The play and film Six Degrees of Separation propose that each person on Earth is connected to any other person by only six relationships. The Living Wills, by authors Brendan Sullivan and Rick Kaempfer, posits that human interconnectivity is much more pervasive – instead of people being connected (or separated) by six relationships, six people can be joined by just one relationship.

The novel revolves around a bowling team – “The Living Wills” – and in particular, one member of that team and the intricate and revelatory ways he is connected to the other main characters: Gina, a barista: Reed, an office manager; and Peter, a fledgling lawyer.

Each of these characters lives is damaged in some way, and the damage is a part – a big part – of what connects them. And as each character seeks reconciliation with their pasts, they discover that they can only find what they seek by opening wounds that they thought to be, if not healed, then at least scabbed over. Each of the main characters becomes aware that the directions of their lives have been altered by decisions and choices often made by others.

The Living Wills is a first time collaboration by Chicagoans Kaempfer and Sullivan. Kaempfer is the previous author of $everence and The Radio Producer’s Handbook. Sullivan is a creativity coach, keynote speaker and actor with a background in improvisation – and it is in improv where lies the key to understanding the strange interpersonal connections of The Living Wills. As the lives of the main characters intersect, the hidden relationships are revealed. As each revelation unfolds, what seem to be a series of seemingly bizarre and improbable coincidences begin to weave the threads of the plot together.

Sullivan cites a performance technique from his improv days called “The Harold” as part of the inspiration for the novel’s structure. In short, The Harold is a three-part improvisation piece in which a theme is introduced, developed and re-developed to create incongruous and enlightening connections. In the novel, these connections pop up as unforeseen relationships between characters. It’s the way that these unpredictable relationships keep popping up (seemingly) from nowhere that gives The Living Wills its impetus and its pitfalls. At first, these connections are almost inapropos, but as the strings begin to wind together, the convergence of these lives begins to make sense. However, getting to that convergence may test the patience of a reader’s willingness to suspend his or her disbelief and some may find at least one relationship to be just a little too contrived and hard to swallow (at least I did).

However, the lives of these characters and their quests for resolution and belonging are darn engaging. The character’s struggles, quirks and foibles are very relatable. Who doesn’t have some of their own? It’s a feel-good, kinda corny but clever and earnest story that’s depicted in a well-realized version of Chicago with which both writers are intimately familiar. Its resolution is reminiscent of another film about relationships, It’s A Wonderful Life, and the line “each man’s life touches so many others.”

–Ken Kiernan is a Client Services Manager at Catalyst Ranch and our official bookworm. THE LIVING WILLS will be a part of our Match Books series on January 24, 2012. For more info, click here. For more info about the book, click here.

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I had a great time interviewing Brendan Sullivan and Rick Kaempfer of THE LIVING WILLS before the holiday. In the video we originally posted, they shared the details of the book’s plot and some insight into their collaboration. Posted here for you is an extended video on their particular collaborative process. Enjoy!

THE LIVING WILLS will be a part of our Match Books series on January 24, 2012. For more info, click here. For more info about the book, click here.

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Interview with Brendan Sullivan and Rick Kaempfer on their new book, The Living Wills

What prompted you to write the book as a collaborative novel?

Rick: Actually, this book was Brendan’s idea. He called me up one day and asked me to lunch. He had read my previous novel and thought that we had similar writing styles. His idea was to write this novel together as a tangible example of collaborative creativity. It’s always better to show people what is possible, rather than just tell them.

Brendan: Yes…and… .I thought the collaborative creation of a novel would be a tangible way to apply the ideation processes I use every day with my corporate clients. We used improv, brainstorming, mind mapping and other ideation techniques to generate characters, plot lines, and the flow of the novel.

What sparks your creativity?

Rick: Just about any and every thing. I’m always looking for creative sparks, and when you do that, you notice that they are all around you. Your wife, your kids, a trip to the store, a drive; you name it.

