This book was born of a belief, a challenge, and a request. The belief is that creativity can be encouraged, enhanced, and enabled by managers. Although so much innovation today emerges through group processes, most literature on creativity focuses on creative indi-viduals. We maintain that any group can be more creative, even if its members individually wouldn't score highly on tests for creativity. If you are a manager seeking better ways to harness the talents of your group members and to ignite creativity, we've designed this book with you in mind. We believe your leadership can make a real difference.

Many managers fall into the trap of assuming that only gifted indi-viduals-readily identifiable "creative types"-can produce break-through thinking, and if you don't have an eccentric genius on your team, your efforts are doomed to mediocrity. Some even argue that creativity is an art that can't possibly be planned or managed with-out extinguishing the vital creative spark. Yet, say Dorothy Leonardand Walter Swap, today's most innovative, complex services, prod-ucts, and processes spring from well-led, well-managed group interactions.

Leonard and Swap explore how all aspects of the work environment,from leadership style to the promotion of passion to the use of space to maximize serendipity, can enhance innovation. Drawing on examples in companies that range from small start-ups to Fisher-Price, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard, When Sparks Fly shows how sophisticated managers can galvanize groups to maximize their creative potential.

Preface

What Is Group Creativity?

Creative Abrasion

Generating Creative Options

Converging on the Best Options

Designing the Physical Environment

Designing the Psychological Environment

Notes

Bibliography

index

About the Authors