Preface

FOR A LONG TIME I have been hungering to share the secret of the highest goal with a broader audience. I’ve been on the trail of this discovery for several decades, distilling the essence of insights gleaned from twenty-five years of teaching the Personal Creativity in Business course at Stanford University.

The journey hasn’t always been a direct one. The world has changed dramatically since I began teaching the course. It’s become a more complex, chaotic and, in many ways, more dangerous place. At times I delved into other means of contributing to the growing movement toward a more humane and creative society. I searched for ways to help organizations transform into new paradigm businesses, to encourage people to make choices that would sustain the planet, to stimulate new approaches to leadership development, and to create networks and support systems for change.

Eventually I found that what was needed most was the work I was already doing. No one else seemed to be offering a way for each of us to bring our connection to our highest goal into our work, our organizations, our lives, and our world.

So about ten years ago, I dropped everything other than the creativity work. My colleagues and I continued to teach the creativity course at Stanford and other schools. Several of us also formed a company and developed software to offer the course to organizations and individuals outside of academia. We were astounded at the impact of the creativity work on people in businesses. Clients told us that the return on investment was at least one hundred and sometimes two hundred to one. That is, every one thousand dollars spent generated one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand in return.

But the benefits went beyond short-term financial results. People who hadn’t spoken up or contributed much beyond their job descriptions started to blossom. Organization members who were about to leave decided to stay and contribute in a new way. Outstanding individuals joined the organization because it turned into the kind of workplace they wanted. It became a community—a community of individuals who welcomed all participants; thrived on diversity; fought gracefully; took the staff of leadership when necessary; and treated each other with compassion, acceptance, appreciation, and respect.