Blake has almost 15 years of experience in the study and facilitation of creativity—having served as a Director of Innovation, Senior Strategist, and Futurist in many arenas—from software development to public education.
Before moving into the private sector, Blake worked in higher education at Texas A&M University. While there he taught courses in creativity and helped develop the University’s “Build Your Own Major” degree program—allowing students to explore fields of study that have yet to be invented.
Blake holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M and a Masters in Creativity from SUNY College Buffalo. Blake has spoken both nationally and internationally on creativity and innovation—including a TEDx Talk titled "Unconventional Approaches to Transforming Public Education”.
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$10 eBook
70 readers
To show my appreciation for your support, you will receive both an ePUB and PDF version of the book.
What you'll receive:
+ ePUB copy of the eBook
+ PDF copy of the eBook
Free shipping
$22 Print Copy
34 readers
If you would find a printed copy of the book more useful, then this is the reward choice for you.
What you'll receive:
+ 1 printed copy of the book delivered to you
+ ePUB copy of the eBook
+ PDF copy of the eBook
This reward is based on the assumption that you will read or use the book for it's intended purpose. That if you are feeling more creative and want to use the printed version of this book for another purpose--here are a few suggestions:
1. Use as kindling to start a fire in order to keep warm;
2. Use to prop up your Cinema Display monitor on your desk to help reduce neck strain; or
3. Place under a table leg to reduce wobbling.
Note: If you wish to receive more than one book, you will be able to increase the quantity of your pre-order during the checkout process.
1 copy + ebook included
$10 shipping
$35 Supporter Recognition
6 readers
To show my gratitude for your extra support, you will be named and thanked in the book's acknowledgements.
You'll receive:
+ 1 printed copy of the book delivered to you
+ ePUB copy of the ebook
+ PDF copy of the eBook
+ Thank you inside the book!
1 copy + ebook included
$10 shipping
$44 Get One, Give One
2 readers
This is an amazing deal. It's two print copies of my book for the price of two books. And while I can't require you to do so, I would encourage you to give the second copy to someone else. Unless you find value in reading two books (that are exactly the same) at the same time.
You'll receive:
+ 2 printed copies of the book delivered to you
+ ePUB copy of the ebook
+ PDF copy of the ebook
While this reward is primarily predicated on the assumption that the recipient can read (specially in the language of English), if you find that you cannot read, don't fret--here are a few other uses for the book:
1. Burn as kindling to start a fire in order to keep warm;
2. Prop up your Cinema Display monitor on your desk to help reduce neck strain; or
3. Place under a table leg to reduce wobbling.
2 copies + ebook included
$10 shipping
$150 Video Training Package
0 readers
This package will come with a 60-minute online training session for you and up to 5 colleagues. I will work with you to uniquely design the tools discussed in my book to work within your particular context. During this session I will provide additional notes on how to best use the tools with within your organization or with clients, board members, stakeholders, etc.
Additionally, to show my gratitude for your extra support, you and/or your organization will be named and thanked in the book's acknowledgements.
You'll receive:
+ A 60 minute video work session via Google Hangout or Skype
+ 1 printed copy of the book delivered to you
+ ePUB copy of the ebook
+ PDF copy of the ebook
+ Thank you inside the book!
1 copy + ebook included
$10 shipping
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$1500 On-Site Speaker/Training Package
0 readers
Your generous support will come with an on-site speaking and training event at a venue of your choosing. I will provide an interactive workshop where you and your colleagues can receive focused training on how to utilize, adapt, and facilitate tools discussed in the book. Every attendee of this workshop will walk away with a strong understanding of how to apply these tools (having had the opportunity to deliberately practice them during the workshop).
Additionally, to show my gratitude for your extra support, you and/or your organization will be named and thanked in the book's acknowledgements.
You'll receive:
+ An on-site workshop with me at a venue of your choosing
+ 5 printed copies of the book delivered to you
+ ePUB copy of the ebook
+ PDF copy of the ebook
+ Thank you inside the book!
5 copies + ebook included
$20 shipping
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How to think like MacGyver
A tool kit for finding creativity through seemingly unrelated ideas.
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OVERVIEW
I was putting together a TEDx Talk and had come up with the working title, ‘How MacGyver Can Help Transform Public Education”. I was pretty excited about it, until a friend asked me “What’s a macgyver?”, bringing a sudden halt to both my catchy title and the assumption everyone shared my love for the brilliant 80s television hero.
Over seven seasons, the fictional TV character MacGyver used his creativity to solve over 430 problems. Many of his impressive solutions came through the combination of seemingly unrelated objects. In essence, this is what analogical thinking or the practice of “making associations” means--and it is an essential skill of human creativity.
Who Is This Book For?
I’m writing this book for users – not readers. It’s a field guide for people who want to enhance their capacity for making associations. It’s for people who need practical, accessible tools for the purpose of creatively solving problems, and will hopefully be a book you come back to daily, weekly, monthly as you encounter new problems to solve and new creative challenges.
