Making Ideas Happen

Thomas Edison famously said that genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Every day new solutions, revolutionary cures, and artistic breakthroughs are conceived and squandered by smart people. Along with the gift of creativity come the obstacles to making ideas happen: lack of organisation, lack of accountability and a lack of community support.

Scott Belsky has interviewsed hundreds of the most productive creative people and teams in the world, revealing one common trait: a carefully trained capacity for executing ideas. Implementing your ideas is a skill that can be taught, and Belsky distills the core principles in this book.

While many of us obsess about discovering great new ideas, Belsky shows why it is better to develop the capacity to make ideas happen - using old-fashioned passion and perspiration. Making Ideas Happen reveals the practical yet counterintuitive techniques of 'serial creatives' - those few who make their visions a reality.

Review: If you care about your art, your job or your market, you really have no choice but to read this book * Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and Linchpin *

Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. This book helps you with the hard part * Guy Kawasaki, former Apple guru and author of The Art of the Start *

This book is like a Swiss Army knife for ideas * Ji Lee, Creative Director at Google Creative Lab *

This is a book about execution, and when it comes to going from an idea to a real business, execution is everything * John Battelle, co-founder of WIRED and BoingBoing *

If your creative team or organization struggles to implement their best ideas, or if you find that your own creative projects languish unfinished, you need Making Ideas Happen * Teresa Amabile, Director of Research, Harvard Business School *

There are techniques in this book that can turn disorganised creative prima donnas into organised creative prima donnas * Chuck Porter, co-chairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky *

Belsky offers an illustrated map to get to the destination of your great ideas * Scott Thomas, Design Director, Obama Presidential Campaign *