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Master creative thinking in the AI age with practical tools that blend imagination and discipline for better innovation in this updated, award-winning business bestseller.

Now updated with 20 percent new content, this Porchlight Business Book of the Year returns with all-new case studies and a groundbreaking chapter on creative partnerships with AI and emerging technologies. Natalie Nixon demonstrates that humans are hardwired for creativity—a competency anyone can develop by balancing wonder (awe, audacity, and curiosity) with rigor (discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail).

Drawing on interviews with professionals across diverse industries—from farming to medicine to technology—Nixon reveals how inquiry, improvisation, and intuition enhance creative capacity in every kind of work. This second edition features fresh success stories from resourceful businesses that have mastered the delicate dance between human imagination and artificial intelligence in a rapidly changing world.

Combining practical creativity tools with illuminating stories of innovative people and organizations, this book serves as a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity within each of us. Nixon offers a dynamic approach to adaptation and innovation that allows the freedom to access our full human potential—even as technology continues to reshape how we work. This essential guide helps anyone cultivate the creative thinking needed to thrive in today's complex business landscape.

Master creative thinking in the AI age with practical tools that blend imagination and discipline for better innovation in this updated, award-winning business bestseller.

Now updated with 20 percent new content, this Porchlight Business Book of the Year returns with all-new case studies and a groundbreaking chapter on creative partnerships with AI and emerging technologies. Natalie Nixon demonstrates that humans are hardwired for creativity—a competency anyone can develop by balancing wonder (awe, audacity, and curiosity) with rigor (discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail).

Drawing on interviews with professionals across diverse industries—from farming to medicine to technology—Nixon reveals how inquiry, improvisation, and intuition enhance creative capacity in every kind of work. This second edition features fresh success stories from resourceful businesses that have mastered the delicate dance between human imagination and artificial intelligence in a rapidly changing world.

Combining practical creativity tools with illuminating stories of innovative people and organizations, this book serves as a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity within each of us. Nixon offers a dynamic approach to adaptation and innovation that allows the freedom to access our full human potential—even as technology continues to reshape how we work. This essential guide helps anyone cultivate the creative thinking needed to thrive in today's complex business landscape.

Master creative thinking in the AI age with practical tools that blend imagination and discipline for better innovation in this updated, award-winning business bestseller.

Now updated with 20 percent new content, this Porchlight Business Book of the Year returns with all-new case studies and a groundbreaking chapter on creative partnerships with AI and emerging technologies. Natalie Nixon demonstrates that humans are hardwired for creativity—a competency anyone can develop by balancing wonder (awe, audacity, and curiosity) with rigor (discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail).

Drawing on interviews with professionals across diverse industries—from farming to medicine to technology—Nixon reveals how inquiry, improvisation, and intuition enhance creative capacity in every kind of work. This second edition features fresh success stories from resourceful businesses that have mastered the delicate dance between human imagination and artificial intelligence in a rapidly changing world.

Combining practical creativity tools with illuminating stories of innovative people and organizations, this book serves as a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity within each of us. Nixon offers a dynamic approach to adaptation and innovation that allows the freedom to access our full human potential—even as technology continues to reshape how we work. This essential guide helps anyone cultivate the creative thinking needed to thrive in today's complex business landscape.

In a global survey by the Katzenbach Center, 80 percent of respondents believed that their organization must evolve to succeed. But a full quarter of them reported that a change effort at their organization had resulted in no visible results. Why?

The fate of any change effort depends on whether and how leaders engage their culture: the self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking, and believing that determine how things are done in an organization. Culture is implicit rather than explicit, emotional rather than rational--that's what makes it so hard to work with, but that's also what makes it so powerful.

For the first time, this book lays out the Katzenbach Center's proven methodology for identifying your culture's four most critical elements: traits, characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do; keystone behaviors, actions that would lead your company to succeed if they were replicated at a greater scale; authentic informal leaders, people who have a high degree of "emotional intuition" or social connectedness; and metrics, integrated, thoughtful measures to track progress, encourage the self-reinforcing cycle of lasting change and link to business performance.

