite of the box, but frequently because of it. I won't steal the thunder here. Read the book. The only major flaw most readers might find between these pages is that it takes away almost all your excuses for not having great ideas.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, now even clients know how to get great work., January 5, 2007
By R. Shiffrar (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is simply a great, revealing read. I probably own every "here's how to do superior advertising work" book ever published, and have even read one or two. But Schenck has finally given up art directors' and copywriters' greatest secret: we WANT to be boxed in. Limitations lead to intense focus and creative, laser-like communications. Who knew? (well, some of us did, but now even clients do.)

Gee, thanks Ernie.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No Escaping It, October 25, 2006
By Mark Silveira (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
It's one thing to come up with a provocative insight. It's quite another to make a case for it so airtight Houdini himself would have a hard time wriggling out of it. But that's what Mr. Schenck does here. His core premise flies in the face of conventional wisdom: that rather than trying to "think outside the box", one is far more likely to arrive at genuinely creative, innovative solutions by making the most of what's "inside the box." In other words, all those things that are normally considered to be impediments to the process--short deadlines, minuscule budgets, recalcitrant clients and tight strategies--can actually be inspirational providing they are looked at in the right way, a point he drives home again and again with instructive examples and amusing anecdotes. All of which may come as a rude awakening to the many corporations and advertising agencies that subscribe to this "out of the box" notion. (And employ legions to consultants to steer them in the direction of this mythical destination.) But if it motivates a few of them to get out of this "box" trap, they'll have the inside track to more creative, innovative ideas.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Leave this one in the box
Turning "think outside the box" maxims inside-out with a book about how to "get back in the box" was a great idea the first time I read it--in Douglas Rushkoff's 2005 book GET... Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. Kittelsen

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much thinking inside the box of the advertising agency
Extremely confined into toughts, solutions, events and presentations that happens only inside of advertising agencies. Read more
Published 15 months ago by L. Ritta

5.0 out of 5 stars WWHD
Having worked in the creative business for a while I'm pretty jaded about most of these books. But this is a really fresh approach to creative thinking. Read more
Published on December 15, 2006 by Chris Robb

5.0 out of 5 stars The Handcuffs Are Off
As a writer by trade, I've always appreciated the haiku. Without its strict adherence to structure, this form of poetry would lose its inherent beauty. Read more
Published on December 12, 2006 by Brian Brooker

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for anyone paid to use their noggin.
A lot of books have been written on the subject of creativity. Many of them written by academics spouting useless theories on how to `be more creative. Read more
Published on December 7, 2006 by David Baldwin

4.0 out of 5 stars Constructs: bad. Boxes: good! Houdini: great!
So many boxes have become constructs--intentionally constricting, smothering monsters. Houdini Solutions shows you how to look at a box--a strategy, a problem, a small budget,... Read more
Published on November 18, 2006 by Black Canseco

5.0 out of 5 stars The Houdini Solution
The Houdini Solution is an amazing book. Ernie Schenck sets we who create for a living straight. No longer can we whine that obstacles are what keep us from our optimum... Read more
Published on November 11, 2006 by Bart Cleveland

5.0 out of 5 stars You, too, can.
Contrary to ad-world myth, good advertising is not created by gods who inhabit an unachievable pantheon of genius. Read more
Published on November 9, 2006 by David Fowler

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone with a brain
As a fellow resident of the box (that is, a copywriter like Senor Schenck) I highly recommend this book. It's brimming with insights from the first word to the last. Read more
Published on November 6, 2006 by Rich Siegel

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