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Creative People Must Be Stopped: 6 Ways We Kill Innovation
A framework for overcoming the six types of innovation killers Everybody wants innovation―or do they? Creative People Must Be Stopped shows how individuals and organizations sabotage their own best intentions to encourage "outside the box" thinking. It shows that the antidote to this self-defeating behavior is to identify which of the six major types of constraints are hindering individual, group, organizational, industry-wide, societal, or technological. Once innovators and other leaders understand exactly which constraints are working against them and how to overcome them, they can create conditions that foster innovation instead of stopping it in its tracks. The author's model of constraints on innovation integrates insights from the vast literature on innovation with his own observations of hundreds of organizations. The book is filled with assessments, tools, and real-world examples. This book gives people in organizations the conceptual framework and practical information they need to innovate successfully.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 9, 2015
When I attended the LOEX Conference in Nashville in May 2013, David A. Owens was one of the keynote speakers. It was nice to have someone outside of librarianship speaking, and he focused on the process of innovation and what blocks there are in creativity. I thought it was useful information and ordered the book for my library too.
The contents are similar to what he presented on, just more in depth, and I see he also teaches a Coursera MOOC using the same framework. His emphasis is definitely on corporate environments, and although I found his concepts to apply easily to an academic environment, he does not do that for the reader.
My only disappointment is that the chapter on organizational constraints didn't give me more ideas I could use to overcome a constraint I've identified within my own organization. He makes the wrong assumption that changes to structure and process can always be made, and I would have liked to see creative ways of overcoming organizational constraints beyond these.
Although the one magical answer I was hoping for wasn't within these pages, instead I found it more thought-provoking from the perspective of being an assistant director in the library. Within my group, we have explicitly held creativity as one of our core values from the very beginning. I'm always learning more about my role, but I'm even more convinced that the most important thing I can do is protect ideas and efforts when they may not be the status quo, the norm, or what everyone else is doing.
We are coming up on self-evaluation time, and I'm thinking of asking everyone to ponder two things directly from this book:
1. What environment helps you think and create the best?
2. What has been your most spectacular failure?
David A. Owens emphasizes the need to celebrate failures as well as accomplishments, because then you are valuing the ideas, the attempts, and not just the products. I already have my answer for the year - search techniques performance art with 77 freshmen music majors!
A few other moments I was nodding along with:
"Sometimes we think it is too costly to invest time generating and critiquing so many ideas early in the process. What we forget is how much more expensive it is to try to implement ideas that aren't the best we could possibly have generated."
"Blindly adopting standards means you may be giving up critical features that are essential to your function."
"...These people may have very little invested in the innovation you intend, but they do have a great deal invested in their current way of doing things, a way that they know works. It makes sense that they would want some form of proof that the world will, in fact, be a better place for them if they believe you and adopt your ideas."
This page is followed by a list of questions (pg. 228-229) to help you build a better proposal. I'm going to use this on a current tech request I'm going to make for the third time. Page 235 also has phases of leading innovation, that would also be helpful.
"...There are also occasions where creative people must be stopped. For example, they must be stopped when they sabotage their own creativity by staying stuck in ruts of seeing and thinking. They must be stopped from fearing the consequences of standing up for their ideas, especially ideas that cut against the grain of a group's conventional mind-set."
The contents are similar to what he presented on, just more in depth, and I see he also teaches a Coursera MOOC using the same framework. His emphasis is definitely on corporate environments, and although I found his concepts to apply easily to an academic environment, he does not do that for the reader.
My only disappointment is that the chapter on organizational constraints didn't give me more ideas I could use to overcome a constraint I've identified within my own organization. He makes the wrong assumption that changes to structure and process can always be made, and I would have liked to see creative ways of overcoming organizational constraints beyond these.
Although the one magical answer I was hoping for wasn't within these pages, instead I found it more thought-provoking from the perspective of being an assistant director in the library. Within my group, we have explicitly held creativity as one of our core values from the very beginning. I'm always learning more about my role, but I'm even more convinced that the most important thing I can do is protect ideas and efforts when they may not be the status quo, the norm, or what everyone else is doing.
We are coming up on self-evaluation time, and I'm thinking of asking everyone to ponder two things directly from this book:
1. What environment helps you think and create the best?
2. What has been your most spectacular failure?
David A. Owens emphasizes the need to celebrate failures as well as accomplishments, because then you are valuing the ideas, the attempts, and not just the products. I already have my answer for the year - search techniques performance art with 77 freshmen music majors!
