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Search Results for: creativity

Are You a Self-Limiting Designer?

Posted on March 16, 2021March 22, 2021 in designby Scott Berkun | 6 Comments

“self-limiting – an organism or person that limits its own growth by its actions.” Do you want to make plans…

The Best of My 20 Years of Writing on Design

Posted on March 10, 2021July 1, 2025 in design, Design Makes The Worldby Scott Berkun | Leave a comment

If you’re familiar with my my books and talks, you know I’ve written about many subjects, including creativity, leadership,…

Leading Design Festival 2021 – Live Notes

Posted on March 2, 2021March 16, 2022 in design, livenotesby Scott Berkun | 2 Comments

Here are my notes from Leading Design Festival 2021, liveblogged (recorded in real time and updated as I go).…

Design During Pandemic: a Visual History

Posted on March 26, 2020March 2, 2021 in design, Design Makes The Worldby Scott Berkun | 5 Comments

Design, good and bad, is central to the human response to the COVID crisis. From the design of respirators,…

The World Needs Designers Now More Than Ever

Posted on March 24, 2020September 2, 2020 in design, Design Makes The World, designmtwby Scott Berkun | 8 Comments

When Dr. Jan Mikulicz-Radecki designed the first surgical mask, he was questioned by his peers: they didn’t believe that…

How Creative Friction Can Help Your Team

Posted on May 8, 2018May 9, 2018 in Creative Thinkingby Scott Berkun | 9 Comments

Creative abrasion is Jerry Hirshberg’s term for the kinds of friction that helps develop better ideas. Hirshberg, a former design…

Why Designers Hate Politics (And What To Do About It)

Posted on April 10, 2018May 18, 2021 in Culture, designby Scott Berkun | 4 Comments

People who design things for a living depend on optimism. To do their job well, whether it’s designing websites or…

The proof that we’re all creative: losing your keys

Posted on March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 in Creative Thinking, Culture, Dance of the Possibleby Scott Berkun | 12 Comments

On Tuesdays I write about the top voted question on Ask Berkun (see the lovely archive). This week’s question is from Crysel…

Are engineers more creative than designers?

Posted on February 27, 2018March 27, 2018 in ask berkun, design, Management, Project Management, Software/Web developmentby Scott Berkun | 17 Comments

On Tuesdays, I write about the top voted question on Ask Berkun (see the lovely archive). This week’s question came via email…

Does the attention economy make life harder for creatives?

Posted on January 9, 2018March 6, 2019 in ask berkun, Cultureby Scott Berkun | 10 Comments

On Tuesdays I write about the top voted question on Ask Berkun (see the lovely archive). This week’s question came from Daniel…

Notes from Seanwes conference 2017

Posted on September 29, 2017September 29, 2017 in Generalby Scott Berkun | 1 Comment

I spoke at the Seanwes conference in Austin,TX this week about the Dance of the Possible. Here are my…

Notes from PPP 2017 Chicago

Posted on August 10, 2017August 15, 2017 in designby Scott Berkun | 3 Comments

I spoke this morning at Prototypes, Process and Play, in Chicago about The Dance of The possible (slides, sketchnotes). Here…

Inside the messy invention of the microwave oven

Posted on February 20, 2017February 20, 2017 in Creative Thinking, Dance of the Possible, history, Myths of Innovationby Scott Berkun | 4 Comments

[In 23 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…

How the Post-it Note Was Invented

Posted on February 16, 2017February 25, 2017 in Creative Thinking, Dance of the Possible, historyby Scott Berkun | 4 Comments

[In 27 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…

Why no one cared about the Wright brothers airplane

Posted on February 15, 2017December 18, 2019 in Creative Thinking, Dance of the Possible, historyby Scott Berkun | 8 Comments

[In 28 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…

The Dance of the Possible

Posted on February 14, 2017November 30, 2020 in Creative Thinking, Dance of the Possibleby Scott Berkun | 7 Comments

The Dance of the Possible is a short book that captures my best advice from years of work as a…

The Simple Plan for People Who Want To Solve Big Problems

Posted on May 11, 2016June 11, 2019 in Management, Myths of Innovationby Scott Berkun | 7 Comments

[This is an excerpt from chapter 12, of the bestseller, The Myths of Innovation] The Simple Plan If you want…

Why Do Idiots Get Ahead?

Posted on March 1, 2016March 6, 2021 in ask berkun, ethicsby Scott Berkun | 18 Comments

On Tuesdays I often write about the top voted question on Ask Berkun (see the archive). This week’s question is…

5 Things I Learned From My Amtrak Writer’s Residency

Posted on November 24, 2015December 23, 2020 in On Tour, Travel, Writing Wellby Scott Berkun | 9 Comments

Last month I took a long train ride from Atlanta to Seattle over six days for my Amtrak Writer’s…

Questions For The Next Design Revolution

Posted on September 15, 2015March 6, 2021 in design, ethics, lecturesby Scott Berkun | 14 Comments

(I gave the opening comments at a keynote panel on The Next Industrial Design Revolution for IDSA’s Future of…

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Scott Berkun is the author of nine popular books on creativity, design, leadership and public speaking. You can hire him to speak or follow him on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Latest Book: Why Design Is Hard

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Scott's Awesome Books

Why Design Is Hard

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"Concise, breezy, yet filled with excellent strategies for succeeding when the world is tilted against you.” Michael McWatters, VP Product Design for Max/HBO

How Design Makes The World

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4_5 Stars

“Nobody’s better at explaining how the world really works than Scott Berkun.” – Jeffrey Zeldman, co-founder of A List Apart

The Dance of the Possible

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5 Stars

"You'll find a lot to steal from this short, inspiring guide to being creative. Made me want to get up and make stuff!" - Austin Kleon, author of How To Steal Like An Artist

The Ghost of My Father

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4_5 Stars

“Thought-provoking read, and highly recommended…” – Thomas Duff

The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com & the Future of Work

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4_5 Stars

“If you want to think differently about entrepreneurship, management, or life in general, read this book.” — Tim Ferriss

Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds

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4_5 Stars

“The ideas contained in the essays are persuasive and it’s a fun, well focused read. ” — Simon Moore

Confessions of a Public Speaker

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4_5 Stars

“Berkun tells it like it is… you’ll gain insights to take your skills to the next level.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos.com

The Myths of Innovation

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“Berkun sets us free to try and change the world.” — Guy Kawasaki

Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

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“Highly recommended for CEOs, project managers, and hackers alike.” — Matt Mullenweg, Founder WordPress.org

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About Scott

Scott Berkun is the author of eight popular books on creativity, leadership, philosophy and speaking (more about Scott's background).

You can hire him to speak, ask him a question or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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