On Our Bookshelf: Innovators and Innovation

Striving to heal, to expand, to reach our potential — these are ongoing processes that resonate differently for each of us. For some, meaning is found in creation, whether building a new industry or crafting works of art. Others push themselves to pioneering achievement, conquering fears and limitations. For innovators, genius envisions glorious, transformative pathways to disrupt what no longer serves well. It clears out the old to make room for better, smarter, and new. Whatever your goals, guidance can often be found from the greats. Look upon their works, but do not despair! Instead, be inspired to grow mighty.

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The Creative Act: A Way of Being

By Rick Rubin

Those searching for a proven muse should seek this thoughtful compilation by popular music’s most legendary producer. Anyone even casually aware of the industry knows Rick Rubin, the hit-maker whose production discography includes, well, basically everyone great: Run DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Tom Petty, JayZ, Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, Slayer, Neil Young, and on and on. Though he helped lay down the soundtrack for history’s last few decades, there’s no room for name-dropping in this skillfully constructed arrangement. Instead, the founder of Def Jam records helps transition anyone with artistic aspirations — superstars and the rest of us — into a creative and playful headspace: “You exist as a creative being in a creative universe. A singular work of art.” It’s the type of profound wisdom that will benefit your entire life along with your art. 

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Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver

By Jill Heinerth

This thrill ride-slash-memoir engulfs readers in adrenaline and otherworldly submerged chambers few will ever visit. One of the world’s greatest living explorers, Heinerth mapped the longest cave system in the world and became the first person ever to dive inside the caves of an iceberg while leading the 2001 National Geographic expedition to Antarctica. Her very terrifying profession — responsible for more deaths than climbs of Mount Everest — has taught her to “accept and welcome fear.” Case in point: There is even an entire chapter titled “My Dead Friends,” which includes her body recovery dives. There are also a few parts about her former marriage to a fellow diver, complete with an angry marital spat 300 feet below. Primarily, however, it’s the story of a woman testing her courage and endurance to pioneer the few unexplored spaces remaining. As director James Cameron said, “More people have walked on the moon than have been to some of the places Jill Heinerth has gone right here on earth.” 

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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

By Yvon Chouinard

This enchanting 2005 autobiography by the founder of Patagonia Inc, the powerhouse athletic gear corporation, is due for one hell of an epilogue with its next updated edition. In September 2022, it was announced that this author irrevocably transferred ownership of his $3 billion dollar privately-owned company to the newly established entity known as the Patagonia Purpose Trust, ensuring some $100 million dollars a year worth of profits will be used to combat climate change and protect underdeveloped land. This extraordinary act underscores all the authenticity, decency, and forward-thinking advice found in these pages, e.g., Prioritize values over profits. In Let My People Go, Chouinard wrote that he created Patagonia to be “a model other businesses could look to in their own searches for environmental stewardship…” If even some of the wealthy and powerful follow his example, we just might save this planet. Read immediately to become the kind of innovator we need the most. 

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The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators

By Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen

How do the truly original thinkers differ from run-of-the-mill execs and derivative “idea guys”? What sets apart the Jobses, Omidyars, and A.G. Lafleys? And how do you identify — and gain — that specific form of creative intelligence? For the third installment of Christensen’s Innovator’s series (preceded by The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution), the authors analyzed titans of industry for six years, studying the habits of 25 entrepreneurs and surveying thousands to pinpoint the five most important “discovery skills”: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking. With all the meticulous research findings, numerous examples, and tools for assessment, this is your how-to guide to developing skills for disruptive innovation and moving “progressively from idea to impact.”

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Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

By Shonda Rhimes

This ubiquitous TV storyteller’s memoir comes with a transformative life lesson. After her army of strong female protagonists — including Addison Montgomery (Private Practice), Olivia Pope (Scandal), Annalise Keating (How To Get Away With Murder), and Dr. Meredith Grey — completely dominated Thursday nights, Shonda Rhimes decided to push herself even further with a simple-yet-grand experiment: “For one year, I would say ‘yes’ to all the things that scared me.” Suddenly, her social anxiety was vanquished by this simple one-word magic spell. Rhyme’s writing style here is familiar in the best way, echoing the assured, fluid powerhouse monologues America has been enjoying most Thursday nights since the premiere of Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. Sadly, even giants occasionally stumble; creating and producing an unheard of amount of TV led to inevitable burnout. No passion left. “So what do you do when the thing you do, the work you love, starts to taste like dust?” she asks. Innovators who have lost their enthusiasm need to read Rhimes’ advice about reclaiming that ineffable spark — or, as she calls it, “the hum.”