Unleashing Creativity and Innovation: Nine Lessons from Nature for Enterprise Growth and Career Success -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Your Organization's Top Needs: Creativity and Innovation -- Want to Move Up? Meet Your Boss's and Organization's Top Needs -- Why I Started Studying Nature -- "What Ifs" Meet the Psychological Needs of "Making a Difference" and "Experiencing Growth" -- Introduction -- Part I: Creativity and Innovation: The Keys to Enterprise Growth and Career Success in the Twenty-First Century -- "What If"́ Thinking: The Driver Behind FedEx's Launch and Growth into a Global Icon -- A What If Suggestion: The Reason behind my First Big Promotion -- Enterprise Needs Innovation from Everyone -- "I Like the Way You Think" Started Ram on a Very Successful and Fulfilling Career Journey -- Creativity Is Using Imagination to Ask What If? -- Your Simple Ideas Are Valuable and Much Needed -- Are Companies Facing New Competitive Challenges in the Current Business Environment? -- Is the Rate of Change Going to Slow Down? -- Part II: The Four Requirements for the Mind to Generate Creative Ideas -- Creativity in the Business World -- What if We Typed Using Only Our Thumbs? The Birth of the BlackBerry -- Ongoing Creativity and Innovation: A Must for Sustaining Market Leadership -- Innovation: Connecting Dots from Disparate Fields -- Generating (MINTing) Ideas -- Webster's Dictionary -- M Stands for More Dots: Expanded Knowledge Base -- Leonardo da Vinci: A Classic Example of Expanded Knowledge Base -- I Stands for Imagination -- From NASCAR Pit to Scalloped Potato Production -- N Stands for Nominal Stress (Creative Tension) -- T Stands for Time -- Part III: Seven Unleashing Creativity Lessons from Nature for Creating the Requirements -- Nature: A Rich Resource for Understanding Ourselves.

Nature: A Fertile Environment for Creative Thinking -- Design in Nature -- Biomimicry: Learning and Imitating Nature's Designs -- Behold the Birth of Velcro -- Similarities between Fruits/Flowers and Creative Ideas: The Natural By-products of the Various Living Systems -- More Dots (Expanded Knowledge Base) -- The First of the Four Requirements (MINT) -- Creativity Lesson 1: Grow Knowledge -- Creativity Lesson 1: Grow Knowledge -- What's Revealed in Nature? -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 1: Grow Knowledge -- Applying the Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 2: Be Persistent -- Creativity Lesson 2: Be Persistent -- What's Revealed in Nature? -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 2: Be Persistent -- Applying the Lesson -- Imagination (To Connect Dots) -- The Second of the Four Requirements (MINT) -- Creativity Lesson 3: Trust Yourself -- Creativity Lesson 3: Trust Yourself -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 3: Trust Yourself -- Applying the Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 4: Stay Calm -- Creativity Lesson 4: Stay Calm -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 4: Stay Calm -- Applying the Lesson -- Nominal Stress (Creative Tension) -- The Third of the Four Requirements (MINT) -- Creativity Lesson 5: Take Risks -- Setting Innovation Goals (Creative Tension) -- Expressing Raw Creative Ideas -- Creativity Lesson 5: Take Risks -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 5: Take Risks -- Applying the Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 6: Minimize Negativity -- Creativity Lesson 6: Minimize Negativity -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 6: Minimize Negativity -- Applying the Lesson -- Time (To Think and Nurture Ideas) -- The Fourth of the Four Requirements (MINT) -- Creativity Lesson 7: Unplug Your Devices.

Creativity Lesson 7: Unplug Your Devices -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Creativity Lesson 7: Unplug Your Devices -- Applying the Lesson -- Part IV: The Tested and Proven Three-Step Innovation Process -- Innovation: A Three-Step People Process -- Leading for Innovation: Engaging the Team in the Innovation Process -- Gaining Acceptance of Creative Ideas -- To Gain Acceptance, All of the Above (Human) Concerns Must Be Addressed -- A Proven Communication Model for Gaining Acceptance -- Successful Implementation -- Review in Advance the Idea/Proposal One-on-One with Key People -- Looking out the Window and Taking Action to Stay One Step ahead of the Competition -- Part V: Two Leading for Innovation Lessons from Nature for Engaging Your Team in the Innovation Process -- Leading for Innovation -- Lesson 8: Tap into Strengths -- Lesson 9: Promote Diversity of Thought -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 8: Tap into Strengths -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 8: Tap into Strengths -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Creativity Lesson -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 8: Tap into Strengths -- Applying the Lesson -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 9: Promote Diversity of Thought -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 9: Promote Diversity of Thought -- What's Revealed in Nature -- Teaches Us -- Leading for Innovation Lesson 9: Promote Diversity and Adaptability -- Applying the Lesson -- Closing Thoughts MINT in Action -- Fred Smith's Idea + Employees' Creativity = Global Icon -- Management Prefers "We Can" People -- Saarinen: Leaving a Rich Legacy through Creativity in Architecture -- Easing Brain Fatigue with a Walk in the Park -- Nothing Happens in the Business World without a Process -- Career Growth and Enterprise Growth Go Together -- References -- Acknowledgments -- About the Author -- Products and Services Available -- Index.