In Your Creative Element. The Formula for Creative Success in Business by Claire Bridges, reviewed

By @SimonCocking . Review of In Your Creative Element The Formula for Creative Success in Business by Claire Bridges available to buy here 

In Your Creative Element helps readers identify a personal creativity formula for success, and kick-starts the creative journey. It provides personalised insights so that readers can develop their knowledge and skills and their own formula to unlock creativity and apply it in any context.

In Your Creative Element is an original work on one of the hottest topics in business written by a Creative Director who has made it her business to unpick how and why creative ideas are born, develop and survive or die. The author has identified 62 elements that affect creativity and has created a unique ‘Periodic Table of Creative Elements’. This simple framework adds logic and science to the concept of creativity and can be explored by anyone to find which creative elements are most important to them and to transform their approach to creativity.

Creativity is a hot topic, with a lot of books we’ve reviewed recently looking at how you achieve it. Fortunately this one is a readable examination of what it takes to be creative. There are lots of good examples of different ways that people have managed to look at things differently, and created systems to continue to do so. Bridges also aims to debunk the idea that inspiration just flies in unaided. Page 101 for example talks about ‘The Prolific Mind’ illustrates the shear prolific nature of artists like Picasso and Miles Davis who created 13,000 paintings and 138 albums respectively, a testament to the importance of hard work as well as just being talented.

There are a lot of interesting case studies, such as the Patagonia ad, urging people NOT to buy their product, unless they really wanted it. Counter intuitive ideas, backed up by real passion and authenticity for what you do are strong factors in delivering sustainable successful results. For me the periodic table of attributes was a visually eye catching concept for the cover, and a good way to make the point that it takes many ‘elements’ to achieve good results. It might be a little too prescriptive if you were to then attempt to follow them literally every time – but this of course would be the antithesis of creativity in the first place!

It’s a good read, thoughtful, inspiring and one that would be useful to have on your desk in the office.

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