There are a ton of books out there that hype a program, a protocol, or pathway for becoming a better leader or entrepreneur. Most of these have some merit, but they can often feel almost interchangeable. That is not the case with Ideaflow, the first book published by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn. The authors credibly and concisely drill down into creativity and innovation tools and examples in a way that I have not witnessed in other “productivity” type books.
The book starts off with a strong level of credibility based on who the authors are. They have worked for top tier companies and trained top tier leaders at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (a.k.a. the d.school) at Stanford for more than a decade. The techniques and practices they introduce in Ideaflow have been tested with hundreds of leaders across cultures and sectors. Having access to time-tested tools is a gift in itself.
I appreciate that this book was written for individuals, and written with tons of encouragement. In the introduction, the authors say “Creativity isn’t a gift reserved for a precious few. It’s learned. If you haven’t done so yet, it’s simply a matter of knowledge, time, and effort.” Did you get that? Creativity is available for everyone, but it takes time and effort. It also takes knowledge. Ideaflow provides a wonderful starting point for gaining knowledge, but no book can put forth effort for you.
Ideaflow as a concept is tied to the principle that quantity drives quantity. This can seem counterintuitive for many of us. When we try to solve problems, we will often work until a “good” idea comes along. Good often means, “workable.” We stop at that moment and shift into execution mode. Ideaflow encourages each of us to stoke the muscles of creativity by continuing to generate ideas after a “good” idea comes along, and to push past “good enough” to find something really innovative.
In the first couple of chapters of the book, the authors offer a simple daily exercise to get creative juices flowing. Before going to bed, seed your mind with a worthwhile problem to sleep on. The next morning, generate ten ideas as to how you can solve the problem. It doesn’t have to be a massive problem, just a problem that you don’t know the answer to. A true problem only responds to new ideas. Since reading this book, I’ve found myself seeding problems as I go to bed (but not stressing about the problems), and the next morning, I spend just a few minutes writing down or reflecting on solutions. It has been a tremendous aid to improving my personal Ideaflow. The authors define Ideaflow as number of ideas generated divided by time–the higher the ratio, the better the ideaflow.
One thing I hope for in future printings of this book is some type of discussion guide. The tools and practices in this book are great for individuals and groups who are disciplined enough to engage with them, but I think many more would benefit from discussion questions or some type of corresponding workbook to further encourage people to practice working their innovation muscles.
Rather than going into more detail around techniques and key learnings, I simply recommend that you grab a copy of this book and start putting tactics into practice. Don’t worry about whether other people are on board with innovation. Grab this book, learn these tools, and put them into practice. Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn have bundled up robustly tested tools at an affordable price in Ideaflow.
