Girl's Best Friend Foundation (GBF) closed November 2007. 
GBF’s records are archived with Special Collections of the University
of Illinois, Chicago.  In fall 2008, they will be made public: www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll.

The Leadership & Innovation Group Reading List

by Kristin R. Lindsey, Intersector Consulting

Making Room for Innovation & Creativity

Creative Generalist is a piece – or manifesto – by Steve Hardy. He challenges us to corral ideas from many sources and talks about how and why to use them, and how to nurture a pro-innovation culture. There are lots of good, big ideas in this article no matter what business you’re in.

One of my local Richmond favorites – Play is a company that helps generate ideas, creativity and connect those to strategy. A series of “red papers” on their website about confusion tolerance, creativity at work, disruptive thinking and the tools for innovation are all good, short reads that invite you to think in new ways. Sure they also invite you to use Play as a resource, but they’re still good pieces!

What does innovation look like? The Innovation Discovery Site is a web-based database of ideas and organizational snapshots, drawn from entries to the Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation.

What does innovation look like? Part 2: See the special issue on topic of The World’s Most Innovative Companies published by BusinessWeek on April 24, 2006. Again, all corporate/consumer/for – profit examples…but the big ideas (listening to customers, seeking new ideas in strange places, asking the right questions, etc.) are applicable anywhere. (As of this writing, some of the content is available online)

Learn, Look, Ask and Try. So, two years ago I bought the “method cards” – a deck of cards published by the IDEO, a design firm that suggests different ways you can Learn, Look, Ask and Try – four behaviors essential to understanding the users of your product or organization and to think about strategies that are people-donor-client-customer-user-centered. They are great idea generators for people and teams.

Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There. How can inquiry unleash creativity, innovation, participation and strategic possibilities? This piece, a result of a Leadership for a Changing World cooperative inquiry, provides some great, practical answers to this question. Plus, you have to love the title.

What are you reading??  Share innovation and leadership focused books, articles, reports, websites, etc. with us!!