There is a quote that goes something like “books are a way to have a conversation with the greatest minds of the world” (if you know who said that or if you think I just made it up, let me know.) As I prepare for my next challenge after grad school, I have been exploring what it will mean for me to create something new (a business, project, book, what have you). The following are five books that inspired me to be creative : Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley 

David Kelley is the Founder of IDEO, one of the coolest companies on the block, and the D school (design) at Stanford has partnered with his brother Tom (author of a great couple other books – including The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm). This book reminded me of my elementary school (New City School in St. Louis), a place where creativity runs rampant. This book is full of some great tools and ideas. From psychology to motivation, there are many ideas sewn together here that are given a full book or more by other authors. Everyone is a creative type according to the authors, and they are here to show you how to unleash your inner creative person. This book is essentially a step-by-step guide to transforming yourself and your thinking to feel and be more creative.  The author’s point of view focuses on design – making something with a specific end user in mind.  The best way to use this book would be to read it through and pick out a few things you want to try, and then pull the book out next time you have a project or group meeting. See my Books For Adventurers page for complete notes.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne

 This book ties in well with Godin’s work below, The Icarus Deception. My main takeaway from this book is that we all have some amazing accomplishments, art, ideas inside us, waiting to be released for the benefit of the world but are held back by ‘the resistance’.  The  resistance is the feeling that comes whenever we get around to doing something meaningful and we start to feel stuck and procrastinate and back away from the challenge.  Don’t give in! This book will give you the kick in the pants you need to push through the resistance.

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin

 This is the first book I have read by Seth Godin, and I really enjoyed the experience. It is clear that he does a lot of thinking about the prevailing nature of commerce and society.  Most of the thoughts in this book take up one page or less, and are collected into the chapters.  This makes it easy to pick up and read for a few minutes, and easy to come back to later for parts that you really connect with.  Speaking of connection, one key takeaway from this book for me was the idea of what Godin calls the “connection economy”- to be successful in the modern world you must do your “art” (defined as real, new, and important), which, by putting your work out there will create a real human connection. Icarus flew too close to the sun; Godin reminds us of the other part of the tale, in which flying too low would cause Icarus to crash into the sea.  Don’t be too humble, too obedient, and too quiet.

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell

 If you have ready any of Gladwell’s other works, you know there is usually some key idea that gets picked up and spread around and makes it’s way into pop culture – take the 10,000 hour rule from Outliers for example. Gladwell has been dialing in his writing for some time, only this time, there are lots more stories within a story – anecdotes to explain context.  My personal key takeaway from this book is that no matter how small, new, or inexperienced you are, there can be found some advantage you have over your larger more established competitors, whether it is agility, cunning, frame of reference, etc.  If you can find a way to shift an interaction away from the terms of the status quo, you gain the advantage.

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

This book is part of this list because a huge step to doing your true calling is to realized the nature of that calling and take steps that will send you in the direction you want to go.  The hardest part is actually making a decision and taking action. Again, a book full of tools to use when you need them. My favorite part of the book is thinking about questions from different perspectives: “What advice would I give my best friend in this situation?”, “How would I feel about this decision in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years?” And “What would I do if the most apparent option was no longer an option?”

Hopefully one or more of these books will catch your eye and give you as much energy to create as they gave me. Do you have any books that should be added to this list? Leave me a comment with your book recommendation.  I’d love to discuss any of these books in depth with any of you, so send me an email if you want to have a discussion.