Acknowledgments xi

"INTHE BEGINNING" 1
From Solitude to Creating with Others 1
Creativity Is Everywhere 3
How to Use This Book 5
The Workplace Widget 12

1. CREATIVITY IS GETTING OUTSIDE YOURSELF 19
Perceptions Are Doorways to Creation 19
Marc: I Have to Be Connected to Other People 20
Support and the Feedback Loop 24
Eleanor: People Need to Get Away 25
Keep the Space Safe 28
Creative Practice 31

2. SISYPHUS IN THE SLIPSTREAM 37
The Muse Is in the Present Moment 37
Alone and with Others 39
Steve: I Respond in Ways I Never Knew Were Possible 42
Sharon: There Has to Be a Give-and-Take 43
Assisting Forces 45
The Mental Switch 48
Creative Practice 51

3. FLOW AND SPONTANEITY: THE MOVEMENT BASIS OF CREATION 55
Creating Outside the Lines 55
In and Out of Contact 56
Interaction Generates Ideas 57
Peter: The importance of Goals, Structure, and Rules 59
From One Movement to Another 67
Creative Practice 72

4. GATHERING TOGETHER: THE INTEGRATING PROCESS OF IMAGINATION 74
The Mediating Place of Imagination 74
Showing Up and Falling Together 79
Sarah: The Creative Energy of Teams 83
Bill: Being Compelled to Stretch 88
To Imagine Is to Let Go 93
Active Imagination and Creative Problem Solving 99
Creative Practice 110

5. POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND MAKING THE MOST OF BAD SITUATIONS 115
Simple Acts of Renewal 115
David: Stay Open and Positive 116
Wendy and Luis: Tap into the Creative Energy and Learn How to Let Go 117
Ida: Falling Apart 123
Vital Communities 127
John: It's an Attitude 128
Creative Practice 136

6. CRITICISM AND TWO VIEWS OF OPEN SPACE 139
What Are the Goals? 139
Sam: Struggles with Criticism 142
Aesthetic Distance 147
Fallow Periods 150
Karen: The Cultivation of Creative Ecology 151
Paul: No Letting Up 153
Creative Practice 156

7. FLYING SPARKS: RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE AND PLACES 163
We Owe Everything to Those Who Shape Us 163
Mary: A Social Basis to Creativity 165
Laura: Different Kinds of Creative Relationships 167
Stan and Leah: Yin and Yang 171
Lucy: Affirming Others 175
Seeing Familiar Places for the First Time 179
Matthew: Different Environments Energize One Another 181
Creating Is Conversation 186
Creative Practice 189

8. WHAT LEADERS CAN AND CANNOT DO 193
Control and Liberation: The Necessary Interplay 193
Witnessing Others 197
Mike: There Are No Road Maps for the Deep Terrain of Creativity 199
Shirley: We Need to Delegate More to the Environment 208
Build a Culture That Supports the Creative Process 214
Norm: Everyone in the Organization Has to Be a Leader 218
Creative Practice 230

9. CREATING FROM THE HARD PLACES 233
The Creative Process and Healing Are Inseparable 233
The Power of Disturbance 235
When Existential Discontents Grow Out of Proportion 236
M. L. O'Connor: Art Kept Me Alive 238
The Transforming Role of Crisis and the Healing Power of Community 243
Lisa: Making Creative Energy as an Artist-in-Residence 247
Creative Practice 254

Index 259