inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity [Hardcover]

Tina Seelig (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 17, 2012

Imaginative. Innovative. Ingenious. These words describe the visionaries we all respect and admire. And they can describe you, too. Contrary to common belief, creativity is not a gift some of us are born with. It is a skill that all of us can learn. International bestselling author and award-winning Stanford University educator Tina Seelig has worked with some of the business world’s best and brightest, who are now among the decision-makers at companies such as Google, Genentech, IBM, and Cisco. In inGenius she expertly demystifies creativity, offering a set of tools and guidelines that anyone can use. A fantastic resource for everyone wanting to achieve their ambitions, and for readers of Jason Fried’s Rework, and Seth Godin’s Poke the Box.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Tina invites us inside her Stanford University course to reveal that we all have creative potential waiting to be unleashed.” (Ori Brafman, coauthor of Sway and Click)

“In a world that’s in constant flux, creativity and innovation are essential qualities for successful executives and industry-leading companies. Tina has shown that we all have the ability to mobilize our creative spirit.” (Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Author of Emotional Equations)

“Who said creativity can’t be taught? It can, and Tina Seelig has done it! She has created a new model, the Innovation Engine, that will change the way you think.” (Steve Blank, entreprenuer and author of The Startup Owners Manual)

In this groundbreaking work, Tina has codified her years of teaching at Stanford and proves that anyone can be creative. (Nancy Duarte, CEO and author of Resonate)

Tina has shattered the misconception that you can’t increase creativity. In this book, she presents breakthrough ideas on how to understand and boost your ability to innovate. (Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment and former chief evangelist of Apple)

Tina Seelig has written a provocative field guide to 21st century creativity, with her energy and enthusiasm bursting through on every page. We all could use a little extra spark of creativity, and this book helps show the way. (Tom Kelley, author of The Art of Innovation)

“Few people have done as much to champion innovative thinking as Tina Seelig.” (David Kelley, Founder IDEO)

“Tina Seelig is one of the most creative and inspiring teachers at Stanford.” (Robert Sutton, Stanford University Professor and author The No-Asshole Rule)

“Tina is the most inspirational creativity voice I know.” (Geoffrey Moore, Author, Crossing the Chasm, Dealing with Darwin)

“Seelig is a sharp observer and a gentle and thoughtful writer.” (Miami Herald)

“Tina Seelig has written a powerful and practical book, jam packed with keen insights for unleashing creativity in yourself and others.” (Peter Sims, author of Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries)

“inGenius is a fascinating blueprint for any company that’s serious about creating an environment where new ideas can thrive, and many of Seelig’s students doubtless go on to do precisely that.” (Fortune Magazine)

Seelig demonstrates that creativity and experimentation are both personal mindsets and values in organizations. inGenius acts as a spark plug for managers and entrepreneurs who want to capitalize on the creativity in their organizations. (Library Journal)

“Many of us believe that we’re either born with creativity or we’re not. Tina Seelig, author of inGENIUS: A Crash Course on Creativity, and award-winning educator at Stanford University, says that’s wrong: Creativity can be easily taught and learned.” (USA Weekend)

From the Back Cover

Internationally bestselling author and award-winning Stanford University educator Tina Seelig has taught creativity to the best and brightest students at Stanford and to business leaders around the world. With inGenius she expertly decodes creativity, revealing an approach that everyone can use to enhance their own creative genius.

In today's world, innovation and creative problem solving are more important than ever to succeed. For many of us, however, this process is a mystery. Whether we are attempting to generate fresh ideas or struggling with problems with no solutions in sight, the innovative spark is out of reach. inGenius offers a revolutionary new model, the Innovation Engine, which explains how creativity is generated on the inside and how it is influenced by the outside world. Describing the variables that work together to catalyze or inhibit our creative abilities, Seelig provides a set of tools we can each use right away to radically enhance our own ingenuity as well as that of our colleagues, teams, organizations, and communities.

Seelig's groundbreaking work reveals that creativity is an endless renewable resource we can tap into at any time. It is as natural as breathing, and just as necessary for leading a successful and fulfilling life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062020706
• ISBN-13: 978-0062020703
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tina Seelig has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Stanford School of Medicine and is the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, which is the entrepreneurship center at Stanford University's School of Engineering. In addition, Seelig teaches courses on entrepreneurship and innovation in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and in the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. She frequently speaks and runs workshops for executives in a wide range of disciplines and has written several popular science books for adults and children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonder book by Tina Seelig! April 22, 2012

By Jonathan Ayers

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading Tina Seeligs last book "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" two years ago, I had to track down her personal email address and thank her for writing such a great book on fostering personal creativity. With this book, she really focuses in how to create an environment and culture that promotes creative an innovative thinking not just for yourself, but among employees and colleagues as well. With her two books, she gives an inside look at what she teaches in her creativity class at Stanford, and the lessons techniques she uses are very powerful!

