Rolf Smith Jr.'s recommendations

By Innovators Guide

By Innovators Guide
Dead Poets Society (UK)

Dead Poets Society (UK)

N. H. Kleinbaum

$8.99 $8.36

To order the book, click the "Add to Cart" button below OR get the recommended DVD at this link: https://www.familyvideo.com/dead-poets-society-12158/ ... Rolf says... A profound movie about thinking diffferent at every Level of Change. Actor Robin Williams, as poetry teacher John Keating, takes his students through increasingly higher levels of change and shifts in their thinking. He has the class Riiipppp! out the whole introduction to their text book in dramatic Level 4 Change (Cutting – stopping doing things). The famous scene where he stands on his desk in order to look at the world in a diffferent way is pure Level 6 Change (Diffferent: Doing what no one else is doing). It premiered with our first School for Innovators and we gave everyone two tickets to go see it. A must see (over and over) for anyone who sees themselves in the role of a change agent – or a real teacher.

Breakthrough Thinking Nonprofit C

Breakthrough Thinking Nonprofit C

Bernard Ross, Segal, et al.

$50.95

An excellent mix of western and eastern perspectives and thinking about creative problem solving, the authors describe seven principles that can lead to breakout thinking and breakthrough results. Chapter 3 (Pushing for Breakthrough) and Chapter 5 (The Purposes Principle) are valuable in looking at the higher levels of change (6 and 7) as well as in understanding the corresponding shifts in thinking that must take place at every level of change.

Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization

Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization

Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J Leavitt

$75.90

The authors’ define a “Hot Group” as a special state of mind, task-obsessed and full of passion. Hot Groups are not new – they’ve probably been around forever. In re-reading the book, the AhHA! for me was that Thinking Expeditions create Hot Groups that produce surprising results in a very short period of time (read the case studies on pages 269-298)

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

$18.99 $17.66

The main subject of this book is "thin-slicing" - our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. Spontaneous decisions are often better than carefully considered ones. We do that by "thin-slicing," using limited information to come to our conclusion. Experts often make better decisions with snap judgments than with volumes of analysis. If the big picture is clear, then decide from the big picture without using a magnifying glass. [source: Wikipedia]

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Daniel H. Pink

$17.00 $15.81

A Whole New Mind posits that the future of global business belongs to the right-brainers in the “conceptual age”. Creativity and Level 6 and 7 Thinking becomes the competitive difference that can differentiate commodities. Pink outlines six essential senses: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning. It’s all about thinking different about thinking diffferent…

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

$28.00 $26.04

Engaging stories are related to principles. Stories that “stick with you” range from urban legends (the "Kidney Heist") to business stories (Southwest Airlines, "the low price airline"); to inspirational, personal stories. Each chapter includes a "Clinic" where the principles are applied to a specific case study or idea to demonstrate the principle's application. Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories.

Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers

Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers

James Macanufo, Sunni Brown, et al.

$39.99 $37.19

This book includes 80+ games [i.e., tools and techniques] to help break down barriers, communicate better, and generate new ideas and insights. The games range from Level 1 to Level 7 from some of the world’s most innovative professionals - whose teams collaborate and make great things happen.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

$18.00 $16.74

Pink suggests that motivation with rewards or fear of punishment, dominated by extrinsic factors (e.g., “money”) is broken: effective motivation is intrinsic for anything but mundane work; autonomy and mastery with purpose are key at any Level of Change. It reinforces the 3rd order mindshift in the Mindshift Model: thinking about thinking in order to think diffferent.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

$29.00 $26.97

Heaths observe that we use two systems in making decisions: One is more rational, analytical, focused on details and concrete; the other is more abstract, both emotionally and impulsively. The book describes successes in bringing about big changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives.

Brain Power: Learn to Improve Your Thinking Skills

Brain Power: Learn to Improve Your Thinking Skills

Karl Albrecht

$21.95

At 30+ years old, this book, coupled with a short video by the same name and featuring John Houseman, still profoundly impacts my approach to thinking different and my thinking about thinking every time I re-read it. It played an unusual role in the development of The School for Innovators as a way to teach people how to think, be, and do different. Albrecht does a great job of establishing a vocabulary and conceptual baseline around the art and practice of thinking – especially for Level 6 and 7 Change. A classic J.I.T. book, it can be opened anywhere anytime for any length of time with a high return in value; it also has lots of pithy quotes.