Jack's Notebook

A friend, who attended a workshop led by Gregg Fraley, lent me a copy of Jack's Notebook. I admit I was a little skeptical about the concept: a business novel about creative problem solving (CPS). After reading countless books on creativity, most of them boring or redundant, I was ready for something new.

Jack's Notebook was just the book I'd been looking for. A cross between Way of the Peaceful Warrior and The Da Vinci Code, it tells the story of Jack, an aimless young man, who meets Manny, a mentor, who teaches him creative problem solving (CPS) which he uses to change the direction of his life.

Fraley outlines the steps of CPS in the introduction:

1. Identify the challenge

2. Facts and feelings exploration

3. Problem framing and reframing

4. Idea generation

5. Solution development

6. Action planning

Then, he goes on to incorporate them into Jack's decision making, which ultimately leads to him starting his own business - among other thrilling adventures.

• What can you achieve using creative problem solving (CPS)?