Creativity Unlimited: Thinking Inside the Box for Business Innovation

Flying in the face of current thinking, this book suggests that we do not need to ‘think outside the box’ in our quest for creativity, rather we should rethink the way we look ‘inside the box’. This idea will resonate only too well with those who have endeavoured to be creative by thinking outside that box, only to have their attempts scuppered by the constraints of bureaucracy and organizational politics. Instead of fighting a losing battle, the author suggests that creativity should be worked at within the constraints of the organizational box, but that space needs to be grown and allowed to be shaken up. Only by experimenting, mutating and finding new directions can you uncover business paths that lead to success. The reader is encouraged not to free themselves from all their knowledge and experiences (the thinking outside the box method) but to use their knowledge and experience in new ways.

The book is structured around three key steps:

• Expanding the box: so that the pieces of the puzzle in it can move around more freely
• Filling the box: with even more knowledge, and how to get these new pieces of the puzzle to connect with the existing ones
• Shaking the box: so that the pieces fall into new places and form new patterns.

The book shows that anybody can be creative.

The creative methods suggested in the book will be linked to real business examples from which techniques have been developed to help their implementation. Numerous exercises and ‘eye-openers’ form part of the practical implementation of Micael Dahlén’s ideas. The book is framed by models and concepts of how creativity works (the creative process, the creative person and the creative result) and what its effects are.

Keywords: think inside the box, think outside the box, thought leader, thought leadership, business innovation, innovation