Brendan: Any opportunity to shake things up is a spark for me. I try to find new ways to do something. If someone tells me ‘that’s not how we do things around here,’ then I want to know why. Like Rick, I also find creative sparks in everyday things, not necessarily the extraordinary. Once you get going, and you’re having fun, it’s hard to stop.

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

Rick: The other night I had a dream about how to convert a children’s book I wrote into a young adult’s novel. I got out bed and wrote it all down. If I hadn’t done that, it would have either drifted away into the ether, or kept me awake forever. Now that it’s on paper I can get back to it whenever it’s convenient…instead of during the middle of the night.

Brendan: Lately, I’ve been curious about how the teenage brain works. I’ve been reading a lot about it, and I’ve been observing two of those brains as they operate under my roof. I haven’t come to any satisfying conclusions yet.

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

Rick: For me, it’s that everything is connected. We’re all connected to each other and every decision we make has an impact on everyone around us. When you think about things that way, it gives your life some purpose and meaning.

Brendan: There’s also the idea of the quiet hero. Our main protagonist did one very gallant thing long ago. It affected everything, yet he doesn’t talk about it, which is both noble and sad. I think there are a lot of quiet heroes out there that don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Share one of your trade secrets for keeping the energy and enthusiasm flowing when working through the creative writing process.

Rick: The trick is to just keep reminding yourself to look for inspiration around you. We all have a tendency to sleepwalk through life. It’s a totally natural and normal thing to do. My wife reads my weekly columns about our family (“Father Knows Nothing” at NWI Parent) and often says “I actually saw that happen and didn’t think it was profound or funny until you mentioned it.” But it was right there all along.

Brendan: Walk away. When I spend too much time focusing closely on a project and I hit a wall, I step away. I find that my subconscious continues to work on the challenge while I’m sleeping, exercising, playing with my kids. And when I go back to the project, the answer is often clear.

What fuels your creativity?

Rick: Super Unleaded. It’s a little more expensive, but so worth it.

Brendan: Guinness. It’s a little more expensive, but so worth.

Join us here at Catalyst Ranch, Tuesday, January 24th at 6pm when we welcome Brendan and Rick for the next installment of our Match Books series.  For the Match Books event, creativity coach Brendan Sullivan wants to show you, not tell you! He has used the same techniques he brings to clients like Kellogg’s, PepsiCo, GE and Harley-Davidson (improv, mind mapping, other ideation processes) to create a just-published novel with a co-author, Rick Kaempfer. Much of the work was done during sessions at the Catalyst Ranch.

Cost is $15 or two children’s books to be donated to Open Books, check out Catalyst Ranch’s Happenings Page for all the info!

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Lauren Young

Pour – Marketing Success Starts with the Right Ingredients

What are some of the main themes of your book?

I’m so excited to offer a low-cost option to share my expertise and marketing secrets with a variety of potential business owners. Pour was written to showcase the correct way to build a brand from the beginning. This book also helps train experienced entrepreneurs on how to refocus their approach to reach the customers who will not only find value in their products or services; but they will continue to buy and encourage others to buy from them, as well.

What prompted you to write the book?

There are thousands of people in the nation that are part of the ‘Disgruntled and Unemployed Club’. They have been out of work for 12, 18 and even 24 months. It’s not that they aren’t talented or highly qualified for the positions they have applied for; there just aren’t enough positions available in the workforce right now. At some point, people get tired of perusing the job boards and attending job search mixers and they all but give up. A percentage of these will seek consulting or entrepreneurship as a viable option to pursue their passion, but they haven’t the faintest idea of how to promote their talents, products and services on little to no budget.

What sparks your creativity?

Honestly, cooking is a great creative outlet for me. I get so many great ideas while preparing a new dish or dessert for family and friends to try. Even if I am cooking from a recipe, I will change up the prepared dish a little with my own style.

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

I love listening to music while I work, and I heard that the new website Spotify is much better than Pandora, so I tried it out. Now I can listen to new music and my existing favorites from iTunes in the same platform. It’s perfect!

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

No matter your business or industry, it all starts with marketing. Once you understand how to promote your business effectively, everything else will fall into place.

