Why do some organizations adapt quickly to change and others stagnate? How do you establish a workplace environment that encourages creativity and innovation while also creating a sense of passion and importance? This book is designed for anyone interested in the best thinking of top experts on strategic innovation, fostering creativity, and organizational transformation. It is a compilation of the best essays on these topics published in the Drucker Foundation's award-winning magazine, Leader to Leader.

Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors for the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, provides a list of what leaders and organizations must do, today, to be vital 10 years from now. Do the leaders in your organization lead from the front while dispersing the tasks of leadership across the organization until there are leaders at every level? Is everyone in your organization mission driven? Are the mission and values of the organization constantly communicated in action and thought? This is a list that will stimulate much thought as you analyze how your organization stacks up against her list of imperative checkpoints.

How do you create an innovative environment? Gary Hamel and Peter Skarzynski, of Strategos share their insight on how to keep new ideas percolating throughout the organization. Is the tried-and-true recipe for your organization s success stifling innovation? Is it possible to forecast future trends? Do you wait for inspiration?

Or, can you create an environment that constantly stimulates innovation? Nigel Nicholson, chair of the organizational behavior faculty at London Business School, explodes the myth that anyone can be turned into a leader.

One of the most insightful articles is "How Managers Can Spark Creativity," written by Dorothy Leonard, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard, and Walter Swap, professor of psychology at Tufts University. They discuss the dynamics of creative collaboration that can be created in any organization. Examples are given to demonstrate how an organization s leaders can encourage or stifle creativity. Do workers and/or work groups have the freedom and responsibility to determine how to achieve their goal? How much opportunity do all of your people have to learn? How often are projects cross-functional rather than rote tasks?

Additional articles discuss the impact of the Internet on organizations, crafting an Internet business strategy, evolving web sites, communicating the vision and managing change, competing in the business world by being different, the importance of passion and values, turning ideas into knowledge and more! While the majority of the articles focus on for profit business rather than non-profit organizations, the insights are readily applied to any organization.

This is a great little book that you can read at one sitting, or read an essay at a time. While every essay is short, they are also very thoughtful and provocative. You will find yourself re-reading them to absorb the full value of the guidance given to those seeking to lead their organizations through change and/or to create a climate of creativity that will keep an organization changing and growing.