Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity

by Josh Linkner

A 5-part process that will transform your organization -- or your career -- into a non-stop creativity juggernaut We live in an era when business cycles are measured in months, not years. The only way to sustain long term innovation and growth is through creativity-at all levels of an organization. Disciplined Dreaming shows you how to create profitable new ideas, empower all your employees to be creative, and sustain your competitive advantage over the long term. Linkner distills his years of experience in business and jazz -- as well as hundreds of interviews with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and artists -- into a 5-step process that will make creativity easy for you and your organization. The methodology is simple, backed by proven results.


Empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to meet creative challenges posed by the marketplace Turns the mystery of creativity into a simple-to-use process Shows how creativity can be used for everything from innovative, game-shifting breakthroughs to incremental advances and daily improvements to business processes Offers dozens of practical exercises, thought-starters, workouts to grow "creative muscles," and case studies Disciplined Dreaming shows even the stuffiest corporate bureaucracies how to cultivate creativity in order to become more competitive in today's shifting marketplace.

- #4 New York Times Best Seller (Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous)

- #8 New York Times Best Seller (Hardcover Business)

- #2 Wall Street Journal Best Seller (Hardcover Business)

- #9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction)

- #9 Washington Post Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction)

- #1 USA Today Best Seller (Money)

- #10 Entertainment Weekly Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction)

- #10 Publishers Weekly Bestseller (Hardcover Nonfiction)

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology, Leadership, Productivity, Personal Development, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 13, 2011

About the author

To Josh Linkner, creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of all human progress, and as such, he's spent his career harnessing the spirit of creative disruption. His journey has been non-traditional at every step: he's been a professional jazz guitarist, 4-time tech entrepreneur, hyper-growth CEO, New York Times bestselling author, venture capitalist, and urban reinventor. Today, Linkner leads Detroit Venture Partners, helping to rebuild his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, by backing passionate entrepreneurs who can make an impact through their own innovative ideas. He is also a thought leader and top-rated keynote speaker on innovation, creativity, and reinvention. Linkner has written two books- Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity and The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation. He's on a mission to drive creativity, innovation, and reinvention. And yes, he still plays a mean jazz guitar. For more information, visit JoshLinkner.com.

Reviews

[Emma Sea · Rating 2 out of 5]

very surprising, in that there was nothing new to me in here. What's with all the hype around this book? This is a collection of the same old ideas for brainstorming and focus-shifting that have been around since . . . forever, padded with Linkner telling us a bunch of times, "My system will change your life!" A big let down.

[Taka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh--

The book does give some useful tips for allowing creativity to happen, but there's nothing really new or surprising in here. Maybe a few grunt-inducing points, and that's it.

It almost feels as though the author compiled everything he heard and regurgitated it. The effect is you'll probably put this book down (or finish listening) feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of tips. Though the author bills this as a "system," it's important to realize that "systems" and "processes" are very much left-brain lingo, and I kept wondering if boxing creativity in "a proven system" is an effective frame to look at it. In other words, can we impose order where there's none?

Yes, some tips might help the probability of creative thoughts happening, but to call the hodgepodge of ideas a "system" is very much misleading.

Some good stuff, but offset by information overload = meh.

[Mariam Mord'Sith]

Great ideas on how to master the art of innovation and focus on culture, processes and thinking to create a dynamic platform to achieve.

[Garland Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book 2.5 months ago and am just getting to the place of evaluating it, so my insights might not be the freshest!

Here is the strengths of the boo:
1. It provides a system for thinking creatively. The premise of the book (which I fully agree with) is that if we have a system for creativity then we don't have to think creatively about how to be creative. So often truly creative people fail to move out of the realm of ideas and into the realm of making their ideas happen. This book provides a 5 stage process for moving from initial ideas to final product.
2. The book provides hundreds of practical ideas in each of the stages. These are ideas to help a team or person engage that stage more fully to be as creative as possible. Some of these ideas are golden!

Here is the weakness of the book:
The book provides hundreds of practical ideas in each of the stages. Yes, that's right. The strength is the weakness. I read so many ideas that I (a) felt like I was reading one for those cheesy books on 101 Games to Get Teams Working Together. It got old quickly. And (b) after 3-4 ideas they all started running together so that I didn't gain a lot of new insight.

Now that I know this weakness, I'll go back through the book to better understand the stages and how to help my team and myself think more creatively through each stage.

