Ideaship How to Get Ideas Flowing in Your Workplace

by Foster, Jack; Corby, Larry

• ISBN13: 9781576751640
• ISBN10: 1576751643
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-11
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

The benefit of having a workforce that is idea-prone can hardly be overstated. Nathan Mhyrvold, former chief technology officer at Microsoft, was recently quoted in Fast Company as saying that "a great employee is worth 1,000 times more than an average one. Why? Because of the quality of her ideas." Ideaship aims to help employers turn average employees into great ones. Ideaship is about how you can better make the people you work with more creative. According to Jack Foster, the primary job of a leader (what he calls an "Ideaer") is to raise people's self-esteem, to make it fun to come to work. Ideaship details thirty-nine ways to accomplish that job, ways born out of the need of creative directors in advertising agencies to lead their departments of misfits and free spirits, of original thinkers, of people who resist authority and reject dogma, of people who cannot be led, but who must be "ideaed."

Author Biography

Jack Foster is author of the bestselling How to Get Ideas. For thirty-five years he worked in the creative departments of major advertising agencies -- the first ten as a writer, the last twenty-five as a creative director

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Part I What Is Ideaship?	1	(4)
Part II How Do You Become an Ideaist?	5	(14)
You help people think better of themselves	7	(7)
You help create an environment that's fun	14	(5)
Part III Sixteen Personal Things You Can Do	19	(42)
Follow the golden rule	21	(3)
Care about the people you work with	24	(3)
Remember that they work with you, not for you	27	(2)
Make sure they like you	29	(3)
Take the blame, give the praise away	32	(3)
Hire only people you like	35	(3)
Trust them	38	(2)
Praise their efforts	40	(4)
Allow them the freedom to fail	44	(2)
Help them achieve their goals	46	(2)
Never lie about anything important	48	(2)
Show some enthusiasm	50	(2)
Ask them to help you	52	(2)
Get rid of the word ``I''	54	(2)
Play the fool	56	(2)
Have fun yourself	58	(3)
Part IV Seven Organizational Things You Can Do	61	(18)
Cut down on approvals	63	(3)
Make everybody an owner	66	(2)
Give them what they need	68	(2)
Keep it small	70	(2)
Tell them everything about their company	72	(2)
Shun rules	74	(2)
Pay for their education	76	(3)
Part V Eighteen Strategic Things You Can Do	79	(48)
Don't ask for one solution --- Ask for many	81	(2)
Make their jobs seem easy	83	(2)
Don't reject ideas --- Ask for more	85	(3)
Give them more than one problem at a time	88	(3)
Ask for more ideas, sooner	91	(2)
If it isn't working, change it	93	(2)
Let them solo	95	(3)
Let them do it their way	98	(2)
Make sure the problem is the problem	100	(3)
Let them shine	103	(2)
Be wary of fear	105	(2)
Make it Us vs Them, not Us vs Us	107	(3)
Share what everybody does	110	(2)
Share experiences	112	(2)
Search for ways to create fun	114	(2)
Insist on vacations	116	(2)
Let them vacation when they want to vacation	118	(2)
Forget about efficiency, care about the idea	120	(7)
What Should You Do Next?	123	(4)
Notes	127	(4)
Index	131	(4)
About the Author	135	(2)
About the Illustrator	137