Creative Careers

How do you find talent with a creative spark? To what extent can you predict human creativity, or is human creativity something irreducible before our eyes, perhaps to be spotted or glimpsed by intuition, but unique each time it appears? Obsessed with these questions, renowned economist Tyler Cowen and venture capitalist and entrepreneur Daniel Gross set out to study the art and science of finding talent at the highest level: the people with the creativity, drive, and insight to transform an organization and make everyone around them better.

For generations, we’ve been taught there are two ways to succeed - either from talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path - one that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering.

Many of our nation's men and women exit the military without a clue of what to do next. Others pursue their passions, doing everything they can to break into the life they've always dreamed of. This book provides guidance on how to follow your passions, and includes interviews with military veterans who have gone on to creative careers.

In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you'll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life.

Are you over-extended, over-distracted, and overwhelmed? Do you work at a breakneck pace all day, only to find that you haven’t accomplished the most important things on your agenda when you leave the office? The world has changed, and the way we work has to change, too. With wisdom from 20 leading creative minds, Manage Your Day-to-Day will give you a toolkit for tackling the new challenges of a 24/7, always-on workplace.

In Creative Conflict, negotiation experts Bill Sanders and Frank Mobus use a dynamic, dialectical approach to show how negotiations are driven by competition and cooperation at the same time. They believe that when we tiptoe around conflict, we negotiate in a halfhearted way that limits our results. By contrast, creative negotiators probe and push until they hit a wall of disagreement, and then they figure out how to get past it.

Former Nike CMO Greg Hoffman shares lessons and stories on the power of creativity drawn from almost three decades of experience within Nike. A celebration of ingenuity and a call-to-arms for brand-builders to rediscover the human element in forming consumer bonds, Emotion by Design is an insider’s guide to unlocking inspiration within a brand and building stronger emotional connections with consumers.

Derek Sivers was a professional musician before he started a music distribution company that helped 150,000 musicians sell their music to over four million people. So after years of living the problems, he was able to learn the solutions.

In It's a Jungle in There, Steven shares his strategies to make you a winner in business and in life. By walking through the "Five Ps" of entrepreneurial success, you'll learn exactly how to apply your inner creativity to your dreams and reap the rewards when your business takes on a lucrative life of its own. Steven provides critical self-examination questions to assess chances for achieving entrepreneurial accomplishment. He reveals, through personal stories and business lessons, what to do if you wish to realize your full business potential.

Are you an entrepreneur in a creative industry? Does your business struggle with consistent profitability and cash flow? Do you feel it is a never-ending struggle to choose between doing the work you are passionate about and staying in business? Christian Brim is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant with over twenty-five years of working with small business owners to grow profitably. Heavily influenced by a family riches-to-rags experience in his formative years, Christian has dedicated his life’s work to helping entrepreneurs have businesses that work for them.

Art Thinking combines the mind-sets of art and the tools of business to protect space for open-ended exploration and manage risks on your way to success. Art Thinking takes you from "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" to realizing your highest aims, helping you build creative skills you can apply across all facets of business and life. Warm, honest, and unexpected, Art Thinking will help you reimagine your work and life-and even change the world-while enjoying the journey from point A.

The Pop-Up Pitch is a radical new approach to help you create the perfect presentation, combining three key elements of persuasive storytelling - simple pictures, clear words, and powerful emotions - that together motivate audiences to pay attention, learn something new, and make effective decisions. The Pop-Up Pitch weaves together the latest insights on visual cognition, behavioral economics, and classic story structures in an easy-to-learn and inspiring storytelling algorithm.

If you're a creative writer interested in a freelance income stream, want to work from home, and need help selling your skills to small business, this inspiring book will get you launched with confidence. Ideal for creative writers, journalists, students and bloggers with great writing skills. Get these gold tips and strategies, and hit the ground running!

Join speaker and coach Heather Whelpley as she shares her life-changing journey to let go of proving, pleasing, and perfecting—and guides you to do the same. Through a seamless blend of vulnerable, heartfelt stories and practical tools, you'll discover why you go into overachieving perfection mode.

Drawing on the personal experiences and uplifting stories of ordinary men and women. Campbell shows us how to put the healing power of music into action. And he recommends specific, easy-to-follow exercises to help you raise your spatial IQ, sound away pain, boost creativity, and make the spirit sing.

Many farm folks work hard at producing great crops and caring for livestock, but when it comes to communicating their deepest desires for the future of the farm, they get stuck. Building Your Farm Legacy: Tools to Empower Family is a useful toolbox created by a farm woman, partner, and mother to a successor.

Ever wish you had a personal money-making machine? One that worked tirelessly while you sip coffee or stroll on the beach? Well, get ready to turn that dream into reality! In "Building a Money Machine with ChatGPT," book we spilled all the secrets – the proven strategies, step-by-step instructions, and insider tips – that will have you raking in the dough in no time. Whether you're a tech whiz or a complete beginner, this book is your ticket to financial freedom. It's time to dump the 9-to-5 grind and build a life where money works for you, not the other way around.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. Just as the Big Novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream.

Winning customers is the lifeblood of any business, yet so many people fail dismally at it. James Sinclair knows how it’s done. In 15 years, he has built a one-man business as a children’s clown into a multi-million-pound enterprise with a network of companies and over 400 employees. In this audiobook, he lets eager business owners into his secrets for getting the right customers fast and to make their businesses grow. Finding, getting, and keeping customers is the most significant and important skill set of a successful start-up entrepreneur.

Are you ready to "make a dent in the universe"? As a creative, you no longer have to take a backseat. In fact, stepping up and embracing entrepreneurship is the fastest route to impact. But where do you start? And what sets the businesses that succeed apart? To find out, we asked the bright minds behind companies like Google X, Warby Parker, Facebook, O’Reilly Media, and more to share their startup wisdom.