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Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration
Embracing the Counterintuitive Side of Collaboration
Think of your to-do list at work. Chances are the most important tasks require you to work with others—and the success of those endeavors depends on the effectiveness of your collaboration.
According to management expert Leigh Thompson, collaboration that is conscious, planned, and focused on generating new ideas builds excitement and produces what she calls a “creative conspiracy.” Teams that conspire to organize themselves, motivate one another, and combine their talents to meet creative challenges are the hallmark of the most successful organizations.
In this book, Thompson reveals the keys to the kind of collaboration that allows teams to reach their full creative potential and maximize their results. She also reveals a host of surprising findings; for
• Left to their own devices, teams are less creative than individuals
• Providing “rules” to teams actually increases inventiveness
• Striving for quality results in less creativity than striving for quantity
• Fluctuating membership enhances a team’s innovation
• Most leaders cannot articulate the four basic rules of brainstorming
Thompson combines broad-ranging research with real-life examples to offer strategies and practices designed to help teams and their leaders capitalize on what actually works when it comes to creative collaboration. Creative Conspiracy challenges managers to adopt an unconventional approach to leading teams that, done right, will lead to the creative success of every team—and every organization.
Think of your to-do list at work. Chances are the most important tasks require you to work with others—and the success of those endeavors depends on the effectiveness of your collaboration.
According to management expert Leigh Thompson, collaboration that is conscious, planned, and focused on generating new ideas builds excitement and produces what she calls a “creative conspiracy.” Teams that conspire to organize themselves, motivate one another, and combine their talents to meet creative challenges are the hallmark of the most successful organizations.
In this book, Thompson reveals the keys to the kind of collaboration that allows teams to reach their full creative potential and maximize their results. She also reveals a host of surprising findings; for
• Left to their own devices, teams are less creative than individuals
• Providing “rules” to teams actually increases inventiveness
• Striving for quality results in less creativity than striving for quantity
• Fluctuating membership enhances a team’s innovation
• Most leaders cannot articulate the four basic rules of brainstorming
Thompson combines broad-ranging research with real-life examples to offer strategies and practices designed to help teams and their leaders capitalize on what actually works when it comes to creative collaboration. Creative Conspiracy challenges managers to adopt an unconventional approach to leading teams that, done right, will lead to the creative success of every team—and every organization.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
29 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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October 27, 2025no rating - i read this for school ✨
July 4, 2013
Excellent book on brainstorming and team. It completely destroys most of our experiences with brainstorming and gives really practical tools to help get the best ideas and engage a team of people. A couple really helpful insights:
1. Whatever size you think the team needs to be -- cut that number in half! We tend to have too many people in the room.
2. Only have the people in the room who need to be in the room!
3. We get the best ideas when we have a LOT of ideas. Most leaders stifle ideas -- she tells you how we do this and . . . she's right.
4. Have people share their ideas in writing rather than verbally.
Again, this book if filled with practical ideas and insights. If you lead a team, this is must read.
1. Whatever size you think the team needs to be -- cut that number in half! We tend to have too many people in the room.
2. Only have the people in the room who need to be in the room!
3. We get the best ideas when we have a LOT of ideas. Most leaders stifle ideas -- she tells you how we do this and . . . she's right.
4. Have people share their ideas in writing rather than verbally.
Again, this book if filled with practical ideas and insights. If you lead a team, this is must read.
August 29, 2022
I had high hopes for this one, but was sorely disappointed. While there are definitely some good nuggets in there, there's a whole lot of crap to wade through in order to get at those. It seems like Thompson is just throwing any and all research studies and personal examples that agree with her point onto the page, while avoiding any contradicting examples and evidence. Additionally, I found a lot of her examples took a bit of a stretch to relate to her points. Overall, while there is some content in this book that is good for thought, there are much better books on creativity out there.
August 16, 2019
This book is useful for team meeting. Evidence-based research were mentioned all the time which is very good.
I recommend this book for those who want to manage creative teamwork.
I recommend this book for those who want to manage creative teamwork.
February 29, 2020
It has a lot of advice and processes that I’ll use. The delivery was boring. I’ll use it as a reference tool.
September 22, 2017
I had high hopes for this book based on the description and subject, but the farther I got into it, the more it let me down. The topic is interesting and intriguing, but I have concluded that the entire premise is based on academic research and lacks real-life experience on the part of the writer. What led me to this conclusion was both her idealized ideas of how real teams work and also her academic frame of reference when it comes to business in general. For example, throughout the book she constructs scenarios to illustrate concepts that she is talking about. Without exception, these scenarios revolve around activities that are completely foreign to anyone who has not attended graduate school.
That aside, I also felt that she failed to define exactly what the "creative conspiracy" was up front and I was left to piece it together based on the various topics she discussed and examples she gave. In the end, I was left with the impression that I almost learned something interesting...but not quite.
That aside, I also felt that she failed to define exactly what the "creative conspiracy" was up front and I was left to piece it together based on the various topics she discussed and examples she gave. In the end, I was left with the impression that I almost learned something interesting...but not quite.
September 8, 2013
Good stuff. Lots of information and ideas for breaking out...
August 10, 2016
Good book if you are looking to increase collaborations and creativity on your team. Lots of concrete tips which can quickly be applied to get results.
May 5, 2015
Main point is that groups are less creative then individuals. After you learn that I didn't see any other useful information rising out of this so stopped reading after a few chapters.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews