Our Favorite Reads of the Week: Alchemy, Bad Brainstorming, & 15% Passion Time

Too much content, too little time? No worries, I’ve gathered some of the latest and greatest resources from industry top performers. This week, everyone is talking about innovation and creativity and I found some gems from Forbes, Minnesota Public Radio, VentureBeat, SocialFresh, and more.

Seeking a Chief Innovation Officer or an Alchemist?

“The chief innovation officer is among the fastest growing new senior titles in the US corporate marketplace…The relative newness of the CINO means at least two things: it’s difficult to know what a great one looks like and behaves like, and there are few CINOs in the marketplace to recruit to your organization.” Luis Solis explains the alchemy and anatomy of a Chief Innovation Officer.

Build Teams for Creativity

Sam Bacharach, director of the Cornell Institute for Workplace Studies, explains how leaders can encourage both outrageous ideas and practical follow-through. It’s up to the leader to build teams for creativity, balance that team for productivity, and know when to let them go wild and when to reign them in.

Brainstorming, You’re Holding It Wrong.

“A creative company culture is powerful. And there is nothing wrong with trying to be more creative. But creativity cannot and will never be built into a company in a single meeting, as we so often demand.” Founder and CEO of Social Fresh, Jason Keath diagnoses the issues of corporate brainstorming and offers a few tips to save it.

What makes a company innovative?

What makes 3M one of the most innovative companies in the world for the third year in a row? Minnesota Public Radio’s Kerri Miller sits down with Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, chair at Harvard Business School and director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University to discuss what makes a company truly innovative. Many principles discussed also appeared in our article on Google’s 9 Principles for Innovation, such as giving employees 15-20% of their time to work on projects they are passionate about.

The content you read shapes how you lead: Top 10 leadership themes

“You are what you eat.” But you also lead how you think.” Forbes contributor Glenn Llopis shares ten themes that leaders are consuming and what brings them back to it again and again.