Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality - Softcover

Belsky, Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670920606 ISBN 13: 9780670920600

Publisher: Penguin, 2011

Synopsis

Thomas Edison famously said that genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Every day new solutions, revolutionary cures, and artistic breakthroughs are conceived and squandered by smart people. Along with the gift of creativity come the obstacles to making ideas happen: lack of organisation, lack of accountability and a lack of community support.

Scott Belsky has interviewsed hundreds of the most productive creative people and teams in the world, revealing one common trait: a carefully trained capacity for executing ideas. Implementing your ideas is a skill that can be taught, and Belsky distills the core principles in this book.

While many of us obsess about discovering great new ideas, Belsky shows why it is better to develop the capacity to make ideas happen - using old-fashioned passion and perspiration. Making Ideas Happen reveals the practical yet counterintuitive techniques of 'serial creatives' - those few who make their visions a reality.

About this title

Review:

If you care about your art, your job or your market, you really have no choice but to read this book (Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and Linchpin)

Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. This book helps you with the hard part (Guy Kawasaki, former Apple guru and author of The Art of the Start)

This book is like a Swiss Army knife for ideas (Ji Lee, Creative Director at Google Creative Lab)

This is a book about execution, and when it comes to going from an idea to a real business, execution is everything (John Battelle, co-founder of WIRED and BoingBoing)

If your creative team or organization struggles to implement their best ideas, or if you find that your own creative projects languish unfinished, you need Making Ideas Happen (Teresa Amabile, Director of Research, Harvard Business School)

There are techniques in this book that can turn disorganised creative prima donnas into organised creative prima donnas (Chuck Porter, co-chairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky)

Belsky offers an illustrated map to get to the destination of your great ideas (Scott Thomas, Design Director, Obama Presidential Campaign)

From the Back Cover:

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. This book helps you with the hard part'
Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple and author of The Art of the Start

Edison famously said that genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Ideas for new businesses, solutions to the world's problems, and artistic breakthroughs are common, but great execution is rare. While most books tell you how to release your creative potential, Scott Belsky shows that success is not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen.

According to Belsky, ideas don't happen because they are great - or by accident. Creative success is a matter of rethinking methods and increasing focus, while rewarding old-fashioned passion and perspiration. This bestselling book reveals the three steps vital to making any idea happen: getting organised, collaborating, and leading effectively.


There are too many ideas in the world, and not enough action. Here, at last, is a systematic approach to creative organisation and productivity.

'This is a book about execution, and execution is everything'
John Battelle, co-founder of WIRED and BoingBoing

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0670920606
• ISBN 13: 9780670920600
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256