Thinking big is not a new concept; it’s been around since at least 1959, when David J. Schwartz wrote the classic motivational book The Magic of Thinking Big. What Amy Whitaker brings to the discussion is the refreshing notion that business thinkers can learn from artists and writers. At a time when science, technology, engineering and math (the vaunted STEM formula) threaten to crowd the humanities (art, literature, music and scholarship) out of American universities, Whitaker’s approach could not be more timely.
Whitaker holds the title of “entrepreneur in residence” at the New Museum Incubator in New York City. Whitaker takes the human from the humanities and injects it back into the business world. Creativity is messy and uncertain, she argues, and must have room for failure. She provides a program to cultivate art thinking, and how to leverage creative failure into progress, invention, and new products or services.
Related: A 4-Question Guide to Unlock Your Creativity
Art Thinking
By Amy Whitaker
July; HarperBusiness; $27
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
