I have just read Tom Kelley and David Kelley’s book, Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All, that will soon be published by Crown Business (October 2013). With regard to the title of their book, “At its core, creative confidence is about believing in your ability to change in the world around you. It is the conviction that you can achieve what you set out to do. We think this self-assurance, this belief in your creative capacity, lies at the heart of innovation. Creative confidence is like a muscle — it can be strengthened and nurtured through effort and experience. Our goal is to help build that confidence in you.”

Check out these brief excerpts from their discussion of Design-Driven Innovation in Chapter 1 (Pages 26-28).

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Here’s an overview to our approach to innovation, as described by IDEO partner Chris Fink. We adapt and evolve our methodologies continuously, so please feel fee to make your own variations, as well, fashioning innovation techniques that fit your unique circumstances.

1. INSPIRATION [excerpt]: Don’t wait for the proverbial apple to fall on your head. Go out in the world and proactively seek experiences that will spark creative thinking. Interact with experts, immerse yourself in unfamiliar environments, and role-play customer scenarios. Inspiration is fueled by a deliberate, planned course of action.

2. SYNTHESIS [excerpt]: After your time in the field, the next step is to begin the complex challenge of “sense-making.” You need to recognize patterns, identify themes, and find meaning in all that you’ve seen, gathered, and observed. We move from concrete observations and individual stories to more abstract truths that span across groups of people.

3. IDEATION AND EXPERIMENTATION [excerpt]: Next, we set off on the exploration of new possibilities. We generate countless ideas and consider many divergent options. The most promising ones are advanced in iterative rounds of rapid prototypes — early, rough representations of ideas that are concrete enough for people to react to. The key is to be quick and dirty — exploring a range of ideas without becoming too invested in one.

4. IMPLEMENTATION [excerpt]: Before a new idea is rolled out, we refine the design and prepare a road map to the marketplace. Of course, roll-outs can vary wildly depending on which elements if an experience or product are involved. Going live with a new online banking platform is very different from offering a new banking service.

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You can pre-order the book now from Amazon by clicking here.

Tom Kelley is the co-author with Jonathan Littman of The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm and The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization; David Kelley is founder of IDEO and of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (“d. school”).