One might think business books like Creative Thinking offer little. While true to a degree, such books may still contain ideas that can seem fresh and relevant in today’s environment.
High Point: Whiting’s presentation on “brainstorming” is a problem solving technique that still works despite a lack of automation.
Low Point: Many of the techniques simply don’t apply with the technology available today.
Author: Charles S. Whiting
Publication Date: 1958
Genre: Social Science
Project Gutenberg: Not available
LibriVox: Not available
Movie/TV Adaptation: None
One might think there is little to be gained from a book about business written in the 1950s. And to a degree, that’s certainly true. However, such books may contain ideas which—more than sixty years later—seem fresh and relevant to today’s environment.
To some extent, that’s the case with Creative Thinking by Charles S. Whiting. This book was part of an expansive series from Reinhold Publishing related to a broad spectrum of business topics in the 1950s and 1960s.
The book presents techniques—based on academic studies of the day—for leading groups through issues such as product development, solutions to existing problems, and other common business initiatives and conundrums. Most are better suited for their time.
But at least one—described as “brainstorming”—is probably as useful today as it was when the book was published in 1958. At first glance, the reader may view the potential effectiveness of brainstorming with skepticism. But the method, with minor modifications, has been used in some business environments over the last few years with surprisingly positive results.
A quote from the book’s final chapter stands out in sharp contrast with potential developments of today’s technology. The author states, “Creative ability is a unique ability of mankind.”
The advance of artificial intelligence has increasingly resulted in its use for everything from school essays and research papers to business development, emails and reporting. One might wonder if the study of creative thinking related to the human might soon be abandoned in favor of the machine.
Quotes
| “Creative ability is a unique ability of mankind.” |