Join us here at Catalyst Ranch, Tuesday, November 8th at 6pm when we welcome Lauren Young for the next installment of our Match Books series.  For the Match Books event, an interactive activity will be moderated by Lauren to get you to think creatively about the future of your business, and it all begins with the question, “What was your favorite childhood toy”…Cost is $15 or two children’s books to be donated to Open Books, check out Catalyst Ranch’s Happenings Page for all the info!

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Madeleine VanHecke, Lisa Callahan & Brad Kolar

“The Brain Advantage: Become a More Effective Business Leader Using the Latest Brain Research“

What are some of the main themes of your book?

An overarching theme of the book is that the interactions between our brains and our conscious selves is opposite of what many people believe.  More often than not, our brains are working behind the scenes to control what we pay attention to, what we remember, and how we interpret and process information.  We work for it, it doesn’t work for us.  Here are some examples:

1. The brain can fool us – but if we know its limitations, we can compensate for them.

For example, why did Yale students do worse than rats in predicting where food would be found in a maze? This happened because the students were sure that some meaningful pattern determined where the food would be. The brain searches for meaning and is quick to come up with plausible explanations of events, like why a rise or drop in sales occurred. The problem is that when events really are random, as the placement of the food in the maze was in the study with the Yale students, the brain can mislead us. As a result, a leader might change an advertising strategy, promote or demote a team leader – all because of a meaningless random fluctuation in results.

2. Understanding how the brain works can help us be more innovative.

Should you analyze problems in order to come up with innovative solutions, or should you go with your gut? What we now know about the brain is that the inspired insights that come to us depend on a wellspring of experience, knowledge, and exposure to ideas akin to our field but outside of it. We can help our brains build up the databases the brain needs to be able to arrive at great intuitive decisions.

3.  We can harness the brain’s tendency to automate just about everything.

Our brain loves to automate whatever behavior we repeat. That’s why you don’t have to consciously think about how to ride a bike or tie your shoes. This makes us efficient. The downside is that routines that don’t serve us well also become automatic and we sometimes behave mindlessly. The good news is that we can train our brain to periodically step out of autopilot so that we have the benefits of efficiency without the downside of mindlessness.

4. We can keep our emotional brain circuits from hijacking our rational thinking.

The brain circuits that alert us to danger, trigger our fear, or give us a warm fuzzy feeling of safety evolved because they helped the human species survive. In today’s world, these circuits continue to react and guide us even when their reactions are no longer helpful. For example, if we glimpse a lion in foliage, the ancient brain instantaneously stops our movement. We freeze. This is a helpful response. But sometimes we freeze when there’s a sudden glitch in a project we are working on that makes us feel we’ll never be able to meet our deadline. Our anxiety can paralyze us.  Research shows that when we “step back” from what is triggering an emotional reaction and shift our attention to problem solving we activate parts of the brain that engage in rational thought (the prefrontal cortex) and quieting circuits like the “worry circuit” that fuel our anxiety.

5. The brain is more social than we realized.

The brain reacts – often intensely – to the social aspects of situations. Being ignored, treated unfairly, or betrayed triggers strong reactions in us. So does falling in love, or witnessing someone we care about in pain. Brain research helps us understand why events that happened months earlier – such as a leader failing to recognize the contributions of a team to the success of a project – can cast such a long shadow on employee engagement and morale. Understanding the social aspects of the brain also makes us realize why the so-called “soft skills” are crucial to leadership success.

6. Our brains are not optimized for making sense of the world in which we live.

The last major physical change to our brains occurred about 40,000 years ago.  The world was quite different then.  There wasn’t data to analyze, co-workers to manage, or office politics to navigate.  Instead, life was pretty simple.  What happened one day was pretty likely to happen the next day.  Our brain’s job was to keep us alive.  As a result it adapted by over emphasizing certain things and under-emphasizing others in order to keep us focused on what mattered most (e.g., it’s probably important to pay attention to that snarling furry thing since one ate your brother last week than it is to spend  a lot of time wondering about that little lizard that looks like all of the other little lizards that tends to run away from you).  Unfortunately, in our current world, those adaptations sometimes get us in trouble.  Latching on to and over-emphasizing familiar experiences can cause us to miss the subtleties of a rapidly changing world.

