Innovation At the Speed of Laughter: 8 Secrets to World Class Idea Generation

by John Sweeney

It's no secret that new ideas fuel profitability. Even when companies hire top talent and teach best skills, few are able to affect the bottom line unless their employees can -generate and execute new concepts. It sounds like a simple principle, but finding new ideas can become a company's greatest challenge. What if we were to tell you that a little comedy theater in Minneapolis has created an incredibly effective ideation process to help businesses generate more and better ideas? In fact, the owner and executive producer of that little -theater has used this breakthrough process to help companies like 3M, Altria, Medtronic, Best Buy, Disney and hundreds of others achieve greater innovation. Now, John Sweeney is sharing that process in his new book, "Innovation at the Speed of Laughter: 8 Secrets to World Class Idea Generation," Borne from the formula used for more than 45 years to help write outlandish satirical comedy, Sweeney's book describes eight principles that guide companies, leaders and individuals to generate more and better ideas. Using client case studies, individual testimonials and a lighthearted writing style, this book is especially appealing to business leaders, team builders and companies seeking to find the "next big idea."

According to Sweeney, "Perhaps the most beneficial part of our process is the practical application portion, in which the idea gets fleshed out and prepared for implementation. The only way an idea can become profitable is by taking it from the individual mind and the brainstorming session to the company conference room and the factory floor. Our process explains how and when to implement constraints into idea generation in order to bringtrue gems into fruition."

As evidenced in "Innovation at the Speed of Laughter," Sweeney and the Brave New Workshop continue to entertain, educate and inspire.

Years ago, John Sweeney left a successful corporate real estate career to follow his passion for performing improvisation-based comedy. Combining his insights in business with his passion for improvisation, John has become a leader in workplace innovation and corporate ideation. He is the owner of the Brave New Workshop Theatre,

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

As the owner and director of America's oldest comedy theater, Brave New Workshop, John has honed his powers of improvisation to ignite cultures of innovative behavior within America's biggest businesses including Microsoft, PwC, General Mills & United Health Care.

Featured across countless media platforms including Inc, Forbes and Financial Times, he uses his scientific understanding of how human behavior is influenced, to implement simple but groundbreaking tools such as 'Yes and...' and 'The Big 5' so you too can be at peak innovation fitness.

But the driving force behind Sweeney's success are the results he helps clients achieve by effectively bridging improvisational theater skills and behaviors to the workplace through his speeches, training and writing. His improvisational insights have resonated with a broad spectrum of forward-thinking business leaders from some of the most innovative and largest companies in the world - ensuring every level of the organization is operating within the mindset of discovery.

Reviews

[Julie Blaha · Rating 5 out of 5]

After taking a few comedy improv classes, I started to see how what I learned there could be applied to other parts of my life, but just couldn't explain it to anyone else. Instead of having all my friends take a few years of improv training, I just gave them this book. "Innovation at the Speed of Laughter" does a wonderful job of connecting the simple truths about humor to all creative endeavors, professional and personal. A wonderful book for jump starting creativity.

[Conrad Zero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've attended the Brave New Workshop (BNW) several times and was always impressed with their ability to 'riff' off each other live onstage. I've always thought that cleverness or quick-smartness was just something you were born with, like double-jointed thumbs. But when I saw the book Innovation by John Sweeney and the crew at Brave New Workshop, I had to check it out.

This book will help teams that have to think creatively, like groups of engineers or designers or musicians or courtroom lawyers or marketers or... well, any group that is responsible for coming up with ideas. And any businesses that want to promote a culture of creativity. This book shows exactly how BNW has been doing it for decades. Chapter 10 provides a step by step Idea curation funnel that can be applied to any creative task.

The book is also a brilliant plug for Brave New Workshop Corporate Series. the corporate-entertainment arm of BNW. It highlights many case studies where improvisation helped companies to create products, smooth transitions and promote positive corporate change. And let's not forget the Brave New Institute, offering classes to teach YOU how to be more improvisational. Lots of cool applications for improvisation when you think about it. So why wait till you get caught with your proverbial pants down? Buy the book already! And take the classes. By the time your spouse finds out the money is gone from the joint account, you'll already have the improvisational skills you need to survive!

Now, in the age of Covid-19, BNW continues showing off their innovation by pivoting theater to the web. (Sorry, Guthrie, but this is how its done for now!) Check out their weekly streaming for free here: https://www.bravenewworkshop.com/thea...

[G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Chapter 10, it consolidates what the rest of the book says.

[Bill Palladino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweeney and his cohorts from the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis propose 8 secrets to generating innovative ideas in any organization. The book utilizes the same model used on stage during the BNW's improvisational shows to teach businesses how to get out of their sheltered worlds. There are actual scripts from on-stage performances to provide you with examples of how the exercises work. One also derives from the book a clear sense of hope for the world that Sweeney holds. It's a great concept and fun, fast, read.

[Semi-Academic Eric]

What I have learned so far about this book:

First, this author is not the John Sweeney that GoodReads has him listed under. That one is an investigative journalist for the BBC who had a meltdown that you can watch on YouTube.

This John Sweeney lives in Minnesota and is a speaker, author and corporate trainer who shares insights on lightening up and working well with others. Maybe this other John Sweeney could benefit from one of this one's workshops.