By leveraging these critical few elements, you can tap into a source of catalytic change within your organization. People will make an emotional, not just a rational, commitment to new initiatives. You will elicit enthusiasm and creativity and build the kind of powerful company that people recognize for its innate value and effectiveness.

In a global survey by the Katzenbach Center, 80 percent of respondents believed that their organization must evolve to succeed. But a full quarter of them reported that a change effort at their organization had resulted in no visible results. Why?

The fate of any change effort depends on whether and how leaders engage their culture: the self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking, and believing that determine how things are done in an organization. Culture is implicit rather than explicit, emotional rather than rational--that's what makes it so hard to work with, but that's also what makes it so powerful.

For the first time, this book lays out the Katzenbach Center's proven methodology for identifying your culture's four most critical elements: traits, characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do; keystone behaviors, actions that would lead your company to succeed if they were replicated at a greater scale; authentic informal leaders, people who have a high degree of "emotional intuition" or social connectedness; and metrics, integrated, thoughtful measures to track progress, encourage the self-reinforcing cycle of lasting change and link to business performance.

By leveraging these critical few elements, you can tap into a source of catalytic change within your organization. People will make an emotional, not just a rational, commitment to new initiatives. You will elicit enthusiasm and creativity and build the kind of powerful company that people recognize for its innate value and effectiveness.

Without a deep understanding of your company's culture, any change effort you undertake will fail. Bestselling author Jon Katzenbach and his coauthors identify the four most critical cultural elements leaders need to focus on.

Every organization has a unique culture, but they all have one thing in common. Whenever they have a big change to make, powerful emotional forces in their culture appear, at first, to resist it. But there are other culture forces under the surface that can be potential sources of catalytic strength. The best leaders succeed by tapping those “critical few” sources. Using an unusual, dialogue-based approach, Jon Katzenbach, author of the seminal The Wisdom of Teams (over 400,000 sold) shows how a sharp focus on just these elements reduces complexity and enables leaders to create profound cultural transformation and positive, lasting impact on performance.

The critical few elements are:

The critical few traits: the shared characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do.
The critical few behaviors: people's actions that would lead a company to succeed if they were replicated at greater scale.
The critical few informal leaders: individuals whose emotional intuition and institutional trust make them valued guides for transformation, wherever they are on the org chart.

The definitive introduction for changemakers new to the world of nonprofit and small business boards of directors.

Bust the status quo of board room administrative tedium and passive participation to contribute to meaningful social transformation and impact in your organization. Authors Jukanovich and West offer changemakers new to the boardroom the mindset and strategies necessary to make a difference in the organizations they lead.

Mission-based, socially responsible, and transformational organizations are needed more today than ever. And the boards that lead them must be in tune with their stakeholder's culture. But so often they are held back by ineffective decision making and a lack of interpersonal trust.

This book breaks down the key elements of a successful boardroom and how to achieve them. From onboarding diverse talent to establishing trust through accountability, you will have the tools and actionable techniques needed to effectively make a difference in the world with healthier boardroom practices.

The definitive introduction for changemakers new to the world of nonprofit and small business boards of directors.

Bust the status quo of board room administrative tedium and passive participation to contribute to meaningful social transformation and impact in your organization. Authors Jukanovich and West offer changemakers new to the boardroom the mindset and strategies necessary to make a difference in the organizations they lead.

Mission-based, socially responsible, and transformational organizations are needed more today than ever. And the boards that lead them must be in tune with their stakeholder's culture. But so often they are held back by ineffective decision making and a lack of interpersonal trust.

This book breaks down the key elements of a successful boardroom and how to achieve them. From onboarding diverse talent to establishing trust through accountability, you will have the tools and actionable techniques needed to effectively make a difference in the world with healthier boardroom practices.

The definitive introduction for changemakers new to the world of nonprofit and small business boards of directors.

Bust the status quo of board room administrative tedium and passive participation to contribute to meaningful social transformation and impact in your organization. Authors Jukanovich and West offer changemakers new to the boardroom the mindset and strategies necessary to make a difference in the organizations they lead.