A few other moments I was nodding along with:
"Sometimes we think it is too costly to invest time generating and critiquing so many ideas early in the process. What we forget is how much more expensive it is to try to implement ideas that aren't the best we could possibly have generated."
"Blindly adopting standards means you may be giving up critical features that are essential to your function."
"...These people may have very little invested in the innovation you intend, but they do have a great deal invested in their current way of doing things, a way that they know works. It makes sense that they would want some form of proof that the world will, in fact, be a better place for them if they believe you and adopt your ideas."
This page is followed by a list of questions (pg. 228-229) to help you build a better proposal. I'm going to use this on a current tech request I'm going to make for the third time. Page 235 also has phases of leading innovation, that would also be helpful.
"...There are also occasions where creative people must be stopped. For example, they must be stopped when they sabotage their own creativity by staying stuck in ruts of seeing and thinking. They must be stopped from fearing the consequences of standing up for their ideas, especially ideas that cut against the grain of a group's conventional mind-set."
August 4, 2012
Great book and concept. Plus I love the review by my own sweet husband, Peter. I can't wait to really play with the models shared in this great book about innovation and all the ways businesses and people kill ideas before they even get started.
November 12, 2011
Learn more abore about the book at http://creativepeoplemustbestopped.com
October 12, 2016
As someone who cares deeply about creativity and innovation in a wide variety of aspects [1], I found this book to be an immensely worthwhile read. All too many of us have experienced the dark side of creativity and the backlash against it in our lives. I know I have on many occasions. For one, we may be envious of other creative people and wonder if creativity is something that comes naturally to some and not to others. We may feel the awkwardness of creativity in a group context where we are trying to belong or fit in. We may find that the organizations we are a part of, business and otherwise, are not exactly very welcoming to our fountain of distinctive ideas or to our unconventionality in approach. We may find that a larger degree of uniformity with a particular industry or denominational background hinders the way our innovations are viewed. We may find that our ideas and visions are at variance with the larger society we are a part of, which views with horror and disgust and derision what we view as transparently obviously better than what now passes for common practice. And finally, we may find that our desired innovations are simply not technologically feasible given the limitations of infrastructure and resources at present. Rather than seek to take these layers in isolation, Owens views them all as part of a grand overarching narrative on barriers to innovation, making this a practical book of considerable depth and interest.
The contents of this book rest at the heart of a debate on the barriers and resistance to change, which is often viewed in very narrow ways [2]. Instead, this book begins with the context of innovation and points to six dimensions where efforts at change and innovation often fail, starting from the inside out, from the areas where we have the most control and influence to those where we have the least. After reminding readers that we are more creative than we think in looking at the individual barriers to creativity, the author moves to the weaknesses of many brainstorming issues by examining the constraints to innovation that take place in groups. Then the author points out that there are similar constraints on the level of organizations as well as industries, and within greater society as well as within the technological levels of our civilization. Each of the chapters is filled with witty and humorous stories of corporate history and of efforts that both transcended the barriers to innovation and creativity as well as those which largely failed on account of failing to address and transcend the constraints on each level. Each of these chapters on constraints also contains a detailed checklist which, if answered accurately and honestly, can help the reader know if this level hinders the creativity or innovations they wish to see adopted. The book then ends with a chapter on ways that people in charge of innovation efforts can helpfully encourage change and innovation in the groups they lead through adopting innovation strategies that start small, where errant groups are reined in, where both failure and success are rewarded, but inaction is punished, and where innovators are supported instead of being quashed. Perhaps most helpfully of all, the book includes a short bookshelf of related books to encourage the reader in future reading on the subject.
So, ultimately, what should a reader expect out of this book. Assuming the reader comes into it with a background and experience of frustration with regards to change initiatives, and here we mean changes for the good, specifically, and has an interest in business philosophy and its applicability to other areas of life, this is an exceedingly excellent book. Among its strongest elements is the fact that it encourages the reader to become better aware and more well-read of a wide grasp of literature on the subject of innovation in seeking to learn from biological design as well as learn about the culture of institutions and organizations and how they often inhibit growth, and the fact that the book is not only well-written but manages to combine two rare virtues in being both intensely practical to its intended audience of innovative people in less than ideal circumstances while also being of such a grand scope that it provides a framework in which to understand the sources of one's frustrations to better know which layer needs to be addressed in one's efforts to run the gauntlet of change management. This is no small achievement, and is worthy of great praise and respect, as well as wide adoption.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
June 10, 2021
As with "The Phoenix Project" this is an important business book. If I had to recommend just five books to anyone going into any form of work in business, this one would be on the list. Here's why:
1. You learn how to evaluate a given business environment against a well-laid-out set of constraints that the author has identified. 2. You can estimate the degree of impact of these constraints on the environment, to assist you with prioritizing which you'll address. This two-step process is absolutely critical when it comes to understanding why it is that an environment can consistently fail to innovate towards its challenges. It spoke to me directly as someone who's spent a great deal of time attempting to bring change to organizations, and as an auditor, and as an innovator. 3. You can then follow some of the steps outlined in the book to address them. In many cases you would use the steps provided as a starting point for your own creativity in dealing with the constraints.