What prompted you to write the book?

For all three of us this project was the “perfect storm” of opportunity.  First and foremost, it provided an opportunity for us to get together and do what we love  – learn.

Second, the topic of the brain, was ironically, close to our hearts.  Madeleine is a psychologist and professor of critical thinking.  Lisa is in charge of improving the performance of the workforce of one of the world’s largest consulting companies.   Brad works with executives to help them rethink the way they view their role, their work.  Understanding the way the mind and brain work is central to the work we do.  Finding a new way to think about this helps us help those people that we serve.

Third, we felt we had something new to say.  Historically leadership and business books were pigeon-holed into being either about “hard skills” (e.g., strategy, analysis, decision making, and performance management) or “soft skills” (e.g., interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence, and creativity/innovation).  The research behind The Brain Advantage helped us see the connection between the two and make a case that they are not ends of a continuum but intertwined pieces of a puzzle.

Finally, we like each other!  The project gave us an excuse to hang out and have some fun! (note:  and the good news is that even after a year of debate, disagreement, and, at times, despair, we STILL like each other!)

What sparks your creativity?

It’s probably best that we address this one separately.  One of the strengths of the book was the diverse perspectives and experiences we brought.  Our interaction with one another sparked our collective creativity but each one of us is driven by something unique.

Lisa- “Engaging discussions with others—both those that share my interests and those with different interests that bring a different point of view.  I’m also a big problem solver.  When I see something that isn’t working, or when someone describes an issue they’re having, I immediately jump into problem solving mode.  How can I help them?  How can we get past the issues they’re having?  Are there things that have never been tried before?  Why not?”

Madeleine “1. Anomalies – because they make me curious; 2. Experiencing other people’s creative work – listening to a moving piece of music, art, dance, or drama inspires me. 3. Talking with and reading the ideas of other creative people, especially those who think or write about or work in areas that are close cousins to whatever I’m interested in at the moment. For example, right now I’m getting more and more interested in the power of questions so in addition to reading about the use of questions in business leadership, I’m also looking at the use of questions in negotiations, in teaching situations, in therapy, in sales, in coaching, and in conflict resolution.  4. Asking myself “what does that really mean?” For example, when I was writing my earlier book about why smart people do dumb things, I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means when we say that someone doesn’t “get it.”

Brad- “Constraints – I’m not one of those people who can sit down to a blank sheet of paper and do something creative.  I need some tension or a problem to solve.  To me, the greater the set of constraints, the greater the opportunities for creativity. Wonder  -  I also have a strong internal drive to understand how things work and more importantly, how they connect.”

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

Lisa- “I was recently reading a book called The American Frugal Housewife.  It was written in the 1830s by a woman who was quite progressive for her time.  The book contains what amounts to a stream of consciousness series of tips to save money in the home.  One of my hobbies is working with stained glass.  A tip in the book talked about being able to cut through a glass bottle cleanly by wrapping it in worsted thread soaked in turpentine, then setting the thread on fire.  This immediately got me wondering whether it would really work, but I haven’t had a chance to try it.  As soon as I started thinking about it though, I started asking myself other questions—what about kerosene?  Other flammable liquids?  How did they polish the edges in the 1830s?  What did they use the bottles for?  Would we use them for the same things today?  What are all the things I could do with a cut-off bottle?  It turned out to be a classic brainstorming problem.”

Madeleine- “A friend told me that he feels ignored when other people don’t ask him questions, yet when someone asks him what he called “too many questions,” he doesn’t like that either (an apparent anomaly). We had a long conversation about what makes the difference which led me to think about different types of questions and their effects. It also led me to think about the phrase “What a great question!” which brought to my mind examples of questions that I would call great questions – and ask myself – what makes them great? I am beginning to satisfy my curiosity about all this by reading – I went to amazon and googled “questions” to find various books, and in a couple of months I’m going to have a group I belong to discuss this topic, bringing samples of “great questions” with them. I’ll also probably have my antennae up so that whenever something related to this comes up in conversation, I’ll explore it with the other person.”