Mission-based, socially responsible, and transformational organizations are needed more today than ever. And the boards that lead them must be in tune with their stakeholder's culture. But so often they are held back by ineffective decision making and a lack of interpersonal trust.

This book breaks down the key elements of a successful boardroom and how to achieve them. From onboarding diverse talent to establishing trust through accountability, you will have the tools and actionable techniques needed to effectively make a difference in the world with healthier boardroom practices.

Corporate culture is critical to any organizational change effort. This book offers a proven model for identifying and leveraging the essential elements of any culture.

In a world that changes at a dizzying pace, what can leaders do to build flexible and adaptive workplaces that inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? According to the authors, the answer lies in recognizing and aligning the elusive forces—or the “puzzling” pieces—that shape an organization's culture.
 
With a combined seventy-five years' worth of research, teaching, and consulting experience, Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, and Greg Urban bring a wealth of knowledge to creating nimble organizations. Globally recognized business anthropologists and management experts, they explain how to access the full power of your culture by harnessing the Four Forces that drive it:
 
Vision: Embrace a common purpose that illuminates shared aspirations and plans.
Interest: Foster a deep commitment to authentic relationships and your organization's future.
Habit: Establish routines and rituals that reinforce “the way we do things around here.”
Innovation: Promote the constant tinkering that produces surprising new solutions to old problems.
 
Filled with case studies, personal anecdotes, and solid, practical advice, this book includes a four-part Evaluator to help you build resilient organizations and teams. The Culture Puzzle offers the definitive playbook for thriving amid constant transformation.

Corporate culture is critical to any organizational change effort. This book offers a proven model for identifying and leveraging the essential elements of any culture.

In a world that changes at a dizzying pace, what can leaders do to build flexible and adaptive workplaces that inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? According to the authors, the answer lies in recognizing and aligning the elusive forces—or the “puzzling” pieces—that shape an organization's culture.
 
With a combined seventy-five years' worth of research, teaching, and consulting experience, Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, and Greg Urban bring a wealth of knowledge to creating nimble organizations. Globally recognized business anthropologists and management experts, they explain how to access the full power of your culture by harnessing the Four Forces that drive it:
 
Vision: Embrace a common purpose that illuminates shared aspirations and plans.
Interest: Foster a deep commitment to authentic relationships and your organization's future.
Habit: Establish routines and rituals that reinforce “the way we do things around here.”
Innovation: Promote the constant tinkering that produces surprising new solutions to old problems.
 
Filled with case studies, personal anecdotes, and solid, practical advice, this book includes a four-part Evaluator to help you build resilient organizations and teams. The Culture Puzzle offers the definitive playbook for thriving amid constant transformation.

Corporate culture is critical to any organizational change effort. This book offers a proven model for identifying and leveraging the essential elements of any culture.


If you're going to make any significant change in an organization, you have to deal with the organizational culture. Because as Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But there can be a big difference between the official culture as described in the company handbook and how work really gets done. This book, written by a unique team of two culture-change experts and a business anthropologist, is about solving this “culture puzzle.” The authors describe the four forces that shape every organization's-or, as they put it, every tribe's-culture from hunter-gatherers in the Amazon to corporate executives at Amazon. Interest: what the organization does to fulfill members' needs and earn their loyalty. Habit: which behaviors and ideas constitute “the way we do things around here.” Vision: where the organization came from and where it's going; and Innovation: how the organization adapts and changes. The authors provide detailed advice and analytic tools for understanding and strengthening these four forces in your organization, and for using that understanding to more your organization forward.

Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager frequently hears executives lament that their hands are more than full trying to balance the barrage of tasks they face on a daily basis. While he never set out to be a productivity expert, Horsager realized that over the years he has developed and adopted dozens of extraordinarily practical time- and energy-saving techniques that could help today's leader. The key objective is to become so effective in the little things that you have enough time for more meaningful interactions.

