Ideas that travel, take root, grow and make a difference

[Milton]

People who are stranded and need help sometimes put notes in bottles and cast them to the waves, hoping that the fragile thread of intent and chance will lead to a connection. My own efforts to help ideas that I think are important travel, take root and grow have taken many forms over the years. The latest effort is an on-demand publishing project where I combined a McMaster lecture outline, blog entries over the last few years, a creative/adaptive teams workshop and packaged them up in a pocketbook that is available online.

The title is: Ingenuity Arts: Adaptive Leadership and the New Science (www.ingenuityarts.com). Motivation is always important and mine is fueled by many conversations with people where some of the ideas that I think are interesting, emerging and very valuable are now packaged in a way that people can read and use. The experience has been very valuable and reflects a desire to keep prototyping and refining things as I go. Is print a good option? Digital? Online? Blog posts? E-newsletter? Twitter? Some of all, some of what is not-yet-here, and hopefully a fertile mix of options that gives other people toe-holds in working for better organizations wherever they are.


Here's the back cover text:

Our organizations and institutions are in
trouble. Many of them were formed around ideas that have changed and, where those founding ideas remain valid, the conditions in which they must carry out their work have radically shifted.
Ingenuity Arts argues that current research into
complex adaptive systems can be a significant asset in designing and leading adaptive organizations that will thrive amid a pace of change that continues to increase.
Learn what complex adaptive systems are, develop an adaptive leader’s mindset, and find practical ways to adopt the practices of ingenuity-driven problem solving for yourself, your team and your organization.