The Concise Adair on Creativity and Innovation

Citation

Austin, A. (2006), "The Concise Adair on Creativity and Innovation", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 159-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2006.27.2.159.1

John Adair's style is to present a no‐nonsense, practical approach to problem solving and innovation. This slim volume is divided into three sections: creative thinking, innovation and a summary. All are focused on how good ideas are born, nourished and used in industry. The introduction makes it clear that there is no step‐by‐step approach to creativity. Presented here are ways to encourage good ideas and to put them into action. The book is addressed to managers who want to encourage innovation, and begins several of the sections with introductions like “managers should remember that creativity should challenge the status quo …”. Yet practitioners and other non‐managers would also find value in many of the exercises and explanations.

One of the difficulties in using this book – and I say using it because one does not necessarily read the book; one follows it as a guide or simply jumps to specific topics – is that while there are good suggestions, example problems and recommendations here, insights about creativity and innovation are not apparent. The reason? While there are several insights in these pages, there is no build up or justification. They are stated so simply that until you are in the middle of a problem or application of your own, you may not realize the power or universality of the information.

The first section on creative thinking presents a variety of examples and approaches, all of which may not appeal to any one person, but it is likely that most people will find at least some of them to be useful. Adair also points out the pitfalls of following a “creativity process” such as classifying a problem too succinctly instead of thinking holistically and viewing with a wider lens.

In just a page or two for each, Adair covers these topics: the creative process, obstacles which inhibit creativity, developing creativity, key elements of creative thinking and decision making, other approaches, and a checklist of options. He also addresses the risks of possible failure and questions to ask to be sure you are comfortable with the selected solution.

In section 2, innovation, the focus is on innovative individuals and teams in organizations. Some of this information felt a bit dated with the mention of brainstorming and quality circles. However, it remains a good reference for these processes, which still have value.

The third section is confusingly named the summary section. It is bewildering because the entire book is really a summary of techniques, approaches and perspectives. It would be more aptly named application, or “putting it all together”, or similar. The section lists the seven practices of successful creative thinkers and innovators. These are:

1. 1.

   Thinking outside the apparent confines of the problem/situation.

2. 2.

   Welcoming chance intrusions.

3. 3.

   Listening to your depth mind.

4. 4.

   Suspending judgment.

5. 5.

   Using the stepping stones of analogy.

6. 6.

   Tolerating ambiguity.

7. 7.

   Banking all ideas from all sources.

What is ironic about this book is that for a book on creativity and innovation, there are not very many new creative ideas. It is mostly a collection of tried and true techniques and definitions. Anyone in an organization where creativity and innovation are the norm may not find much use for this book. If the reader wishes to have resource that can be reviewed quickly at the start of a new product development program for example, this book would likely fill the need.