CHECK IT OUT:Get creative in your business

When we think of creativity, we usually envision an artist slashing at a canvas with a colored brush or a composer hunched over a piano, pencil in ear, with a sheet of squiggle-filled music manuscript propped up in front of him. A creative person is one who can make a gourmet meal out of a few leftovers or take a bunch of supermarket flowers and turn them into an exquisite bouquet.

But did you know that the Library of Congress has established an official subject heading entitled “Creative ability in business”? This heading is not for marketers or advertising directors, even though these are the departments traditionally thought of when combining business and creativity. The books in this classification deal with creativity of vision for the entire company.

The world is going faster. The world is getting smaller. Progress is change. Change is rapid. Old people are living longer. Young people are wired for sound. And businesses need to adapt to grow.

Gerard Gaynor, a former engineering director at 3M, has written a book called “Innovation by Design: What It Takes to Keep Your Company on the Cutting Edge.” In the book, Gaynor defines the different approaches to innovation and how an organization’s structure and culture can foster innovative thinking in all departments, not just the advertising or research and development divisions.

Geoffrey Moore is widely published in the field of business. In his latest, “Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution,” he uses case studies to describe innovative business decisions and also discusses why innovation for innovation’s sake can be a mistake. Though he leans toward high technology, his thinking is appropriate for anyone producing a product.

In “The Change Makers: From Carnegie to Gates: How the Great Entrepreneurs Transformed Ideas into Industry,” Maury Klein uses interweaving case studies to demonstrate which qualities are common to the great innovators in American business. These 26giants of industry are as alike in many ways as they are dissimilar. From eccentric Cornelius Vanderbilt to workaholic Thomas Edison, all were creative people who exhibited an individuality of vision and style.

Similar in approach, but broader in scope is Shira P. White’s “New Ideas about New Ideas: Insights on Creativity From the World’s Leading Innovators.” White doesn’t confine his interviews and profiles to men of business, but goes at it in depth with all kinds of fascinating people like architect Frank Gehry and physicist Brian Greene. It is a stimulating and inspiring look at innovation and how it can be applied to the world encompassed by any organization.

Yet another take on this format is Raymond and Stephanie Yeh’s “The Art of Business in the Footsteps of Giants.” The Yehs have used the classic text “The Art of War” as a model. And instead of individuals, the examples that are scrutinized are actual businesses. The accounts of how Southwest Airlines, Intel, Royal Dutch/Shell and others think “corporately” are engrossing.

Education in business doesn’t ? and shouldn’t ? stop with an MBA. The library is a place for life-long learning. And it doesn’t have to be boringly academic as these titles show. Learning can be fun and profitable, and in this fast-paced world, it is necessary.