Additionally, the author provides a concise description of how to run an innovation meeting. That is, not a "brainstorming" meeting, but a fully-fleshed-out process that results in consensus and action items.
In short, this is one of the most directly applicable books I've ever read.
1. You learn how to evaluate a given business environment against a well-laid-out set of constraints that the author has identified. 2. You can estimate the degree of impact of these constraints on the environment, to assist you with prioritizing which you'll address. This two-step process is absolutely critical when it comes to understanding why it is that an environment can consistently fail to innovate towards its challenges. It spoke to me directly as someone who's spent a great deal of time attempting to bring change to organizations, and as an auditor, and as an innovator. 3. You can then follow some of the steps outlined in the book to address them. In many cases you would use the steps provided as a starting point for your own creativity in dealing with the constraints.
Additionally, the author provides a concise description of how to run an innovation meeting. That is, not a "brainstorming" meeting, but a fully-fleshed-out process that results in consensus and action items.
In short, this is one of the most directly applicable books I've ever read.
November 28, 2023
This book was a required read for incoming Vanderbilt Students. The book was hard to get through for me because I was not interested in the topic. It was not a good choice for a campus reading. The book would be interesting if you were someone in the corporate world who struggles with creativity in your corporation. It is not a book for college students. It was really hard to get through as the stories were frankly just boring. This book is for you if you are interested in entrepreneurship and creativity in the work place.
March 22, 2018
Extremely interesting
A well written, informative and insightful book. The author takes a novel concept and expands it in ways which I had never considered before. The concepts in the book will aid you both professionally and in your personal life.
A well written, informative and insightful book. The author takes a novel concept and expands it in ways which I had never considered before. The concepts in the book will aid you both professionally and in your personal life.
March 28, 2019
Good if you’re aiming to invent something or start a business. Not what I was looking for.
July 9, 2022
3.5, pretty good but found most of it unrelatable, will reread when I get a real job
July 15, 2022
if i can rate it any lower i would. damn you required reading
only interesting part of the book is that i learned the origins of "running through the gauntlet"
only interesting part of the book is that i learned the origins of "running through the gauntlet"
December 30, 2022
This overly long book offers nothing new in the way of creativity, parroting innovation stories and methods that can be found elsewhere.
September 20, 2024
Business focused
October 12, 2014
Hmmm, challenging review. I'm up against the difference between rating an idea, and rating a book. The conceptual underpinning of Owens' work (a survey of many years' innovation management literature, and using that to build a model of six fundamental constraints to be overcome in innovative projects) is extremely valuable, useful, and thoughtful. As a framework and model I'd rate it as a "no brainer 5" and include it in my "must-understand" short list of management tools.
As a book around this basic idea, "Creative People..." is a little less remarkable and rewarding. The fundamental concept can be communicated fairly quickly. The deep dives into each class of constraint are a little too chewed-and-digested for my liking, leaving some of them to be trite and the overall collection of thoughts to be somewhat loosely organized and difficult to retain or translate to use. My personal taste would have been more of an actual "survey review" of the management literature in each of these categories (especially since Owens has done this in formulating his core model), leaving it up to the reader to connect the themes; the simplification for mass consumption takes a lot of the "oomph" out and makes for tepid reading.
If I could do half stars, I'd say 3.5, while still recommending that interested folks buy the book if only for the first couple of chapters.
As a book around this basic idea, "Creative People..." is a little less remarkable and rewarding. The fundamental concept can be communicated fairly quickly. The deep dives into each class of constraint are a little too chewed-and-digested for my liking, leaving some of them to be trite and the overall collection of thoughts to be somewhat loosely organized and difficult to retain or translate to use. My personal taste would have been more of an actual "survey review" of the management literature in each of these categories (especially since Owens has done this in formulating his core model), leaving it up to the reader to connect the themes; the simplification for mass consumption takes a lot of the "oomph" out and makes for tepid reading.