[Rebecca Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great book. It has tons of ideas to spark creativity in the office and exlplore ideas. It also addresses how the loudest person can overtake a brainstorming session and gives ideas on how to hold sessions so that everyone is encouraged to participate and take part in the discussion without one idea dominating and crippling further ideas from emerging. Some of my favorite things! p. 108- Issue an "outrageous" idea contest. See who comes up with the most outrageous or stupid idea. Encourages failure. p. 25- The ability to think of a common idea in an uncommon way. -Randall Dunn, head of Roeper School. p. 41- "in the longrun, men hit only what the aim at." -Henry David Thoreau p. 56 Name that ship activity. p.57 Identify a problem and spend 10 minutes a day writing questions. p. 66 5 Why's p. 76- Find the Fix ups. Take 5 minutes and write down everything you see in the room that needs to be fixed or could use some touch up. p. 84-85 Field trip, improv, draw your neighbor, magazine pic and tell a story about it. p.88- You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. - Albert Einstein p. 98- You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation. -Plato Need to get out of a rut or tackle a huge project? This book is your guide!

[Claire Binkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad J. Linkner has propelled me to "get off my dink and think" as one of my most sage life instructors has compelled me to attempt. Linkner uses a jazz musician's background to get his business-related points across (these methods are to move businesses to the next level), but it very easily correlates to what a classical musician wants and needs to do to get life accomplished better. I think these tenets are also good for creating anything beautiful, which is the word that the therapist put in scarequotes that I claimed I wanted to make my behaviour more resemble.

(I now sketch about as much as I had my junior year of high school, which was my maximum point! Maybe a little less...)

So I am so fond of this book since it actually made me act rather than just sit around meditating, which is a very useful art and science, but it can only go so far.

[Jason Riemens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this book 4 days ago and I am applying nothing from its content, nor does anything applicable readily come to mind. This is an immediate fail. The book was self-indulgent speculation with a few widely known research-based facts half-heartedly tossed in - to make it seem worthwhile. It wasn't.

In fact, it was somewhat tortuous listening to it. The author uses jazz analogy to an extent that becomes unbearable and destructive to anything that may have been useful. Not recommended. Jason Riemens

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Josh Linkner spends so much time telling you what his "proven system" is going to do for you, but spends little time actually describing his system. The gist of it all is that creativity and innovation are necessities to be successful in business. One way to generate creativity is to put limitations on the project to give the mind space to come up with interesting solutions. I found the book to be mostly derivative

[Avolyn Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book as a long drawn out version of everything I learned in my Advertising class. But in a much more extended version. I felt like we were beating the creative brief to death.

[Peter LeJeune · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide on developing and expanding your approach to creativity!

Josh Linkner argues that we are in an age where out ability to be creative while also stuck in an age where we need our creativity the most. This book gives us the means to expand your creativity to better expand that well to better face those demands of our creativity. He goes through a collected and discreet framework to approach those facing creativity. He then goes through some very useful tools, exercises and methods to approach a challenge.

If you want to expand your creativity, I strongly recommend reading this book, it will change your life!

[Helfren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focus on who we are instead of what we do. The book focuses on how we can be more of ourselves instead of becoming someone we are not. Overall the book offers a very different angle on how we mortals can create success from a different kind of hallmark.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was ok. It read like an essay - a very long essay. Some helpful tips and he used plenty of examples to describe each step. It’s a quick read and if anyone needs step by step instructions on implementing creative ideas I could see it being helpful.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas for innovation.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been trying to determine my next career move for quite some time now, so picked this up in the hopes it could help me.

As a disclaimer, it's been almost a month since I read this. I'm usually so good about getting things down on here right away, but I've been slacking. :)

With that being said - I'll do my best to review this properly.

Written by Josh Linkner - the founder of ePrize in Michigan (which I didn't know) - the book gives helpful tips on how you can become more creative in your everyday life. Geared mainly toward those in management positions (in regards to how to get your employees to be more creative), it offers helpful tips and ideas that you can put forward.

Unfortunately, I currently do not recall what those tips are.

