Book Report: Disciplined Dreaming

Book Report

From: Lowell Hohstadt

Date: 2021-04-18

Book Title: Disciplined Dreaming

Author: Josh Linkner

Subject/Topic: Leadership

Short Summary (Author’s purpose):

“I developed the Disciplined Dreaming system to give creativity its own place and practice, to provide everyone in the organization a structure for developing his or her own creative ideas, and to bring creativity back to the heart of business – where it belongs.”

Relevance (Why I chose to read this book): The concept of imagination and creativity in the context of leadership is a unique approach, one which melds the artistic world with the practical.

Background Knowledge (Things I already knew about topic): As the author is a former jazz musician, he gave many allusions I could relate to, how music and creativity work.  So, from that standpoint, I felt at home with the author’s thoughts.  His application to the business world, regarding risk, motivational inspiration in corporate meetings, and finding the best ideas by generating many to choose from, were new applications to my core understandings of creativity.

Main Points in this Book (5 key points):

  1. “The Creativity gap will determine the economic potential of every individual and organization in the years ahead.”
  2. “The world doesn’t need another ‘me-too’ player…Success in the new era of business is driven by your ability to stand out and be truly remarkable.  That requires an ability to tap into creativity, break the mold, introduce disruptive change, and dislodge the status quo.”
  3. “People who demonstrate curiosity and courage become indispensable to their companies.”
  4. “How APRIL Links Business and Jazz:
    Autonomy – Team members are in control of their own performance, experience, and results.
    Passion – ‘Players’ are driven by something bigger than just the task at hand.
    Risk – The working environment celebrates risk and failure.
    Innovation – New ideas are rewarded.
    Listening – The culture emphasizes raising awareness and connecting to the environment.
  5. “Steps to Disciplined Dreaming:
    1. Ask – The Ask phase is all about asking questions, exploring possibilities, and awakening curiosity and awareness.
    2. Prepare – Set the stage…by preparing every aspect of your mind, body, and environment to support maximum creative performance.
    3. Discover – Uncover creative ideas and bring them to the surface.
    4. Ignite – Develop…sparks into fully formed ideas.
    5. Launch – Your analytical side is reconnected with your creativity, as whole-brain thinking goes to work.
  6. To drive curiosity and awareness, ask:
    1. Why?
    2. What if?
    3. Why not?
  7. “Creativity generally involves crossing the boundaries of domains.  The most creative among us see relationships the rest of us never notice.”  (Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi)
  8. “Editing and executing are left-brain activities, using the part of your brain that manages analytical, practical, and formulaic thinking.  The creative act is driven by your right brain, the area reserved for abstract thought and imagination.  We live in a predominantly left-brain world, so your left brain is probably much more developed than your right brain…If you’re worried about making everything perfect before you go to the next step, you will end up executing your best thinking all right, but not in a good way…Force yourself to let your creative voice hold the floor, and tell the editor and executor to shut up.”
  9. “There is an undeniable correlation in organizations between high levels of innovation and cultures that nurture creativity.”
  10. “In the Industrial Age, businesses won by extracting the most manual labor out of workers; in the Information Age, the most precision and efficiency.  In today’s Age of Creativity, your key challenge is to unleash creative ideas from your team in order to drive meaningful business performance.”

Connection (3 ways this new information connects to my growth):

  1. Towards the beginning of the book, there is a creativity test, which I scored in the top tier.  Creativity has never been something I have struggled with.  I feel at home with it.  My difficulty has been trying to bring others along on a creative journey, in a ‘non-editing’ way.  Some of the author’s ideas to help people who find creativity difficult could be helpful to implement with those around me.
  2. I need to focus on how to build a ‘creative culture’ and foster creativity in others through articulating clear and concise ‘core values’ that the members of my team can work from.
  3. I am generally so focused on completing tasks while functioning in the creative process, that my demeanor can sometimes be highly intense.  This can be discouraging to others, who may find the creative process difficult, from being as creative as they can be.  Incorporating a ‘playful’ attitude into the creative environment can counteract this.  “You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” (Plato)

Application (2 ways I will incorporate what I have learned):

  1. Begin to develop creativity in others around me by fostering a ‘creative environment.’
  2. Challenge my own creativity, taking my strengths in these areas and endeavoring to use them even more.