If I could do half stars, I'd say 3.5, while still recommending that interested folks buy the book if only for the first couple of chapters.
April 8, 2013
I was introduced to this book after taking a Coursera class offered by Dave Owens, which is actually based around this book - I skimmed the book really quickly, because I was already familiar with most of the concepts and anecdotes.
However, while I'm happy to have had it delivered to me via video lecture, I still think this book is a valuable tool for anyone working in an organization who wants to move forward. Many of the models and concepts are applicable in various markets - I work in a public library, and already have made waves simply by changing the processes when I recognize the constraints kicking in.
Anyone working in management should definitely give it a read - you'll be a more effective manager, and your higher ups will quickly recognize (if they aren't blind fools) that you have a smart approach.
It's not a 5-star book - there are still flaws to the models, and some things are more from a particular perspective instead of being hard fact. But it introduces great concepts, and illustrates them effectively.
However, while I'm happy to have had it delivered to me via video lecture, I still think this book is a valuable tool for anyone working in an organization who wants to move forward. Many of the models and concepts are applicable in various markets - I work in a public library, and already have made waves simply by changing the processes when I recognize the constraints kicking in.
Anyone working in management should definitely give it a read - you'll be a more effective manager, and your higher ups will quickly recognize (if they aren't blind fools) that you have a smart approach.
It's not a 5-star book - there are still flaws to the models, and some things are more from a particular perspective instead of being hard fact. But it introduces great concepts, and illustrates them effectively.
August 25, 2014
A simple, clear book about the innovation process. The concepts are exposed in a way that there's no technical focus on any area of innovation, exposing a real, agnostic framework that can be adopted and adapted for any business model or service line, being sales, marketing, project management or production. The key point of the book is to make you aware of the consequences of innovation and resistances to it, analyzing several ways to overcome these constraints. Owens' teachings were the basis for an innovation course I took at my company, then I signed up for his Leading Strategic Innovation in Organization course at Vanderbilt University.
August 26, 2014
Signed up for a free online course on coursera.org through Vanderbilt with Professor David Owens. The course I took was from "Strategic Innovation" by Vanderbilt.
Great book. Each week the lectures & reading material were focused on the 6 different constraints that we as innovators in our organization needs to go through to truly deliver. This book / course setup is very recommended if you have the 4-6 hours per week to go through both. If not, the book is a great introduction to the topic of strategic innovation.
One you take this course or read the materials, you will never recommend that someone who is looking to innovation starts by thinking outside the box.
Great book. Each week the lectures & reading material were focused on the 6 different constraints that we as innovators in our organization needs to go through to truly deliver. This book / course setup is very recommended if you have the 4-6 hours per week to go through both. If not, the book is a great introduction to the topic of strategic innovation.
One you take this course or read the materials, you will never recommend that someone who is looking to innovation starts by thinking outside the box.
August 2, 2012
Okay, I had read this book thinking it was from a psycho-social point of view. It's actually from a business point of view, so, I found the book to be half boring. The focus was on innovation of products to then go and sell to the public. However, there's still some significant psycho-social stuff there with regards to maintaining the status quo. How do you introduce something new that will still appeal to the common denominator? Also, is the status quo still here because it's "safe?" Not quite what I was looking for, but still had some good points.
November 7, 2011
Owens isn't necessarily teaching innovation here, he is teaching survival methods for ideas once they're born. A vital book for anyone who a) occasionally comes up with ideas and b) works with other people.
December 24, 2014
As part of a MOOC taught by David Owens that is a wonderful way to look at leadership and Strategic Innovation. Excellent. I was so impressed that I asked Professor Owens to come teach a class at my company.
January 9, 2016
Muy ilustrativo, es importante conocer las posibles restricciones que te puedes encontrar durante el proceso de innovar. Este libro las detalla de manera clara y te sugiere soluciones para sobreponerse.
Read
November 27, 2016Not rating this - was read for work purposes.
It was still interesting to see what the author thought limits creativity in various settings... though, when you read them, you find they're all just pretty obvious.
Anyway. Not a bad read.
It was still interesting to see what the author thought limits creativity in various settings... though, when you read them, you find they're all just pretty obvious.
Anyway. Not a bad read.
December 31, 2016
Though a good read by it self, this book is best read shortly before a new innovation attempt and then re-read during that process. There are several helpful items that can increase the creativity and, therefore, the effectiveness of the solution
August 13, 2016
Good but not earth-shattering. I think the constraint/assessment tools are the most valuable take-away.
November 10, 2014
So so.
Want to read
May 25, 2015tuebl
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