THE Gang

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m in a Gang. Well, actually not A Gang, The Gang.

What is The Gang, with capital letters, you ask? Well, it’s a think-tank-creative-mind-mixer-strange-combo-of-people-that-don’t-fit-together assembled by the really brilliant and tireless Director of the Center for Creativity and Innovation at Boise State University, Nancy Napier.

Nancy is also an Adjunct Professor at Aalborg University (Denmark), has hosted a weekly radio talk show, writes a blog for Psychology Today, “Creativity Without Borders“, has authored several books – too many to mention here and has published a steady stream of articles in various places, like this one from a few weeks ago called “Three Books on Tactics for Landing a Job and Building a Life“. And when she’s not doing all this, she spends the rest of her spare time scouring the world for insights into how ideas work. Whatever the medium, Nancy loves to talk and write about “ah ha moments”, that spark of creativity that inspires a new way of thinking and leads to something interesting for an individual, a group or an organization.

As if this isn’t enough for one person, she decided she needed The Gang. The Gang is basically eight individuals representing a wide smattering of thinking across totally unrelated fields of work. Read more on The Gang here. So what does The Gang do? For one The Gang just published a book. Well, to be honest, Nancy just published a book dragging all eight members of The Gang along in her wake of creativity. The release of “Wise Beyond Your Field: How Creative Leaders Out Innovate to Out Perform” was announced during a press conference on the Boise State campus last Thursday, March 7 and I was honored to get to share the stage with my Gang mates and Boise State President Bob Kustra. We were on hand to discuss the book and to thank Nancy for inspiring the creativity in each of us.

One has to ask, does Nancy Napier sleep? I say no. All of this said, Nancy’s biggest win, according to me, may be the fact that she has even been able to get BSU Football head coach and co-Gang member, Chris Peterson to come around to this creative conversation. Yes, all of his coaching secrets are exposed right there in print.

I’m equally honored and humbled to be associated with Nancy’s work, with Boise State University and this project in particular. The book is available on Amazon and proceeds go to scholarships at BSU.

So, thanks Nancy. You like to shine the spotlight of creativity on others. I’m not buying it. Maybe it’s you that’s so creative.