Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

IDEO founder and Stanford d. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative IDEO founder and Stanford d. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types.

In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers. Hardcover , pages.

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley

Published October 15th by Crown Business first published January 1st To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Creative Confidence , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Sep 23, Hanne rated it liked it Shelves: In a way, this book is about that difference. If you want to be creative, you have to play and experiment. It should not feel like 'Work', like something you have to succeed at.

Instead, give yourself the permission to fail. Yet, the opposite is actually true. Research has found that creative people simply do more experiments. There are many forms, but there's one thing that will always be true: I like how that comes back throughout the book. The chapter names are not buzz words, no fancy vocabulary, but they are action focused: There you go, all eight chapters.

This book is well written and easy to read. The authors have enormous passion for the subject, and you can tell. I did have to read this book twice though. Upon re-reading though I realized that I was wrong: One other criticism is that, on occasion, this book does sound like a long promotion booklet for IDEO and d.

I guess the authors are better marketeers than they think. Those names are branded into my brain after reading this book. Don't let that hold you back though, if you enjoy reading design and innovation books, it's well worth your time! This book has been provided from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are taken from the pre-published copy and may be altered or omitted from the final copy.

View all 3 comments. Jul 13, Ken rated it liked it Shelves: A bit of a disappointment, as much because of my expectations as the book itself. I was hoping "unleashing the creative potential within all of us" would have a lot more application to education than business but it was rather relentlessly corporate in its viewpoint. So in that respect it has a lot of case studies where this CEO and that company employee prove that thinking outside of the rhombus pays off.

Much of the material is familiar. Be willing to take chances. Carry paper f A bit of a disappointment, as much because of my expectations as the book itself. Carry paper for ideas. Do not fear failure, embrace it I find it too fat to get my arms around. Do not dismiss out of hand any idea. It wasn't until I got to a lonely back-of-the-book chapter, "Move: Here the Kelley Bros. Thus, some gold bits are plucked from the mud.

But, safe to say, it'll be a long time before I read another "how to" book on creativity. And if I do, I'll just make it up myself, checking off all the steps. Nov 09, Katie rated it really liked it. I liked this book! How could I not, it's exactly my kind of thing - design, education, problem-solving, creativity.

That sums up some of my favorite topics pretty neatly. I am between rating the book a 3 and a 4, because it was indeed inspiring and thought-provoking To give props where they are due - there are lots of great stories in this book. I mean, it's cool! The stories are cool. They are just very - "Let's talk about how awesome we are! Buuut, no matter how fantastic they are, I get pretty tired of people talking about themselves. The Kelleys revealed at the end of the book that the way they outlined the book was using a hub-and-spoke mindweb - and when they said it, I just thought "Ohhhh.

Now here are 5 stories or examples that vaguely demonstrate the importance of teams, and are otherwise largely unrelated to each other, and don't make a larger, persuasive point! Which was what I wanted, I guess. I had also hoped there would be more wisdom imparted. More practical advice on what to do, steps to take, things to try. A lot of the "lessons" that were concluded from the various narratives felt rather weak and contrived. Yeah, when you want to implant Creative Confidence in the culture of a company, you should get the approval of upper management?

That is sound advice indeed. There was a nice chapter at the end with a few simple creativity-inducing exercises to try, but I think I was looking more for a handbook of creativity, rather than a series of stories explaining the importance of creativity. Does that distinction make sense? It's true - while reading, I would read a few pages, then become inspired to jot down "creative" new ideas, then keep reading and jotting, reading and jotting. It provided fodder for my mind-mill that otherwise would have been fodder-less. It was definitely an interesting book!

It's just, I can't say it was particularly well-written or that it taught me anything that another book on creativity couldn't. Sorry, this is a pretty all-over-the-place review, but I wanted to record my thoughts before my mind got lost to other distractions. Overall, read it if you are interested in IDEO and the D-school, and are looking for general inspiration.

I'd maybe look elsewhere if you're looking for actionable advice on how to be more creative. Aug 29, Kevin rated it it was ok. A self help book that's really just a long recruitment brochure for the Stanford d. Apr 23, Tomas Ramanauskas rated it liked it Shelves: No unexpected findings, a few stories and a handful of excersises, it does exactly what it says on the cover. Good as a reminder of important points, quite average as a fresh outlook generator.

A few random takeaways: Much more useful and thought provoking than boasting about successes. Ask "why" after every answer.

The things that bug you are likely to spark an idea how to solve them. The book starts off on a great note emphasising how everyone can channelise their creativity in a productive manner. It also gives some guidelines and examples of how design thinking created some great solutions that are interesting to read. The only one downer was that most of these examples were from the Stanford d.