In The Daily Edge, you'll learn strategies such as identifying the key Difference-Making Actions on which to focus your efforts. Perhaps it is time to set a personal or even company-wide “power hour,” during which you do not attend meetings, answer the phone, or reply to emails, creating the time and space to really focus and get things done. The thirty-five high-impact ideas Horsager introduces in succinct, quick-read chapters are easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that enables you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to honor all your relationships, both personal and professional.

Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager frequently hears executives lament that their hands are more than full trying to balance the barrage of tasks they face on a daily basis. While he never set out to be a productivity expert, Horsager realized that over the years he has developed and adopted dozens of extraordinarily practical time- and energy-saving techniques that could help today's leader. The key objective is to become so effective in the little things that you have enough time for more meaningful interactions.

In The Daily Edge, you'll learn strategies such as identifying the key Difference-Making Actions on which to focus your efforts. Perhaps it is time to set a personal or even company-wide “power hour,” during which you do not attend meetings, answer the phone, or reply to emails, creating the time and space to really focus and get things done. The thirty-five high-impact ideas Horsager introduces in succinct, quick-read chapters are easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that enables you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to honor all your relationships, both personal and professional.

Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager provides a selection of incredible new tips and tricks for maintaining your business edge on a daily basis.

How do you get your work done and still maintain relationships and build trust? For most busy executives, it's an either/or choice -- either spend time with your people, or be an effective and productive leader who focuses entirely on the work. But David Horsager says you can do both.

The key is to do lots of little things on a daily basis that make you so effective that you have enough time to interact with your people and honor and build the relationships you have with them. In succinct, quick-read chapters Horsager offers thirty-five high impact productivity practices, each easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that will enable you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to put people first-which Horsager insists must be always be one of your top priorities.

The spirit of inquiry is the engine of democracy. The democratic process is nothing less than citizens regularly asking what kind of society they want to live in and whom they want to lead them. But more and more people are avoiding the whole messy business of questioning. Americans are instead being trained to look for ready-made answers, with potentially dire implications for the health of our society. In this impassioned new book, Andrea Batista Schlesinger argues that we’re besieged by cultural forces that urge us to avoid independent thought and critical analysis. The media reduces politics to a spectator sport, focusing on polls and personalities rather than issues and ideas. Schools teach to standardized tests—students learn to fill in the bubbles, not open their minds. “Financial literacy” courses have replaced civics classes, graduating smart shoppers rather than informed citizens. Even the Internet promotes habits that discourage inquiry. Regurgitating search-engine results becomes a substitute for genuine research and reflection. Social networks promote connection rather than engagement. With all the information available online, over a third of those younger than twenty-five say they get no news on a typical day, up from 25 percent in 1998. The situation isn’t hopeless. Batista Schlesinger spotlights individuals and institutions across the country that are working to renew a healthy sense of curiosity and skepticism, particularly in American’s youth. It is, at this point, an uphill battle but one well worth undertaking. The Death of “Why?” offers both a penetrating socio-cultural critique of our current path and a way forward for cultivating inquiry and reinvigorating our democracy.

Obsessed with answers, we have lost sight of the power and value of questions. Debates over globalization, climate change, health care, and poverty will not be “solved” with simple answers, but that's what Americans are being trained to expect. Andrea Batista Schlesinger argues that we're besieged by cultural forces that urge us to avoid critical thinking and independent analysis. The media reduces politics to a spectator sport, standardized tests teach students to fill in the dots instead of opening their minds, and even the Internet promotes habits that discourage looking deeper.
 
But the situation isn't hopeless. Schlesinger profiles individuals and institutions renewing the practice of inquiry—particularly in America's youth—at a time when our society demands such activity from us all. Our resilience will depend on our ability to struggle with what we don't know, to live and think outside comfortable bubbles of sameness, and, ultimately, to ask questions.

In this impassioned critique of America's growing disengagement from civic life and ideals, Drum Major Institute Executive Director Andrea Batista Schlesinger dissects the forcible erosion of our youngest generation's capacity for inquiry and provides recommendations for restoring the social, educational and political infrastructures that are prerequisites for a healthy democracy.