I found her writing in this book so uniquely valuable for two major reasons:

Focus on creativity: In my own formal and self education, there has been a supreme lack of focus on creativity and imagination. Creativity is a tough metric to quantity and measure, and I'm afraid that most educators (and business managers - myself included) shy away from it for that exact reason! Once grading begins, assignments are tailored to become easily grade-able, via multiple choice tests and the memorization and regurgitation of facts, and our "creative muscle" atrophies. In the workplace, and in plenty of business writing, the major focus is on improving employee productivity on linear tasks. The last creative assignment I was assigned in a classroom was in the 5th grade (and I made one heck of a solar system project!), and I have never once been asked to come up with creative solutions in a workplace! This book has given me the tools (via Tina's techniques on leading brainstorming sessions specifically) to use to really change the attitude and culture of my own office to focus again on creativity, imagination, and innovation, like we all used so naturally when we were children!

Focus on workspace design: Tina has opened up my eyes to a key element of the "Innovation Engine" that had never occurred to me as important before: creating a workplace habitat to foster imagination! It is so obviously important, and yet it seems to be so widely overlooked! I am ashamed to admit that I have completely overlooked this element before, and It is something I know needs to change in my own office if I want to see better results and creative collaboration.

If you want to give your coworkers and employees the tools they need to begin creating new solutions - as opposed to the typical goal of getting them to just move faster - then this is the book you need to read!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars InGenius InDeed! April 20, 2012

By AlbertoS

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've just finished reading Tina Seelig's "InGenius" and the best compliment I can pay it is that it has changed me, "supercharged" me and provided me with inspiration, motivation and - best of all - it has helped me find creative answers to specific innovation challenges I had been working on for some time.

Her model of the Innovation Engine with its six components (culture, attitude, imagination, resources, knowledge, habitat) is brilliant. When you think of the process of innovation in this way, you realize how critical each component is. In a proper engine, each part is necessary but not sufficient - take one small valve or bearing out and the engine grinds to a halt. But in most environments that want to foster innovation and creativity, we often see several components that are inadequate or missing altogether - which explains why so many such efforts are unsuccessful.

As she elaborates on the engine model, she covers tools that are probably familiar to people who have an interest in creativity and innovation. However, as she did with the engine model, she analyzes how and why these tools work and, more importantly, how they are often mis-used. Her section on brainstorming is a perfect example. Most people think they understand how to run a brainstorming session, but they really don't; they just collect a random bunch of people in a room (often a room unsuitable for the purpose) and start tossing ideas out in a free-for-all frenzy. Tina summarizes the "rules" of brainstorming clearly and succinctly, and in a way that will probably make you realize that most of the brainstorming sessions in which you have participated were, at best, poor and pale imitation of what really effective and efficient brainstorming should be like.

I could tell you more, but I don't want to spoil the pleasure and insights you'll get by reading "InGenius" yourself.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, "InGenius" changed and energized me. I read it over two mornings and, while reading, I found myself taking many notes and furiously writing down ideas. When a book permanently and substantively changes the way you view things - your long-term perspective - while giving you immediately applicable insights, advice and tools, you can't ask for more. "InGenius" is such a book. Highly-recommended. Thank you Tina!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inside Look at Stanford's Creativity Course April 18, 2012

By Matthew E. May

Format:Hardcover

Many people believe creativity cannot be taught. But Dr. Tina Seelig disagrees. In a new book, inGenius: A Crash Course in Creativity, she provides techniques of interest to any small business owner grappling with how to create something new and deliver that new idea to the world.

Seelig is the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and the director of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation at Stanford University. Her book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, was an international bestseller. inGenius gives its reader access to the material she teaches in a course at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. (Only 40 students can take the course, out of the more than 150 who apply for each session.)

Seelig's premise is apparent from the beginning of inGenius, in which she cites two approaches to a problem. "What is the sum of 5 plus 5?" There's only one right answer, of course: 10. Now, consider a very similar question that's framed differently: "What two numbers add up to 10?"

"The first question has only one right answer," writes Seelig. "And the second question has an infinite number of solutions, including negative numbers and fractions. These two problems, which rely on simple addition, differ only in the way they are framed. In fact, all questions are the frame into which the answers fall. And as you can see, by changing the frame, you dramatically change the range of possible solutions."

Seelig has distilled her more than 12 years of teaching creativity at Stanford into a framework she calls the Innovation Engine. It explains how we generate creativity on the inside and how the outside world influences it. Six variables work together to catalyze or inhibit our creative abilities.

Inside your Innovation Engine are your knowledge, imagination and attitude.

- Your knowledge provides the fuel for your imagination.
- Your imagination is the catalyst for the transformation of knowledge into new ideas.
- Your attitude is the spark that sets the Innovation Engine in motion.

Several outside factors influence your Innovation Engine, including resources, habitat and culture.

- Resources are all the assets in your community.
- Habitats are your local environments, including your home, school or office.
- Culture is the collective beliefs, values and behaviors in your community.

Seelig's model suggests we cannot isolate these factors. They fit together as part of a whole system and profoundly influence each other. Your willingness to take risks, experiment and push through real and perceived barriers affects your ability to find creative solutions to difficult challenges.

The book includes exercises, projects, tools and techniques that stimulate creativity. Readers can use that creativity to develop business models that delivers something new to the world. The book also features anecdotes that bring those tangible takeaways to life.

"I chose the word 'engine,'" writes Seelig, "because it, like the word 'ingenious,' is derived from the Latin word for innate talent and is a reminder that these traits come naturally to all of us. My goal is to provide a model, a shared vocabulary and a set of tools that you can use right away to evaluate and increase your own creativity and that of your team, organization and community."