Brad- “I was recently reading three very different books and articles.  On, was on the neuroscience behind how magic works.  In the book, Neuroscience professors cross the country interviewing magicians to learn the “secrets” that they use to exploit the way our minds work.  Some of these techniques date back centuries, long before functional MRI machines could “peek” inside the brain.  The second was the memoirs of a Seal Team Six Sniper (Seal Team Six is the elite unite that drove the attack on Osama Bin Ladin).  It struck me how much these guys know about the human mind.  Their job might appear to be purely physical, but the reality is that to do what they do, you must be able to overcome many of the “hard-wired” behaviors toward which our brains naturally push us.  The third article was by economist Paul Krugman.  He talked about how between the 15^th and 17^th century, the map of Africa became less detailed to the point where rivers and villages disappeared.  This happened despite advances in cartography and measurement.  The problem was that as measurement techniques improved, the map makers discarded second and third hand data that wasn’t measureable and verifiable.  As a result, instead of having a rough idea about reality, they acted as if nothing was there.”

“It got me thinking that too often we rely more on invented proxies for the world than we do on our own sense of that world.  It changed the way I interact with my clients.  I now encourage them and am much more curious about those things they can’t “measure” but somehow “know”.”

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

If we are going to be true to the theme of the book, we have to acknowledge that everyone will come to it with a different set of experiences, beliefs, and biases.  As a result, each reader will draw a unique set of insights.  Hopefully, each person will walk away with one or two tangible ideas that they can apply directly to their work.

Having said that, there are a couple of key take-aways that can guide anyone’s exploration of the book.

1)      Stepping back from what the brain is so busily doing outside of our awareness and understanding how the brain works, we can direct its activities and so help ourselves make better decisions, have better relationships, and achieve our goals more effectively. And if we are in a leadership position, we can use our knowledge to help others do the same.

2)      The lessons from the book create a paradox.  If you buy-in to what the book says, you will begin to question everything about how you take in, interpret, remember, and act upon the information that is all around you.  Yet, those very senses, memories, and experiences that you will question are needed to understand the book.  So, be open.  If you find parts of the book to be unbelievable or not applicable to your experience , it might be that you are falling victim to the very phenomena that your brain so cleverly is convincing you to question.

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Tim Frick

Return on Engagement: Content, Strategy and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing

What are some of the main themes of your book?

Love, betrayal, mortality…just kidding. Return on Engagement is a book about best practices for marketing yourself or your business online. It covers strategy, your website, social media, analytics, and other tools and techniques critical to building a strategic web presence. There is also a free downloadable e-chapter on mobile marketing and media on the book site Here!

What prompted you to write the book?

We found our approach to client projects and the process of marketing our own company was drastically changing thanks to a variety of new tools and techniques (commonly associated with the overused term ‘Web 2.0’). We put together a strategic process for using these tools to achieve measurable results and realized that in book form this process could help others achieve great results as well. Thus, after nine months of researching, writing and editing, Return on Engagement: Content, Strategy and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing was born.

What sparks your creativity?

Entrepreneurialism and the daily creative challenges that accompany it.

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

The crew at Mightybytes wanted to make home-brewed beer for our clients so along with a little help from our friends at Brew Camp we learned all about the brewing process and set down the path to becoming home brewers…or in our case, business brewers. To date have made about a dozen varieties, each with unique names, custom packaging, and so on. It has been a great exercise in team building, collaboration and creativity and a lot of fun to boot!

Currently, we have a wheat ale in process, which will be doled out lovingly during a fundraiser for our Climate Ride team on April 15th.

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

Content in context! Good strategic content that adds value, delivered in the appropriate context by which it is experienced (Twitter, mobile devices, tablets, YouTube, your website, etc.) is a critical business and marketing asset for any company or organization. Couple that with ongoing personal engagement and you have a strong one-two marketing punch.