I do, however, remember the story he told about the meatloaf and also about the "bonus" he gave his employees. The meatloaf story was a great representation about why we do things a certain way - a lot of times we don't really know why, we just follow along and continue to do it the way we always have. Until we actually stop and ask others why it's done this way, and continue to ask why until we get to the answer, the root cause of it will never be known. I see this occur every day at work. Without a reason, people will do something a certain way just because that's "how it's always been done". I recently attended a lean training session and realized what Mr. Linkner was getting to - to find the issue about something, to be able to make a change for the better, you have to ask why. Without knowing, you're going blindly and can never reach your full potential.

As for the "bonus" - he kidnapped all his employees one day and took them to Best Buy, where each was given a $200 certificate to buy whatever they wanted that day and that moment only. He says that future years may not have allowed for a bonus as big as that, but his employees still fondly remember that day and how appreciated they felt by that one action. If you're a manager or supervisor, do you routinely tell or show your employees how you feel? I know that I don't always feel very appreciated at my job and my performance suffers because of it - why should I make an effort to do my very best if it's not going to be acknowledged in some way? I don't anticipate monetary awards, but even a simple recognition of my efforts to others would be HUGE!

It's an easy read with some common sense and new insights. I recommend it to anyone who's wanting to shake things up a bit.

[Rusty Fulling]

July 2011 - Excellent read for sparking creativity within the workplace.

A 5-part process that will transform your organization — or your career — into a non-stop creativity juggernaut
We live in an era when business cycles are measured in months, not years. The only way to sustain long term innovation and growth is through creativity-at all levels of an organization. Disciplined Dreaming shows you how to create profitable new ideas, empower all your employees to be creative, and sustain your competitive advantage over the long term. Linkner distills his years of experience in business and jazz — as well as hundreds of interviews with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and artists — into a 5-step process that will make creativity easy for you and your organization. The methodology is simple, backed by proven results.

Empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to meet creative challenges posed by the marketplace
Turns the mystery of creativity into a simple-to-use process
Shows how creativity can be used for everything from innovative, game-shifting breakthroughs to incremental advances and daily improvements to business processes
Offers dozens of practical exercises, thought-starters, workouts to grow "creative muscles," and case studies
Disciplined Dreaming shows even the stuffiest corporate bureaucracies how to cultivate creativity in order to become more competitive in today's shifting marketplace.

[Richerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was advertised as a "system to drive breakthrough creativity" but the book was just a bunch of tips and tricks that the author has learned over the years, nothing really breakthrough.

I know its usually good to draw from your own experiences and and convey those experiences though storytelling, but in Disciplined Dreaming i felt like a lot of it was a sales pitch for why ePrize was so great. The references to jazz music also started to drag on and found a way to seep its way into every chapter, and also the interviews were way to generic and felt like they weren't focused. And in some cases the facts were just wrong (having previously read stories from some of the interviewees)

The book did have its good points though, but I didn't learn anything extraordinary about being creative while reading. The reality is that most of this book could have been boiled down to a blog on creativity with a big list of ways to brainstorm and generate ideas.

[Scott Lupo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book that makes a strong case for creativity in the workplace. More than that, creativity will be the most sought out competency in potential candidates. Linkner does a great job of giving the reader a path to creativity by breaking it down into steps. Naturally, just following the steps isn't going to get you there necessarily but it is a great way to start. Especially for those workplaces where creativity is seriously depleted or nonexistent. The book is chock full of great ideas and exercises to get teams to start thinking and acting creatively. And creativity isn't the end of the road either. Beginning to create a creative culture in the workplace adds so much more like teamwork, camaraderie, flexibility, emotional intelligence, active listening skills, collaboration, and openess just to name a few. And that's the "stuff" that makes organizations innovative and competitive in today's market.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is the problem. This book is for business people in a business environment, its not for a person trying to write their next big hit. Second thing is that you have to actually DO the things in the book over and over and tweak them over and over until they are yours. You can not read it and say "i'm now creative." I used the techniques at work with my team and it worked. We didn't come up with the next "post-it notes" or a cure for AIDS, but we all had renewed energy to evaluate our own creative limitations and try a more structured approach to generating new ideas. Bottom line is it can and does work, but you have to invest your self in it. If you are ready to break new creative ground and can't get yourself organized and focused, the book's techniques will help. If your career is in a rut and you are getting no closer to getting out of it, this will not help.

