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The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon
"An inventive and compassionate guide that can bring readers to life in new ways."
- Publishers Weekly
The Artist's Way at Work (William Morrow; June 1998; $26.00), by Mark Bryan, with Julia Cameron and Catherine Allen, is the first book that translates proven creativity techniques to the business world. From underutilized but talented people who have "shut down" at work, to those who want to improve job skills within an industry, to innovative senior managers who want to develop a creative, competitive workforce: all will benefit from The Artist's Way at Work, a groundbreaking new book that reinvents the way creativity at work may be viewed and taught. Expanding the workshop-tested tools of The Artist's Way, the million-copy bestseller that began as the country's most successful course on creativity, The Artist's Way at Work embraces Mark Bryan's Harvard training in organizational psychology, group dynamics and human development; Julia Cameron's two decades of experience developing and teaching the principles of successful creative practice; and high-tech consultant Catherine Allen's twenty years of international experience in new product and business development.
The Artist's Way at Work developed from the enthusiastic feedback from readers of The Artist's Way who found that the book's lessons on creativity could be applied to their businesses and careers. In response, Bryan, Cameron and Allen developed a challenging program specifically designed to help people understand their workplace and perform more creatively and effectively within it, even during periods of tumultuous change.
Like its predecessor, The Artist's Way at Work is a hands-on, twelve-week program, filled with powerful and practical exercises that have been field-tested in workshops across the country. Based upon four concepts – that everyone is creative, that creativity is teachable, that everyone can be more authentic and feel happier by using their creative ability, and that business increasingly rewards creative people – The Artist's Way at Work introduces readers to several new tools each week to help access, experience, generate and control creativity.
The Artist's Way at Work shows how to counter the ways creativity is stifled, including:
- The "Intelligence Block," or the critical inner voice that keeps a person from liberating creative thinking. The authors explain: "We are behaviorally conditioned to be cautious, to engage in critical – not creative – thinking, and to pinpoint what is wrong, not what show inventiveness."
- Excessive competitive urges that distract people from their own creativity: "Competition deflects our attention from self to others. The only true authentic form of competition is the passion to better he self, out own track record. False competition tells us the lie that winning is about beating others."
- "Toxic criticism" in the workplace: The brutal comments of others that make a person afraid to step out on a limb.
- Self-sabbotage, or "Creative U-turns" that often occur after a creative awakening: "[Once] we have stepped out of our area of comfort... feeling exposed, we race for the cover of relative anonymity."
- The "fear of being exposed as a fraud" and other negative patterns often taught in childhood.
The Artist's Way at Work leads readers toward a renewed sense of power, vigor, and self-assurance, and away from a timid, resentful, or angry approach to business that keeps them from emerging as true professional successes. As they change, they learn how to control their work environments and to express their creative ideas. Workshop-tested tools that help break down the walls of conventional thinking include:
- The Morning Pages: three handwritten pages, written each day, about anything and everything from relationships to irritation with colleagues to hopes and dreams for the future. Creativity expert Howard Gardner has noted that well-known creatives commonly engage in some type of daily reflection. The Morning Pages, a key technique of The Artist's Way, provide this, and have been shown often to contain the seeds of innovation.
- Media Deprivation: for one week, all media is eliminated: reading, watching television, listening to music, checking e-mail, surfing the internet. Media deprivation helps readers become more clear in their thinking, allowing them to hear the flow of their own thoughts, not the low-grade buzzing of often unnecessary information. Those who resist media deprivation most strongly often find it the most profoundly useful.
- Anger as a Map: stuffing anger (which women are often taught to do) only blocks creative energy. Anger, according to the authors, is correctly used as a catalyst for forward motion. Taking the time to write about a tough situation helps vent rage and yields insight, before a person blows up, sends an irreversible e-mail or quits in a huff.
Additional exercises – like "Family Archaeology" (which examines familial and social conditioning about using creative gifts), "Imaginary Lives" (which asks readers to list five ideal careers to help focus personal dreams), and "Time Outs" (which encourage readers to spend an hour a week exploring something new) – bring into focus readers' hopes, strengths, fears and ingenuity, helping them to reframe failure, leverage strengths, honor and appreciate the work they already do, and envision a future aligned with their talents and goals.
The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon
by Mark Bryan with Julia Cameron and Catherine Allen
Pub Date: June 1998
ISBN: 0-688-15872-2
$26.00
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