The Blurb On The Back:

Creativity is an elusive but essential component of innovation and success in competitive, changing markets.  The old way of thinking had it that creativity was a kind of mystical property possessed only by certain innately talented people.  If an organisation wasn’t innovative enough, its leaders simply needed to find and hire those rare creative people.  The past few decades of constant disruption by newcomers has roundly proven this theory false, even if organisational leaders don’t recognise it yet.  Years of trying to recruit and retain creative workforce’s just hasn’t helped the established players keep up.

If hiring creativity isn’t helping, it means that organisations have all the creativity they need but aren’t harnessing it properly.  What’s going wrong?  Some people point to the pressure to keep shareholders happy and to other external pressures, claiming that market forces prevent them from giving creativity the space to develop.  But the supersonic rise of companies like Netflix and Amazon show that market forces aren’t stopping the people who really know how to innovate.  In Unlocking Creativity Michael A. Roberto draws on years of investigation to reveal the true nature of the problem: enterprise-wide mindsets that stifle creativity on a daily basis.

Every organisation is full of creative minds just waiting for an opportunity to shine.  Unfortunately, deeply entrenched organisational cultures and ways of thinking frustrate people when they try to present original ideas.  Without knowing it, we may be falling victim to one of the six mindsets that prevent talented people from experimenting, discovering, innovating and helping the organisation flourish.

Unlocking Creativity presents the six mindsets that block creativity, bringing them to life through colourful examples and abundant research evidence, to help leaders recognise the habits that might be preventing creativity from taking flight.  With illustrations taken from far and wide – academic research, corporate case studies, hit TV shows, and rock and roll legends all make eye-opening appearances in the pages of this book – Michael Roberto clears the fog around creativity and equips leaders with the insight they need to shift to supportive mindsets and cultures where creativity can thrive. 

You can order Unlocking Creativity by Michael A. Roberto from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

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