[Sunbeam86 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I'm a creative person who struggles with discipline and productivity. The title is definitely a misnomer. I thought this book would help me break through creative blocks. But no. This book was unfortunately geared towards companies trying to encourage their employees to be more creative. And the author seems to use his own company as a shining example of why his method works (waaaaay too many times- one company's success doesn't provide ample evidence that his strategies work). It seems like its intended for people who consider themselves "not creative" and want to apply a very structured method to make themselves more creative (oof the irony). Sadly, this book was not what I was looking for.

[William Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great guide on developing and expanding your approach to creativity!

Josh Linkner argues that we are in an age where out ability to be creative while also stuck in an age where we need our creativity the most. This book gives us the means to expand your creativity to better expand that well to better face those demands of our creativity. He goes through a collected and discreet framework to approach those facing creativity. He then goes through some very useful tools, exercises and methods to approach a challenge.

If you want to expand your creativity, I strongly recommend reading this book, it will change your life!

[Neil Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

After getting past the boring, oft told stories regarding the brilliance of Zappos, what really struck me reading this book was the emphasis on the importance of cultural symbolism in a corporate environment. Culture is often given lip service but is rarely seen in pragmatic displays of any meaning. Countries have visible cultural symbols and traditions that remind us who we are. Businesses need the same reinforcement on a regular basis. Corporate culture needs conscious development that goes beyond a vague reference to ambiguous values from time to time.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard Josh Linkner at the 2014 ITSMF in Nashville. Energetic story teller with a topic not written about a lot. How to get people to think creatively. He recognized sometimes people will yield to the louder voice, that the box is hard to think outside of and that in numbers there is a golden nugget idea. Well written and easy to go pick tools from depending on your situation this was well worth reading. Certainly recommend it if you are trying to pull the sum of goodness from a group to move them or their cause forward.

[Keo84 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kitabı alacak olan okuyucuları çok etkilemek istemem ama kitap bana çok sıkıcı geldi. Yarım bırakmak huyum olmadığından bir an önce bitsin diye dua ettim. Feyz alabileceğiniz bir kaç yaşanmış örnek olay dışında kitap bana hiç bir şey katmadı desem yalan olmaz. İş dünyasına yönelik çeviri kitapların çoğu maalesef bize pek hitap etmemektedir.( İstisnalar mutlaka olabilir.). Elimdeki çeviri kitapları bitirdikten sonra yerli kitaplara yönelmeyi düşünüyorum. Önerisi olan arkadaşlarım var ise yorum yaparlarsa çok sevinirim.
Saygılarımla,

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great ideas for helping individuals and businesses find their creative spark. It dispelled the myth that accountants and analytic types are unable to be creative - I liked that part. The author lays out a framework that provides some structure while not dampening the atmosphere that creativity needs to thrive. I enjoyed many of the ideas presented and even took some of the suggested steps to becoming more creative in everyday situations.

[Jim Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cook book. If you need a recipe for developing creativity, then here is your answer. That's why the first word in the title is "Disciplined." The author, who happens to be the founder and chairman of ePRIZE, produced the book as a guide to developing creativity. There is just too much order and discipline for my tastes, but that doesn't take anything away from the value of the book for those who don't naturally tend toward too much abstract-random creativity already.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book for its step by step approach to how to come up with creative ideas. I did skim through some of the examples as I was familiar with some of the ideas. I think this would be a good book to own and refer to when solving problems. The methods were doable and I appreciate the how to approach instead of just being all theory.

The author is speaking at a conference I'm attending later this year and I look forward to that presentation.

[Jared Tipton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Disciplined Dreaming. After hearing Josh Linkner speak I knew I had to read this book. There is simply not enough focus on fostering creativity today — in any discipline. And the terrific ideas for applying a process to creative brainstorming apply to everyone, no matter what you do. Creativity is the backbone of everything wonderful in life, so it's appropriate to finally have a book that shines the light on what many in the business world find mysterious and intangible. A great read.

[Kathy Nealen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book compares the process of creative thinking to the process of improvisation in jazz music and provides a framework to generate creativity. It has a surprising variety of individual and group activities to stimulate creative thinking. Favorite quote: "Curiousity is the most powerful thing you own." James Cameron

[Jen Jenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was up and down on the engaging level. I found it hard to stay focused for long periods. It was much more engaging the second half of the book! I did like the relations made to music. It had some interesting concepts and practical application. The strategic planning angle was very interesting.

[Andrew Ingkavet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting only towards the end. A rehash of a lot of ideas found elsewhere, though I resonated with the fact he's a musician and consciously applying jazz improvisation techniques to business and marketing.