Inside vs. Outside

Innovations Inside the Box

The foundational belief of SIT is that true creativity hides inside the box. The traditional view of creativity is that it is unstructured and doesn’t follow rules or patterns. That you need to think “outside the box” to be truly original and innovative. That you should start with a problem and then “brainstorm” ideas without restraint until you find a solution. That you should “go wild” making analogies to things that have nothing to do with your products, services or processes. That straying as far afield as possible will help you come up with a breakthrough idea.

In reality, the opposite is true.

More innovation – and better and quicker innovation – happens when you work inside your familiar world (yes, inside the box) using five thinking tools that channel your ideation for you: Subtraction, Division, Multiplication, Task Unification, and Attribute Dependency.

Innovation Makes the Difference

Many other books discuss how to make creativity a part of corporate culture, but none of them uses the innovative and unconventional SIT approach described in this book.

With “inside the box” thinking, companies and organizations of any size can creatively solve problems before they develop—and innovate on an ongoing, systematic basis. This system really works!

Proven Techniques

These techniques were derived from research that discovered a surprising set of common patterns shared by all inventive solutions.

They form the basis for Systematic Inventive Thinking, now used by hundreds of corporations throughout the world, including industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, GE, Procter & Gamble, SAP, and Philips.

Hardcover | Paperback | E-book | Audio

Inside the Box:

A Proven System of Creativity

for Breakthrough Results

By Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg

Want a truly creative organization? Then think Inside the Box.

Inside the Box shows that more innovation – and better and quicker innovation – happens when you work inside your familiar world using a set of techniques that channel the creative process in a way that makes us more – not less – creative.

Inside the Box is a….

FINALIST for AMA Marketing Book of the Year & NOMINATED for Innovation Book of the Year

The Berry-AMA Book Prize for the Best Book in Marketing recognizes books whose innovative ideas have had significant impact on marketing and related fields.

Inside the Box is a….

FINALIST for AMA Marketing Book of the Year & NOMINATED for Innovation Book of the Year

The Berry-AMA Book Prize for the Best Book in Marketing recognizes books whose innovative ideas have had significant impact on marketing and related fields.

About the Authors

Drew Boyd

Drew Boyd is a global leader in creativity and innovation who guides teams, global businesses, and governments to deliver breakthrough results. He is a 30-year industry veteran, including 17 years with Johnson & Johnson in marketing, mergers and acquisitions, and international development. While at J&J, Drew earned his first patent for a device that makes spine surgery easier.

Today, he trains, consults, and speaks widely in the fields of innovation, persuasion, and social media with companies such as Macy’s, Toyota and Procter & Gamble. He is also the executive director of the Master of Science in Marketing Program and associate professor of Marketing and Innovation at the University of Cincinnati. His work has been featured in numerous business publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Industry Week, Psychology Today, and Strategy+Business.

Jacob Goldenberg

Jacob Goldenberg is a marketing professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a visiting professor at Columbia University. He studies creativity, new product development, innovation, market complexity, and the effects of social networks.

His research on SIT has been featured in leading scholarly journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing, Nature Physics and Science. His work has been featured in a variety of popular media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe.