Crack the Code

8 Surprising Keys to Unlock Innovation

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Pub Date 14 Sep 2021 | Archive Date 30 Nov 2021
Mascot Books | Amplify Publishing

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Description

In today's fast-changing, hyper-competitive market, developing your ability to creatively solve problems is mission critical. Creativity fuels growth, serves clients, and contributes to mission-based pursuits. Across every industry, organizations have an insatiable appetite to find creative problem-solvers who can crack the code to unlock innovative outcomes and drive measurable results.

The good news is that creative problem-solving is a skill set that can be developed and harnessed. It’s accessible to all of us. In Crack the Code, Kaiser Yang explores the four key mindsets shared by the most successful creative problem-solvers in the world and provides eight proven tactics they use to solve complex problems and seize new opportunities.

Using a careful analysis of the biggest challenges facing the world today and extensive research into the minds making a difference, Crack the Code is a practical guide to help you overcome barriers to innovative thinking and unlock your capacity to creatively solve problems in new and refreshing ways.

In today's fast-changing, hyper-competitive market, developing your ability to creatively solve problems is mission critical. Creativity fuels growth, serves clients, and contributes to mission-based...


Advance Praise

“Creativity is a skill. You can learn it, and you can get better at it. Here are some of the key building blocks that you and your organization can use to start solving the problems that matter.”— Seth Godin, Author, The Practice

“Crack the Code is the secret combination we’ve all been looking for to unlock innovation and creativity. This masterful work reveals surprising insights to help boost creative capacity and open up a whole new perspective on business and life. Inspiring and actionable, the book delivers a roadmap to achieve better results, conquer challenges, and seize potential.”— Josh Linkner, New York Times bestselling Author; Tech Entrepreneur

“Crack the Code is a must-have survival manual for business leaders who want to build companies that last. Each chapter provides pragmatic applications that have immediate impact in a modern corporate environment.” — Drew Wolff, former CFO, International and Channel Development, Starbucks

“Creativity has never been more important to business success as we all learn to navigate and thrive in an environment of continual and seismic change. Read Crack the Code NOW for practical yet inspiring coaching on how to embrace and leverage creativity. A combination of rigorous, accessible, and interesting thoughts, tactics, and examples that can help anyone unlock their own creative potential.” — Yin Woon Rani, CEO, MilkPep

“Business leaders and companies find themselves ‘locked’ into how they have traditionally done things, unable to break free and break out. Crack the Code provides what those who want to create innovative cultures need. Kaiser shows you how to unlock creativity, embrace risk, and open up the potential in your people and businesses.” — Gary David, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Bentley University


“Creativity is a skill. You can learn it, and you can get better at it. Here are some of the key building blocks that you and your organization can use to start solving the problems that matter.”—...


Available Editions

ISBN 9781645435648
PRICE $24.95 (USD)

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Average rating from 6 members


Featured Reviews

Brilliant self-help book, was an eye opener and super insightful! I learnt a lot and didn’t want to put it down! Cant wait to put my newfound knowledge in to action

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I am a big fan of innovation 💡 development and self growth in this area. The practical aspect of this book is just what it is supposed to be! The exercises and how they should be applied to deal practical life will guide you towards the development of your level of innovation. Some stories are well-known and some of them I have read for the first time, some exercises I knew and were new to me. Very good book for everyone interested in creativity and innovation.

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In the Introduction, Yang explains why human creativity is actually “the greatest technology today.” He notes that creative problem solving skills are highly sought after by employers, and vital to economic growth. He lists five traits that creative problem solvers have: they associate, they observe, they experiment, they network, and they question everything. Then he identifies seven “deadly sins” that hinder creativity: fear, rigidity, premature editing, group think, outdated traditions, playing it safe, and the status quo.

Over the next few chapters Yang explores four different Mindsets that focus innovation, and discusses a few tactics to put each Mindset into action.

Mindset 1 – Every Barrier can be Penetrated; Tactics: Deconstruction, Rapid Experimentation
Mindset 2 – Compasses over Maps; Tactics: Start Small, Start at the End
Mindset 3 – Nothing is Static; Tactics: The Judo Flip, The Mash-Up
Mindset 4 – Diversity is a Force Multiplier; Tactics: The Imbizo Group, The Borrowed Idea

With each of these Tactics, Yang gives specific exercises and examples to try out for yourself. There is a chapter at the end tying all of the concepts together, and also listing “The 10 Commandments of Brainstorming.”

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There are some creative ideas here, and Yang does a good job of explaining the concepts that he is describing. There are helpful practice exercises, and the tone of the book is very positive and motivating. There are a few things that I would've liked him to spend more time on, and some suggestions might be more useful than others, but overall it is a stimulating book that doesn't take long to read.

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Want to know how to ‘Crack The Code’? This super new book by Kaiser Yang, Co-Founder of Platypus Labs is a hands-on practical book to show the reader ways to be creative and unlock innovation.

Evolution and innovation is essential and business leaders are concerned that our failing traditional models do not facilitate this. No-one denies that it is important to build innovative cultures and the author cites the 70/30 rule, that relying on existing systems only gets you 70% of the way towards your potential. This book addresses how to harness that final 30%.

The value of human creativity and creative problem solving is the core of the code and with the belief that anyone can be creative, and that creatives are made and not born that way, Yang addresses the four core mindsets common to all problem solvers and the tactics needed to put this mindset into action.

The book is built on stories of innovation and practical exercises to train yourself with a superb wrap up on the eight keys to unlock innovation and the Ten Commandments of brainstorming.

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