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Josh Linkner

Title of Book: Disciplined Dreaming

What are some of the main themes of your book?

Creativity and innovation.  The growing need in the world combined with the decreasing supply as we teach kids to follow-the-rules and don’t-make-mistakes.  It is a 5-step process to jumpstart creativity.

What is Disciplined Dreaming?

It’s a 5-part system to build, nurture, and manage creativity.  It is based on my experience as a four-time entrepreneur, jazz musician, and venture capitalist plus personal interviews I conducted with over 200 thought leaders.  CEO’s, entrepreneurs, artists, billionaires, non-profit leaders.  The Disciplined Dreaming process is the collective wisdom of this amazing group, boiled down into a simple and easy-to-follow process that you can put to use immediately to drive your own creativity.

What prompted you to write the book?

I realized that the business world lacked a meaningful system to build, nurture, and manage creative capacity.  We have systems and processes for everything, but arguably the most important thing in business – creativity and innovation – is often left to happen by chance.  I wrote the book to help make the world more creative.

What sparks your creativity?

I’m a jazz guitarist, and music has always been a huge source of inspiration for me.  Also, helping others uncover their own creative potential is hugely inspiring.

As an accomplished musician, you compare creative riffs at work to jazz improvisation. How do the two relate?

In jazz, 99% of the notes are improvised.  Spontaneous creativity.  However, that 1% that’s on the written page is incredibly important.  It provides musicians a framework to direct and enhance their creativity.  Disciplined Dreaming is the business-world equivalent to that 1%.  It provides a structure that enables creativity.  In addition, jazz musicians use specific patterns and techniques as building blocks of innovation.  I’ve been able to translate many of those concepts into the language of business, and show readers how to inject them into their daily lives.  These “riffs” can be applied to creative challenges of all sizes, and help support the creative process.

Why is creativity in the workplace so important?

The world has dramatically changed in the last few years, and many of the competitive advantages of the past have become commoditized.  With increased complexity, dizzying speed, and ruthless competition, creativity and innovation have become the only true sustainable competitive advantage.  Creativity is the one thing you can’t outsource.  It’s the difference-maker between game-changing companies and also-rans.   Beyond the corporate level, individuals may get hired based on their resume but get promoted and succeed based on their creativity.  Creativity has become the currency of success in the new era of business, and life.

How can you start working creativity muscles with a team that has grown stagnant?

The biggest inhibitor of creativity isn’t human potential, it is fear.  While we enter the world with limitless creativity, our schools, organizations, and bureaucracies beat it out of us.  We are so worried about saying the wrong thing, looking foolish, or having to take responsibility for a new idea that we govern our own imagination.  Too often, corporate cultures stifle their most valuable natural resource – fresh ideas.  This can be quickly fixed through techniques in the book that deal with preparing your culture, physical environment, and mindset to drive maximum creative output.  Disciplined Dreaming includes new brainstorming techniques such as “RoleStorming”, “The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup”, and “Stick-it-to-the-man” that will get your creative muscles in shape in no time.

What is the Creativity Gap and how can we repair it?

The need for creativity in the business world has increased dramatically over the last five years.  Unfortunately, our “supply” has decreased as outdated school systems and our immediate-gratification society has left us with kids that are unprepared for the challenges ahead.  The creativity gap is big and getting worse.  If we don’t do something about it now, it could threaten our standing as an economic superpower on the world stage.  Companies, teams, and individuals must act now in order to preserve our creative mojo.  We need to prioritize creativity and focus on building these underdeveloped, yet critically important, skills.  I wrote Disciplined Dreaming to make a difference. To help make the world more creative, and to help people in all walks of life gain the necessary skills in order to win in today’s hyper-competitive environment.

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

I am working hard to help rebuild the City of Detroit.  Our area was once a thriving center of innovation, and has unfortunately drifted from those roots.  I’ve become curious as to the causes, and now completely committed to help revitalize this amazing place.