Mar 26, Devika rated it it was amazing Shelves: A book is good when it is well written and offers insight. But a book is amazing when it can actually make a difference to your life, to who you are as an individual. I would put this book in the latter category. I picked it up to get some background on a design thinking role I was hoping to apply for. Amidst these job applications, it's easy for anyone to feel jaded. I was in fact quite morose and skeptical of the value my higher education has created in my life. But the more I read this book, A book is good when it is well written and offers insight.

But the more I read this book, the more excited I felt about finding opportunities around me. The Kelley brothers write very simplistically and this is a quick read. They discuss many examples of the difference that design thinking has made to people's lives. One thing that stuck with me was the "curse of competence" that they mention. It is the idea that when you are academically smart, the excessive pragmatism of external influences pushes you in the generic directions most people take in life. For instance, if you're good at sciences then you should go into engineering or medicine.

But ever so often your heart will not be in it. Essentially, failure is not only good but a necessary stepping stone to success. This book has helped me in deriving a sense of comfort from failure so that I'll be less afraid to try new things. Historically, all innovators experienced multiple failures till they found their breakthrough. What continues to differentiate them from others is their ability to persevere during the failures- the simple fact that they did not stop trying. This book is also recommended by TED.

And now, even I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some inspiration. Jul 29, Kara rated it it was amazing Shelves: I loved this book. Although, in full disclosure, perhaps it was the context in which I read it. Second, I'm currently engrossed in a year-long leadership development program for work in which innovation is at the core. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic primer on the concept of design thinking and nurturing your creative self.

Everyo I loved this book.

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It is only as we go through life and gain a few battle scars read: This book outlines the concepts of design thinking and provides exercises to practice your creative thinking - all of which can be easily applied to life in general not just the work world. It is a quick easy read; however, I will warn you that it is definitely not devoid of the current corporate lexicon - the 3 i's - i.

Nov 01, Adib Hakim rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was highly inter-active. I found myself reflecting a lot about how I see problems and the opportunities it presents and immediately saw how powerful a different attitude to such processes could be. In addition, Creative Confidence brings tools that illustrates it's central premise of innovation very well, ultimately helping us on in applying the insights in our unique situations.

My wife has seen me reading this book really slowly, and out of curiosity she's asked to read it. I look forw This book was highly inter-active. I look forward to discussing the approaches in this book and eventually applying the concepts in our family building. Thank you Tom, David! Jun 20, Stephanie Sun rated it liked it Shelves: Design is the creative process of commercial entities, mainly. Thinking here is a mental posture.

Tom and David Kelley would be the first to tell you that names matter, and so by their own standards the whole enterprise se Nice birthday read. Tom and David Kelley would be the first to tell you that names matter, and so by their own standards the whole enterprise seems suspect. The phrase "Creative Confidence" doesn't do much for me either, but this is a book written in the wake of David Kelley's survival of a serious bout of cancer, and that backdrop, although only fleetingly discussed in this book, gives the discussion of unleashing everyone's inherent creativity including yours!

It's short, and they did a good job of picking stories from their long oeuvre to illustrate the principles they wanted to lay out. Aug 13, Khushboo rated it liked it Shelves: Totally bordering on self-help. Got really annoying after the fifth chapter. At one point, felt like throwing it away but kindle!! Became preachy and started feeling like a long advertisement for IDEO and d.

The practical activities suggested came as a relief in the seventh chapter. So I mostly skimmed through chapter 8 and 6 to be fair it's more relevant if you are in a leadership position in an organisation , but then for people who claim to focus on human-empathy, I don't see how they Totally bordering on self-help.

So I mostly skimmed through chapter 8 and 6 to be fair it's more relevant if you are in a leadership position in an organisation , but then for people who claim to focus on human-empathy, I don't see how they failed to see the average end-user desirability for this chapter. Currency; 1 edition October 15, Language: Start reading Creative Confidence on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Now Playing Book Trailer. Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. See all customer images.

Read reviews that mention creative confidence design thinking get started must read david and tom david kelley case studies tom kelley kelley brothers tom and david great book creative potential problem solving looking forward easy read human centered highly recommended school at stanford outside of the box ten faces.

Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. I just finished reading Creative Confidence, by David and Tom Kelly while on my last flight and figured, I should write a book review. The industrial designers out there are likely familiar with David and Tom Kelly, who are known for starting the near-legendary design firm IDEO as well as the Stanford D. David and Tom Kelly are brothers as well as respected authorities and advocates of design and innovation.

