Breakthrough Creativity
Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents
Many books on creativity cite examples from the lives of Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and other famous persons. Levesque contends that everyone is creative in different ways. The goal of her book is to provide a process to discover what a person’s creative talents are and how to apply them for positive results. She combines twenty years of business experience with research in creativity, innovation, and personality type theory to help readers answer the question, “How am I creative?”
It’s easy to identify a personal creative style with the self-assessments in the first part of the book. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, Levesque describes the eight creative styles, including the contributions that a particular style offers, how the style works, what obstacles can get in the way, what steps can boost the maximum benefit from the style, and what steps anyone can take when working with that style. In part two, personal life stories and interviews help to clarify the eight creative talents.
One action step mentioned as a way to boost creativity in several of the styles is to take time to reflect. An executive goes to work early to get a two-hour block of time for any work needing creativity; an information technology manager schedules quiet weekend time to plan the next week; a pilot uses journaling right after waking in the morning and during the day, any time there is an insight. A business leader says, “While I am driving, I am always thinking, always looking for ways to solve problems, do things better.” With each style there are examples such as these to support the premise that creativity has many different forms and belongs to anyone.
Levesque asserts that creativity at work is not in the quantity or brilliance of ideas. There is more than one way to be creative. “You need self-awareness, focus, purpose, goals and organization to consistently produce these different and valuable results.” Being willing to put the ideas presented into action gives both the sense of being creative as well as furthering creativity in professional and personal life.
Reviewed by
Patricia Weber
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