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

That we are all creative and can unleash that creativity with a specific process.  According to a recent Harvard study, creativity is 85% learned behavior.   In other words, it isn’t about a few special people being born with a gift.  Creativity is more like a muscle.  We all have muscles, but we need to develop them or they atrophy.  The same is true for creativity, and the book offers people a specific set of techniques to help build those “creativity muscles.”

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“Creativity is not just another way for companies to succeed—it is actually a necessity. Without it, organizations may not survive.”- Josh Linkner  

Original thought, creativity, and innovation- key components that make us who we are, Catalyst Ranch. We breathe “out-of-the box” thinking!  For us and everyone who visits, these components are the currency of success in the new era of business. Friend and author, Josh Linkner helps organizations and individuals jumpstart their imagination and build creative teams.

Just released Josh Linkner’s new book Disciplined Dreaming, offers a 5-part process that will transform your organization – and your career – into a non-stop creativity juggernaut. As a four-time entrepreneur, author of two books, jazz musician and venture capitalist, Josh discusses how creativity will become the key ingredient in rebuilding our region to ensure long-term prosperity.

DISCIPLINED DREAMING presents a synthesis of techniques that Josh has used and found to be successful in business and in jazz improvisation.  These techniques produce a systematic approach to creativity—a virtual machine for idea generation—that allows companies, teams and individuals to develop, manage, and thoughtfully direct their creativity in order to become more nimble, more adept and more competitive. With DISCIPLINED DREAMING, you will learn how to:

• Break free from myths and barriers to unleash creativity
• Tap into the hidden brainpower inside yourself and your company
• Establish an ongoing system to nurture and harvest your team’s best ideas
• Avoid the costly mistakes of flawed idea selection and measurement
• Increase your ability to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty
• Learn how to adapt more quickly and proactively to changes in the marketplace
• Apply focused creativity to specific business problems of all sizes and shapes

The DISCIPLINED DREAMING system consists of five steps, which Josh explains in detail in the book:

• Step 1: ASK – The first step is to define the creative challenge. Identifying the problem clearly helps to focus the energy of your team and drive curiosity and awareness.
• Step 2: PREPARE – The second step is to prepare the culture, mind, and environment for optimal idea generation.
• Step 3: DISCOVER – The third step is to find inspiration and search for fruitful, surprising sources of ideas. Determining a new and unusual idea-source can catalyze the process of idea generation.
• Step 4: IGNITE – The fourth step is to generate ideas. Here is where we can ignite our creativity and, using powerful new proven techniques, enjoy more and better ideas.
• Step 5: LAUNCH – The fifth step asks the reader to step back and use a framework to evaluate new ideas and put the best ones into action.

Josh has also conducted more than two hundred personal interviews with CEO’s, billionaires, entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, educators, and non-profit leaders, asking them how they generate ideas, manage the creative process, nurture creative cultures, and build their own creative abilities. Their collective experience has been synthesized and incorporated into the five steps.  At the heart of the book are dozens of fun techniques that can be adopted by the reader and put to use immediately.

The DISCIPLINED DREAMING process works for all types and sizes of organizations, from Fortune 100 multinationals to startups to non-profits and governmental agencies. It can be applied to all types of creative challenges, from startling, disruptive, breakthrough innovations to incremental advances and small improvements. The methodology is simple and backed by proven results.

Check out Josh’s Blog and more info about the book here!

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Name:  Karlin Sloan

Title of Book:  UNFEAR: Facing Change in an Era of Uncertainty

What are some of the main themes of your book?

I’ve found that there is one thing in common with all of the clients we work with as a leadership development company right now – they are leading in a new context – one that includes massive job losses, growing populations, and greater interconnectedness globally.  Leaders are facing their own limits as they manage 24/7 communication and transactions. They are facing their own fears and the fears of others, and they need tools and ideas that can help them navigate in a rapidly changing business landscape. 

 What prompted you to write the book?

I think there are some inspiring and incredible stories out there. In working with companies like P&G and Yahoo!, I’ve seen some amazing things that need to be shared with the world. New ways of working and relating to each other that reduce fear, build community, and grow our sense of purpose and meaning – all of which help to stoke the engines of success. 

