Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity

Who is Keith Sawyer and why is he significant?

March 30, 2018

In recent years, there have been several world-class thought leaders in the separate but interdependent fields of creativity and innovation. None is held in higher regard than Keith Sawyer. Briefly, one of the country’s leading scientific experts on creativity, Sawyer…

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Here’s an organizational self-assessment of potentially great value

October 23, 2016

In Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley, Antonio García Martinéz introduces what is — at least for me — a new metaphor: the chaos monkey. He explains it as a mechanism by which to “test a…

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A crash course on creative thinking

October 18, 2016

After introducing eight “powerful, surprisingly simple” steps to creativity, Keith Sawyer observes in Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity: “Exceptional creators often zig zag through all eight steps, in varying order, every day. That’s part of the secret.…

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Keith Sawyer on the eight stages of creativity

March 7, 2014

In Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation, Keith Sawyer suggests that there are eight stages to the creative process. He is convinced by extensive research (including his) that when most organizations conduct brainstorming sessions, it isn’t very effective. Why?…

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Keith Sawyer: An interview by Bob Morris

May 2, 2013

Keith Sawyer is one of the world’s leading scientific experts on creativity and innovation. In his first job after graduating from MIT, he designed videogames for Atari. He then worked for six years as a management consultant in Boston and…

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Zig Zag: A book review by Bob Morris

April 29, 2013

Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity Keith Sawyer Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint (2013) Cutting edge thinking and practical advice on how to follow a path less traveled to breakthrough creativity After introducing eight “powerful, surprisingly simple” steps to creativity,…

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Creative Intelligence: A book review by Bob Morris

April 27, 2013

Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire Bruce Nussbaum HarperBusiness (2013) How we can “increase our creative ability by learning from others, collaborating, sharing.” I selected one of Bruce Nussbaum’s observations to serve as the title of…

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