Creative Confidence is all about exposing the creative potential within all of us.

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This book first establishes why and how we all have creativity within and then explains what can happen when that creativity is harnessed and utilized. The authors then explain how to tap into our creativity and share exercises to train our creative muscles. This book is not written for or to designers, rather to anyone who is employed and wishes to solve meaningful problems with break-through discoveries as a result of creative confidence.

Amount of Content At pages, this book is neither short nor long. The book is broken into 8 chapters, each of which dives into either a different aspect of creative confidence or a different setting or implementation of creative confidence. There are a few illustrations and some artwork on new chapter pages, but the book is primarily all written copy. I will say that I perceive the value of this book to be pretty high. This books is more about big ideas and concepts and the large impacts these ideas have on those who implement them.

For example, there are many instances when talented but unfulfilled people found tremendous success and purpose after making drastic career changes thanks to their experiences with finding their creative confidence. There is evidence to support that when a creative and innovative, collaborative approach to problem-solving is set into motion, great things happen in businesses both large and small. David and Tom give plenty of examples in which this happened. For those who are familiar with many concepts in this book, the anecdotes and examples are great reminders of what happens when we designers practice what we preach.

Furthermore, the success stories highlighted throughout are pretty monumental. To read about real-world results of what IDEO founders believe and teach is a unique piece of insight many designers hunger for. And to those not labeled as a creative professional, I think the ideas in Creative Confidence are big, yet simple enough to grasp to be impactful. There were plenty of principals I was previously familiar with thanks to my formal industrial design education. This book serves as a good reminder and brought me back to thinking about innovation and creativity on a rudimentary level.



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Entertainment Unfortunately, this is where Creative Confidence scored the lowest for me. In this case, it means I felt neutral about it. The longer it takes me to read a book, the higher it scores in this category.



This book is a pretty quick read. I did however put it down for a couple of weeks. I blame the break on it not being as entertaining as it could have been. However, when I did pick it back up, I read large chunks of it quite quickly. I estimate my total time reading this book to be around 6 or 7 hours maximum. This is due to the concrete and simple stories supplied by the authors that prove the power of unleashing and harnessing creative confidence.

I felt inspired to examine and write about numerous ideas as they struck me during my reading of Creative Confidence. The authors are no-nonsense creatives who understand the psychology of collaboration and groups in a professional environment and make the benefits of having creative confidence clear.

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

A student in any design discipline or young professional will likely feel inspired to challenge the status quo and workplace conventions after reading this book. Anyone in a managerial role will likely find a nugget or two of useful approaches to the challenges they regularly face. The Verdict Buy and read it. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. David Kelley, who co-wrote 'Creative Confidence' with his brother Tom, had worked with, and was a close friend of the late Steve Jobs. In the book, we learn that, "Steve had a deep sense of creative confidence. He believed -- he knew -- that you can achieve audacious goals if you have the courage and perseverance to pursue them.

We can all achieve "audacious goals," just like Steve did, or at least to believe in our own ability to change our world in some way. It's explained that we came into the world with creativity and fearlessness, but as time passes we encounter others who shake our confidence by saying we're not creative, including schools where we learn to think too constructively -- that there can only be one right answer. So, we unlearn creativity and lose our confidence, fearful of what others might think. The book inspires us with examples of people who were overly analytical: Even companies that suffered from inertia; bogged down with data and decisions by committee.

But by unleashing their creativity, they have learned to conjure up and consider a myriad of solutions to problems, no matter how absurd, and to learn by doing. There's also an emphasis on empathy and human-centered design. How important it is to observe customers and end-users when designing solutions and products instead of burying heads into spreadsheets and dreaming up things we think will work. The authors share the experiences of many students who've attended their d.

It's a fast-paced, team-based learning environment where students, young and old, and from diverse backgrounds, are asked to find human-centered solutions. A popular project is figuring out how the experience of a daily train commute from San Francisco to Palo Alto can be improved for passengers, from waiting on the platform to disembarking at their destination.

The book not only focuses on inspiring individuals to build their creative confidence, but also delves into the importance of working in teams and provides case studies where entire companies have embraced creative confidence to improve the experience of workers and customers.

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Written in a friendly conversational tone and filled with real human stories and experiences, 'Creative Confidence' was a pleasure to read, and having finished it, I've realized I've highlighted so many passages to read again. Whenever IDEO publishes a book or some other sort of media, it is important to take attention. IDEO is one of the companies spearheading the revolution to change traditional business models by focusing on human-centered design.