There’s another factor I want to give fair weight here. We’re facing massive change not just as leaders but as a species, and it’s time to stop putting our heads in the sand and start getting excited about what and how we can contribute to making our organizations part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. 

What sparks your creativity?

New cultures really spark my creativity, whether it is a new corporate culture (and I see lots of them) or traveling to a new country or a culture that is very different from my own. I love to learn and to adapt, and to build bridges where there may have been a lack of understanding before. 

What recently sparked your curiosity and how did you satisfy it?

I had to find out what all the hype was about – so I’m finally reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!” You’ll have to wait on my review…

What’s one big thing you want people to take away from your book?

We’ve entered a new era – one in which solving world problems is the task of business and business leadership. The way we’ve addressed leadership and management in the past is no longer useful. We need new skills, new competencies, and new attitudes in order to inspire and lead through change and challenge. My hope is that everyone who reads this book is inspired to discuss it, and that the exercises and discussion prompts are used widely!

Join us here at the Catalyst Ranch for our next Match Books Event Thursday, January 20th 2011 from 6pm to 8:30 pm, when we welcome Karlin Sloan and discuss her book “UNFEAR: Facing Change in an Era of Uncertainty”. Check out our Happenings Page for all the info!

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Name: Todd Zoellick

Title of Book: Daniel Harrington Fairbanks the Third and the Great Camping Adventure 

What are some of the main themes of your book?

Daniel Harrington Fairbanks the Third and the Great Camping Adventure is the second book in a series of rhyming stories about Daniel and his dog Clark.  Daniel and Clark, along with their new friend Brooke, embark on a camping trip with their families.  But their fun is cut short when Clark gets lost in the woods.  While trying to reunite with Daniel and Brooke, Clark makes a new friend and has many adventures along the way.

The story is a lively tale about the unbreakable bonds of friendship between children and dogs, with lessons about the importance of making new friends and keeping loved ones close to you.

Having a law background, what first inspired you to be a writer?

I have always been interested in being a writer.  I have a passion for literacy and for children.

What prompted you to write children’s books?

In addition to being a lawyer, I also have a passion for and a background in education.  I served for nearly four years as the Deputy Secretary’s Regional Representative at the U.S. Department of Education, and I currently have an education consulting firm, working with PK-12 schools to improve performance and increase student achievement.  So, children, education, and literacy have always been very important to me, and writing a children’s book is a great way to combine those passions together.

What sparks your creativity?

I always enjoy a good story, and I think that great stories can be found in many places.  My curiosity is sparked by engaging in a conversation, seeing something that piques my interest, or experiencing something new.  Often, the best stories come out of the ordinary details of life.

What’s one big thing you want both children and parents to take away from your book?

I want my books to encourage reading among children by giving them a fun story to read.  I want parents and children alike to enjoy the story and to share it together.

“Daniel Harrington Fairbanks the Third and the Great Camping Adventure” is second in a series, where did you get the idea for this series?

I have always wanted to write a book about a boy and his dog, due to my own love for dogs.  I was speaking at a literacy conference a couple of years ago and after my remarks, I had several people suggest to me that I should consider writing some children’s books.  After receiving a little encouragement to get started, I sat down and created the characters and their adventures together, drawing on my own experiences as well as fictional events.

What was your favorite book(s) as a child, and how did it affect you as a future writer?

I enjoyed all of the Dr. Seuss books.  I think these books impacted my interest in writing rhyming stories because I know that both children and adults enjoy reading a rhyming book.

Join us here at the Catalyst Ranch for our next Match Books Event Saturday December 11, 2010 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, when we welcome Todd Zoellick for the exclusive first reading of his new book “Daniel Harrington Fairbanks the Third and the Great Camping Adventure.” Children will have the opportunity to meet and talk with the author about the themes and lessons found in the book. Artistic associates of the multi-award winning Porchlight Music Theatre will be on hand to lead a creative theatre/storytelling workshop based on these themes, culminating in a performance that the whole family can enjoy! Check out our Happenings Page for all the info!

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