The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
A breakthrough book about talent, passion, and achievement from one of the world's leading thinkers on creativity and self-fulfillment.\ The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the Element and those that stifle that possibility. Drawing on the...
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From one of the world's leading thinkers and speakers on creativity and self-fulfillment comes a breakthrough audiobook about talent, passion, and achievement. Publishers Weekly Robinson (Out of Our Minds), renowned in the areas of creativity development, innovation and human resources, tackles the challenge of determining and pursuing work that is aligned with individual talents and passions to achieve well-being and success. The element is what he identifies as the point where the activities individuals enjoy and are naturally good at come together. Offering a wide range of stories about the creative journeys of different people with diverse paths to the element-including Paul McCartney, The Alchemist author Paulo Coelho, and Vidal Sassoon as well as lesser-known examples-he demonstrates a rich vision of human ability and creativity. Covering such topics as the power of creativity, circles of influence, and attitude and aptitude, the author emphasizes the importance of nurturing talent along with developing an understanding of how talent expresses itself differently in every individual. Robinson emphasizes the importance of mentors and reforming and transforming education, making a convincing argument bolstered by solid strategies for honing creativity. Motivating and persuasive, this entertaining and inspiring book will appeal to a wide audience. (Jan.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Acknowledgments viiIntroduction xiChapter 1 The Element 1Chapter 2 Think Differently 27Chapter 3 Beyond Imagining 52Chapter 4 In the Zone 83Chapter 5 Finding Your Tribe 103Chapter 6 What Will They Think? 132Chapter 7 Do You Feel Lucky? 156Chapter 8 Somebody Help Me 169Chapter 9 Is It Too Late? 187Chapter 10 For Love or Money 207Chapter 11 Making the Grade 225Afterword 251Notes 261Index 269
\ From Barnes & NobleThe element referred to in the title is the place where natural talent and personal passion converge. The author, a respected speaker on creativity and self-fulfillment, persuasively contends that identifying this sweet spot is not as difficult as it may sound. To prove his point, he tells the stories of creators as disparate as Paul McCartney, Paolo Coelho, and Vidal Sassoon. However, the author doesn't pretend that we can make it alone; he emphasizes the central role that mentors and creative communities can play in nurturing our talents. A refreshingly un-gimmicky approach to a cherished subject.\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyRobinson (Out of Our Minds), renowned in the areas of creativity development, innovation and human resources, tackles the challenge of determining and pursuing work that is aligned with individual talents and passions to achieve well-being and success. The element is what he identifies as the point where the activities individuals enjoy and are naturally good at come together. Offering a wide range of stories about the creative journeys of different people with diverse paths to the element-including Paul McCartney, The Alchemist author Paulo Coelho, and Vidal Sassoon as well as lesser-known examples-he demonstrates a rich vision of human ability and creativity. Covering such topics as the power of creativity, circles of influence, and attitude and aptitude, the author emphasizes the importance of nurturing talent along with developing an understanding of how talent expresses itself differently in every individual. Robinson emphasizes the importance of mentors and reforming and transforming education, making a convincing argument bolstered by solid strategies for honing creativity. Motivating and persuasive, this entertaining and inspiring book will appeal to a wide audience. (Jan.)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ Library JournalMotivational speaker and educational consultant Robinson (Out of Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative) argues that modern educational methods from the time of the industrial revolution are stifling innovation and creativity when these are most needed. He calls for an end to specialization and recognition of the diversity of intelligence. For Robinson, the goal of education should be finding one's "Element," the meeting of one's individual passion and talent. When supported by people who nurture and encourage creativity, individuals are more likely to discover their Element, discern their life ambitions, and find ways of reaching them. It's never too late to reconsider roads not taken and change course, even if it means becoming an amateur, that is, one who finds fulfillment in something other than a job. This holistic view of human potential, educational reform, and self-realization is illustrated with stories of famous and everyday people who overcame obstacles to discover their Element. This is not a self-help book-Robinson's goal is "to illuminate...concepts that you might have sensed intuitively"-but it doesn't succeed at being something larger. Recommended for large public and academic libraries where there is interest, but not essential.\ —Lucille M. Boone\ \ \