Why This Book?
Simply put, most adults stink at creative thinking. According to a study discussed in the book Breakpoint and Beyond (1998), when 200,000 adults were given an assessment for creative thinking, only 2% of those adults scored at genius level for divergent thinking--a key aspect of successful creativity. In contrast, when a group of kindergartners were given the same assessment, 98% of them scored at genius level.
While we seem to lose this skill as we mature, it’s one we can certainly regain. We simply need help learning how to enhance our capacity for “deliberate creativity”. I believe associative thinking is one of the most important skills for successful creative thinking, and there are many practical ways to go about improving our practice of it. This book is designed to provide practical, accessible tools and techniques to improve your aptitude for associative thinking and equip you to approach problem solving more creatively and effectively.
How The Book Will Be Organized
Each chapter covers a specific tool for enhancing associative thinking and will be organized into three parts: background of the tool, how to use the tool, and real-life examples of the tool in action. There will also be a helpful diagnostic guide in the front to help you easily find the tool or tools that would best serve you in a given situation.
Some Example Tools
What if a coffee-cup Splash Stick, covered with temperature-sensitive paint, could change color depending on the temperature of the liquid inside the cup? This way, you can take a drink as soon as the Splash Stick reaches a particular color (your preferred temperature) without risk of burning your lip. This is an example of utilizing Synectics, a set of analogical tools using direct, personal, fantasy, and symbolic analogies to “help you think un-habitually” and solve problems more creatively. Developed by William J.J. Gordon in the 1960s, Synectics enhances creative problem solving through analogy and metaphor.
For about a year now, the Perth Wave Energy Project has been operating out of Australia through an organization named Carnegie Wave Energy Limited. Carnegie has installed three commercial-scale generators that float under the surface of the water and transfer power produced by the movement of underwater waves into usable electricity. Biomimicry is a tool that encourages the study of biological methods and systems found in nature in order to influence the design of solutions to real-world problems. Coined by Jack Steele in 1958, this work essentially means “like life”.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Introduction: Creativity Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum
Chapter 1: Forced Connections / Forced Fit -- The most straightforward of techniques for encouraging deliberate associative thinking. “When I consider this object, what ideas do I get for solving my problem?”
Chapter 2: SCAMPER -- Originally developed by Alex Osborn, the father of the Brainstorming process, this mnemonic device helps us think of ways we can substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to other uses, eliminate, and rearrange the ideas we are working with.
Chapter 3: Morphological Matrix / Idea Box / Creative Matrix -- Made famous by Fran Striker, to help him craft the scripts for the Lone Ranger Radio Show, this tool uses chance to force unexpected intersections of concepts that are not normally related.
Chapter 4: Synectics -- Originated by William J.J. Goardon, Synectics encourages analogical thinking through a variety of methods such as “Personal Analogy”, “Fantasy Analogy, and “Symbolic Analogy”.
Chapter 5: Biomimicry -- This tool helps individuals tap into their creativity by studying biological methods and systems found in nature in order to bring about creative solutions to problems.
Chapter 6: Visual Connections / Visually Identifying Relationships -- This tool primarily targets the sense of sight by encouraging creative thinking through the responses that result from specific stimuli.
Chapter 7: Excursions / Alternative Worlds -- This tool encourages us to imagine how our problem might solved by another entity or within a different context. For example, “What would public education look like if it were design by Amazon? Or Google? Or Mont Blanc?”
Chapter 8: Fish Out of Water / Cross-Fertilization -- The best way to make creative connections, is to connect with people outside your field of expertise, or outside the space where the problem exists. One way to make this happen is to attend conferences or professional meetings that you have no business attending. What ideas might be birthed out of an architect attending the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism?
Chapter 9: Web of Associations / Concept Mapping Switcheroo -- This is an adaptation on the classic tool of Mind Mapping. Instead of working to find how things are related, this tool encourages you to do that and then to deliberately make connections with things that don’t logically relate.
Chapter 10: One of These Things -- Borrowed from the well known Sesame Street segment, this tool encourages you to take advantage of the one thing that doesn’t belong as a way to inspire a unique, creative connection.
Chapter 11: Walk-A-Mile Immersion -- Primarily utilized as an ethnographic tool for field research, this tools encourages empathy and in turn helps you consider new perspectives, which in turn helps you create new ideas.
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Motivational Press
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Dog Ear Publishing
A publishing services company dedicated to delivering amazing results to our authors. From manuscript development and editing to book design to effective marketing tools, Dog Ear delivers. Our dedicated team of publishing professionals have spent years in both the 'traditional' and self publishing worlds. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |
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Mill City Press
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Virtualbookworm Publishing
Virtualbookworm (VBW) Publishing was founded by a writer frustrated by the long wait time and occasional heartbreak often associated with the publishing industry. After researching the various "alternatives," he discovered a number of subsidy publishers that would publish any author ... for a price. Unfortunately, many reviewers (and readers) thumb their noses at books from such houses, since all it takes is cash to get published by them. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |