Florian Rustler - Thinking Tools for Creativity and Innovation: The Little Handbook of Innovation Methods

The Little Handbook of Innovation Methods

Florian Rustler

Translated from the German by Andrew Schlademan

THINKING TOOLS

The Little Handbook of Innovation Methods

5. Auflage, aktualisiert und erweitert

2017 Midas Management Verlag AG

ISBN 978-3-907100-81-3

eISBN 978-3-03876-520-2

Florian Rustler

Denkwerkzeuge der Kreativitt und Innovation
Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden
Zrich: Midas Management Verlag AG

Lektorat: Gregory C. Zch

Korrektorat: Kathrin Lichtenberg

Layout und Illustrationen: Isabela Plambeck

Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Die Verwendung der Texte und Bilder, auch auszugsweise, ist ohne schriftliche Zustimmung des Verlages urheberrechtswidrig und strafbar. Dies gilt insbesondere fr die Vervielfltigung, bersetzung oder die Verwendung in Seminarunterlagen und elektronischen Systemen.

Midas Management Verlag AG, Dunantstrasse 3, CH 8044 Zrich

Website: / Social Media: midasverlag

Denkwerkzeuge als Firmenausgabe

Sie erhalten diesen Titel direkt beim Verlag in Gromengen oder als Sonderausgabe mit Firmenlogo. Wahlweise mit Prgung und/oder mit eigener Banderole. Das perfekte Geschenk fr Ihre Kunden und Mitarbeiter. Fragen Sie unseren Vertrieb nach attraktiven Konditionen. E-Mail an:

I am pleased to present a considerably revised and updated fifth edition of Thinking Tools. Fortunately, due to its Amazon bestseller status, the recent editions appeared in relatively short succession; each one sold out quickly.

This fifth edition has additional new thinking tools that considerably expand upon the existing toolbox, especially in the areas of diagnostic thinking and thinking in solutions.

A significant change from the creaffective perspective is the addition of a third process model for systematic creative thinking that builds on and unites both Creative Problem Solving and Design Thinking into one model just as we have been practicing it with our clients for years. We call this third model the Systematic Creative Thinking Process.

It doesnt matter which model you use, Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking or the newer Systematic Creative Thinking Process. All of the thinking tools are described in the same way as they always have been.

I would like to thank my colleagues at creaffective for their contribution to the development of this new process and the thinking tools expanded upon here.

Wishing you an inspirational reading experience,

Florian Rustler

Munich, Spring 2017

Innovation unfortunately for many, this word is received as a tired clich, or as lip service that appears in every company description and is announced from every political platform. Still, innovation is truly an important factor for every companys success, especially today. It is more than just an empty platitude.

Organizations must constantly be making multiple, simultaneous adjustments to keep producing new products regularly. This book helps you do that. We present 12 strategic areas of activity and describe them to make their application available for you.

The adage, Innovation starts with an I, identifies its starting point: There are individuals whose motivation, expertise, knowledge and skills with regard to creativity and innovation are present at the beginning of every innovation and are present in every culture of innovation. Unfortunately, skills for creativity and innovation are not actively included in the curriculum of our school and university systems. This is where this handbook comes into play. The amount that every individual in your organization can contribute to its success is influenced by various factors including a conscious awareness of creativity and innovation, personal attitude toward it, and systematic creative thinking skills. My hope is that this book will be able to make a helpful contribution to the development of these elements.

Based on 60 years of academic research in the field of creativity and innovation and ten years of practical experience with creaffective, my goal is to provide an aid for practical and application-oriented thought and action. As with books on physical fitness and changing personal habits, one thing is imperative: At the end of the day, you have to make a conscious decision to put the tools and concepts described in this book to good use.

This responsibility lies in your hands!

Participants who have been in our trainings and workshops receive this book and have been able to put many of the techniques described here into practice. These techniques are not only helpful in the context of innovation within organizations, they are also helpful in all areas of life in which new perspectives, ideas and courses of action are required so basically everywhere!

Wishing you happiness and success!

Florian Rustler

Munich, August 2014

Optically this book is based on the well-known Moleskine notebook cherished by many. Its handy format makes it possible for you to keep this book tucked away and then, as the need may be, take it out to jot notes, thoughts and ideas, look something up or find inspiration.

This book is arranged so that most of the sections can be read independently of one another. Further, you dont have to read the book all at once, from A-Z. Just the opposite. I hope this book will be so helpful to you that you keep reaching for it, flipping through it regularly.

Thinking Tools for Creativity and Innovation contains the important fundamentals, which should be considered in all cases. The majority of the content consists of brief, practice-oriented descriptions of various thinking tools. The tools are arranged according to seven thinking skills relevant to innovation. In turn, these thinking skills form the basis of various process models for creative problem solving, which are also introduced in this handbook.

You can flip to chapters and techniques described that fit the type of thinking or aspect of a creative problem solving process is relevant to you at the moment.

This book is designed to give you a manageable, practice-oriented introduction to creative and innovative processes. References to additional source materials and literature at the end of each chapter are provided for those who would like to delve deeper into the subject.

This book presents a list of simple and versatile thinking tools that can be used in a creative process.

That being said, this book contains more than a collection of methods. There are a few fundamentals that will facilitate your understanding of using these tools to your advantage, and will help you recognize that techniques and methods are only aspects on the road to creating something new.

Creativity and innovation are dependent on a host of other factors as well, which we will touch upon while explaining these fundamentals. Before this, we want to arrive at a common understanding of what we are talking about when we use the words creativity and innovation.