The 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Shortlist: Innovation & Creativity

Over the course of this week, we will be posting the shortlist selections for our 8 business book categories: General Business, Leadership, Management, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Marketing & Sales, Personal Development, Innovation & Creativity, Finance & Economics. On Monday, December 16th, we'll announce the 8 category winners! In early January, the overall winner of the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards will be awarded, so stay tuned to The Daily Blog for all the good news.

The selections for the Innovation & Creativity category are:

• Brutal Simplicity of Thought: How It Changed the World by M&C Saatchi, St. Martin's Press
• Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley & David Kelley, Crown Business
• Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire by Bruce Nussbaum, HarperBusiness
• Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Create Extraordinary Products for Tomorrow's Customers by Jan Chipchase, HarperBusiness
• Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius by Erik Wahl, Crown Business

For most people, even those that consider themselves creative, creativity is a bit of a will-o'-the-wisp: the more you try to catch it, the more evasive it becomes. That's why the subject is so ripe for reimagining, just as the authors in this category (which, admittedly, leans heavily toward the creative this year) have done. In fact, these five books can work together as a sort of creativity coursework. First, if you don't regard yourself as a creative thinker, or maybe you think the spark of creativity has been snuffed out of you over time, Erik Wahl's Unthink will reignite that spark. Bruce Nussbaum's Creative Intelligence will provide you with a framework onto which you can reliably build creative ideas time and again; David and Tom Kelley, both design and innovation experts, will help you build Creative Confidence, both for yourself and for your peers, coworkers, and employees. Still waiting for the muse to alight? One way to find that inspiration is to look closely at the world around you, because your next big idea may just be Hidden in Plain Sight. And to keep your ideas and projects from getting overworked, keep a copy of Brutal Simplicity on your desk to remind yourself that the most revolutionary ideas are often the most simple ones.