CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation
In his first solo effort, management consultant Lundin (co-author of the bestselling Fish! series of business titles) presents a collection of self-awareness and thought exercises to help both managers and underlings become more innovative and involved in their personal and business lives. Lundin delineates four obstacles that limit creativity in all kinds of environments: negative feedback, habit, fear and failure of leadership. He then describes nine techniques for overcoming those obstacles, which include organizing, understanding creativity ("Know that innovation isn't normal") and the power of provocation. Though none of these concepts are new (essentially lifted from the creative arts), much may be unfamiliar to a business audience. The CATS concept itself is rather weak-a CAT (not an acronym) is "anyone working to develop his or her capacity to innovate"-and serves less as a metaphor than a set up for puns in section titles and asides: "CAT Nip," "CAT Pause," "We have let the CAT out of the bag!" Though people with workplace problems like heavy-handed management, narrow-minded thinking or oppressive corporate culture can certainly benefit from Lundin's advice, his repetitive and overly enthusiastic text is more interested in following self-help formula than efficiently helping busy, uninspired execs.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.