In a recent piece explaining “How Senior Executives Find Time to Be Creative,” The Happiness Track author Emma Seppala points out that “the number-one attribute CEOs look for in their incoming workforce” is creativity. She goes on to pack her article with tips for fostering creativity day in and day out – even on a busy schedule. Read about Seppala’s research – and find links to pieces on energy at work, listening well, literature and mental health and more.
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We are delighted to unveil our newest project: a short film introducing Books@Work in multiple voices, especially those of our partners and participants. This video captures the enthusiasm we see every day, helping us to share the Books@Work model, why our company partners choose to work with us and the experience of Books@Work from a participant’s perspective.
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The past few weeks have offered us a lot to think about, including essays on how supporting parents helps foster noncognitive skills in young children, what makes work meaningful, and the power of poetry and listening. We’ve also included an essay on LeBron James and Homeric epic and a few unusual facts about reading.
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Though we often think about creativity as the production of an original work of art—a painting or a novel, perhaps—creativity is also the ability to synthesize and build on information. Creativity is innovation and problem solving; it’s seeing patterns and learning to explain them. When we say that something provokes creativity, we usually mean that it is in some way inspiring or that it encourages people to think outside of the box.
New research on creativity at work, however, indicates that creating the conditions for creativity might be less about inspiring an individual than it is about creating good teams and a space for respectful, common dialogue.
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Looking for something to read this weekend? We are intrigued by recent research on the importance of groups to happy, healthy workplaces. What’s more, we’re celebrating spring with reflections on literary essays and sports, sharing a favorite Books@Work book, and thinking about the relationship between language and our lived experience.
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We’ve combed the Internet—and our bookshelves—for some great reading. This weekend we’re thinking about reading and empathy, first impressions, the relationship between fantasy and reality, and book groups. We’ve included some poetry and book recommendations, too.
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Looking for something to read? We’ve got a Harvard Business Review essay on the benefits of a book club, The New Yorker and T.S. Eliot on why we love mystery novels and a provocative essay that explores empathy and morality in literature and at work—”MFA vs. CIA.”
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In a rapidly changing world, many low-skilled jobs have given way to automation, replacing individual workers with machines and reducing workforces considerably. But are high-skilled jobs immune to such automation? No, says Ji Shisan, a media executive with deep background in neurobiology, in a recent and provocative piece in the New York Times. In fact, computers and artificial intelligence are replacing human engagement in a wide variety of contexts. These include the Associated Press’ Automated Insights software, which “[produces] thousands of articles about corporate earnings each year,” Facebook’s “virtual assistant,” which “uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer user questions” and “IBM’s Watson,” which “[determines] the best course of treatment for individual cancer patients.” All the programs require human supervision, but as Shisan notes, “white-collar workers are understandably starting to worry about the day when AI can go it alone.” But rather than underscore this worry, Jisan reassures us: “The future’s still bright,” he says, “thanks to our creativity – our unique trait.”
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In a recent Harvard Business Review article, YesWare’s VP of Product, Jake Lavirne, asserts, “An environment of discomfort contributes to creativity by breaking people out of their normal thought patterns, encouraging original thinking and risk-taking.” Interestingly, an effective Books@Work seminar does just that—by creating opportunities to discuss provocative narratives, it pushes participants to challenge their own assumptions and reconsider their beliefs and their routines. Time and again, participants tell us that they come away seeing the world and themselves anew, able to take a step back from their daily lives to consider what those daily lives might really mean. In a recent Books@Work seminar, Professor Ryan Honomichl (whose work has been previously featured on The Notebook) led a seminar with a group of participants in a distribution center near Cleveland on Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. Reading and discussing Ishiguro’s haunting novel permitted them to cultivate “creative discomfort”—together.
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