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Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs
How to solve critical business challenges by generating more and better ideas
Every organization needs a steady supply of fresh, relevant ideas, but managers can?t just lock teams in a room with a mandate to brainstorm and hope for the best. Ideation is both a science and an art, and when group ideation processes are well-designed and well-facilitated, anyone can generate an abundance of creative, implementable options?not to mention true breakthroughs?for any business need. Drawing on his work leading high-stakes ideation sessions at over 300 organizations, Mattimore explains the how, what, and why of successful ideation and provides a framework for when and how to apply various techniques.
With a diverse range of tested methods, Idea Stormers is the indispensable guide for developing original, practical solutions to even the most intractable-seeming creative challenges.
Every organization needs a steady supply of fresh, relevant ideas, but managers can?t just lock teams in a room with a mandate to brainstorm and hope for the best. Ideation is both a science and an art, and when group ideation processes are well-designed and well-facilitated, anyone can generate an abundance of creative, implementable options?not to mention true breakthroughs?for any business need. Drawing on his work leading high-stakes ideation sessions at over 300 organizations, Mattimore explains the how, what, and why of successful ideation and provides a framework for when and how to apply various techniques.
With a diverse range of tested methods, Idea Stormers is the indispensable guide for developing original, practical solutions to even the most intractable-seeming creative challenges.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2012
14 people are currently reading
683 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Mattimore
20 books21 followersBryan Mattimore is president and co-founder of The Growth Engine Company, LLC, an innovation agency based in Norwalk, Connecticut. In the last 25 years, Bryan has facilitated over 1000 brainstorming sessions, moderated over 500 creative focus groups, and managed over 200 successful innovation projects for a wide variety of Fortune 500 clients. He is the inventor of the creativity training game, Bright Ideas.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 11, 2018
Unbelievably bad. Some of his marketing ideas are, and I'm serious:
- Rain perfume from an airplane (seems realistic)
- Take movie titles and famous quotes on the internet and make puns of them (so creative)
- Literally rip off other promotions with your own "spin" (just enough to avoid being sued, obviously)
- Sell a Ford Focus by having a bunch of hot girls come out of it followed by one fat man (because SEX SELLS RIGHT?)
His strategy for designing a billboard (I'm paraphrasing) boils down to:
1. come up with ideas for what you want to communicate
2. pick the best one
3. design a billboard that fits it
4. make a strong call-to-action
Un. Believably. Bad.
- Rain perfume from an airplane (seems realistic)
- Take movie titles and famous quotes on the internet and make puns of them (so creative)
- Literally rip off other promotions with your own "spin" (just enough to avoid being sued, obviously)
- Sell a Ford Focus by having a bunch of hot girls come out of it followed by one fat man (because SEX SELLS RIGHT?)
His strategy for designing a billboard (I'm paraphrasing) boils down to:
1. come up with ideas for what you want to communicate
2. pick the best one
3. design a billboard that fits it
4. make a strong call-to-action
Un. Believably. Bad.
July 14, 2017
I've met Bryan personally and found him to be gracious and considerate. He mentioned his book and encouraged me to read it. It is a great manual for people in the space to get some ideas to draw more out of our internal and external customers. The book wins for me on that alone (5-6 things I would do tomorrow in a creativity exercise).
But it's also helpful to see how a specialist approaches the exercises. While we can all learn to be creative and/or learn to facilitate our own sessions, it is good to "know" a person who does it for a living in the event our company might have a need - for the big stuff, bring in a pro, learn from them and their collective experience.
But it's also helpful to see how a specialist approaches the exercises. While we can all learn to be creative and/or learn to facilitate our own sessions, it is good to "know" a person who does it for a living in the event our company might have a need - for the big stuff, bring in a pro, learn from them and their collective experience.
December 26, 2022
A really good read on the art and discipline of turning ideas into profit. The author says brainstorming must be organised. There were plenty of practical real-life examples.
February 4, 2013
I'm a fan of Bryan Mattimore, but the reviews that gush praise on him like he's the second coming are a bit overdone. He has delivered a good book with practical advice that will be useful to facilitators and for groups trying to generate some creative momentum out of thin air.
In terms of criticism, I honestly have to stretch just a little bit:
1. I thought the description of the techniques and tips for facilitators were quite good. I didn't get a strong sense of a unifying theory though. So, the organizing framework could be just a bit stronger.
2. The jacket artwork, title, and endorsements oversell the contents of the book. In all fairness, Mattimore delivers a very good and practical book. I just don't think anyone could live up to the idea that one 230 page book can save the world.
I would recommend the book to anyone with a realistic idea of what can be accomplished in one book about creativity. If you believe the hype, then you may be a bit disappointed. However, if you purchase this book with the realistic expectation of picking up several good ideas, techniques, and facilitation tips then you will be pleased with the contents of Idea Stormers.
In terms of criticism, I honestly have to stretch just a little bit:
1. I thought the description of the techniques and tips for facilitators were quite good. I didn't get a strong sense of a unifying theory though. So, the organizing framework could be just a bit stronger.
2. The jacket artwork, title, and endorsements oversell the contents of the book. In all fairness, Mattimore delivers a very good and practical book. I just don't think anyone could live up to the idea that one 230 page book can save the world.
I would recommend the book to anyone with a realistic idea of what can be accomplished in one book about creativity. If you believe the hype, then you may be a bit disappointed. However, if you purchase this book with the realistic expectation of picking up several good ideas, techniques, and facilitation tips then you will be pleased with the contents of Idea Stormers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews