What’s The Big Idea?

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What’s The Big Idea?
Kathleen Ryan O'Connor (July 17, 2008)

Avoiding risk and being creative are not mutually exclusive, says acclaimed author and former Microsoft project manager Scott Bekun. But workplace stress is a big obstacle to innovation, and he recommends taking a break, even a nap, to get the ideas flowing. In this wide-ranging conversation, he shares his thoughts on productivity, executive power and — why not? — the planet.

Scott Berkun's industry bona fides are plenty solid. The popular consultant and speaker wrote the widely praised books, "The Myths of Innovation” (O’Reilly, 2007) and "The Art of Project Management” (O’Reilly, 2005), reissued this year as "Making Things Happen," and which earned an Amazon.com Editor's Best of Pick for 2007. He teaches creative thinking at the University of Washington, worked as a project manager at Microsoft, and writes and blogs prolifically at www.scottberkun.com.

But all he really wants these days is a nap. Yup, a nice long nap. And he thinks all the stressed-out project managers of the world should do the same. Stress and overstimulation are the twin enemies of creative thinking, he told Projects@Work in a recent wide-ranging conversation about his approach to ideas, project management and the search for truth.

So go ahead and hit the snooze button — after your read this interview.

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