In this exciting new contribution to the study of creativity, psychologist, artist, and writer Dr. Patricia Stokes delves into the minds of famous creative artists and discovers the surprising source leading to their creative breakthroughs. From Picasso to Stravinsky, Kundera and Chanel to Frank Lloyd Wright, it is not boundary-less creative freedom that inspires new ideas, but self-imposed, well-considered constraints. Monet forced himself to repeatedly paint the way light broke on, between, and around his subjects, contrasting color instead of light and dark, and softening edges in the process. His constraints catapulted the art world from representational to impressionist art. Whatever your creative field--be you an artist, educator, or psychologist who studies creativity and problem solving--Stokes shows you how to think clearly about your creative development and design the vital constraints that will take you to breakthrough.

Interviews with 21 prominent feature film editors highlight this long-overdue look at the role of film editors, the importance of their work, and the nature of their craft. Organized to provide historical continuity and to trace professional collaborations among the subjects, Selected Takes features editors whose credits include such diverse films as Ben Hur, The French Connection, The Godfather, and E.T. Each chapter includes a brief introduction to the artist, background information, a filmography of feature-length works, and personal recollections of specific films, producers, and directors, as well as helpful comments on editing techniques. A glossary of terms commonly used in film editing and pertinent references found in the interviews complement the work. Film students, scholars, and educators, as well as film industry professionals and moviegoers, will find Selected Takes both entertaining and instructive.

This book was written to assist professionals and students to become proactive in their own education, improve thinking, resolve personal and interpersonal conflicts, improve pedagogy, manage departmental affairs and guide administrative decisions. The text captures the practical experience of the authors with and formal training in TOC to address many of the issues facing today’s education stakeholders. The text is designed to teach methods for 1) "win-win" conflict resolution, 2) decision-making, 3) problem solving, and 4) analysis of systems using TOC’s powerful logic-based graphical Thinking Process tools. A creative thinker can identify, plan and achieve his or her goals just knowing the Thinking Process Tools.

This book presents a new theoretical model, constraint theory, for how to study creativity using scientific methods and clarifying concepts.

All creative work operates under constraints. Yet, despite an overall increase in attention over the past decade, the matter of constraints has received much less attention than has creativity, in general. This book represents an effort by the editors to integrate diverse perspectives on constraints in creativity from 22 researchers, who aim to define constraints, uncover their structure, delineate the conditions under which they facilitate or inhibit creativity, and outline how an understanding of the role of constraints in creative thinking can inform our understanding of the nature of creativity itself. Constraints in Creativity provides educators, managers, creativity researchers, and anyone looking to improve their own creative skills with theoretical and practical insights into the role of constraints in the creative process. Contributors are: Don Ambrose, John Baer, Paul Joseph Barnett, Michael Mose Biskjaer, Nathalie Bonnardel, Anthony Chemero, Peter Dalsgaard, Vlad Glăveanu, Armand Hatchuel, James C. Kaufman, Agnès Lellouche-Gounon, Pascal Le Masson, Kelsey E. Medeiros, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Eric Rietzschel, Wendy Ross, Diana Rus, Dean Keith Simonton, Robert J. Sternberg, Patricia D. Stokes, Catrinel Tromp and Benoit Weil.

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 innovation: 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. The author's research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian and San Jose Mercury News, as well as on Fox News and on NPR's Marketplace Includes illustrative examples from leading organizations Offers a practical guide for bringing new ideas to fruition even within a previously rigid organizational culture This book gives people in organizations the conceptual framework and practical information they need to innovate successfully.

IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.