Sublime

Harvard psychologist Teresa Amabile, one of the world’s foremost authorities on creativity, reminds us that to be successfully original, an invention needs to be new—but it also has to be practical.

As Dr. Teresa Amabile wrote in her book The Progress Principle, “In light of our results, managers who say—or secretly believe—that employees work better under pressure, uncertainty, unhappiness, or fear are just plain wrong. Negative inner work life has a negative effect on the four dimensions of performance: people are less creative, less product

As researcher Teresa Amabile notes in the Harvard Business Review, ‘On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak.’

1. Greatness starts with superb people.

This is one of the paradoxes of creative collaboration. Great Groups are made up of people with rare gifts working together as equals. Yet, in virtually every one there is one person who acts as maestro, organizing the genius of the others. He or she is a pragmatic dreamer, a person with an original but attainable vision. Ironically, the leader is

Harvard professor Teresa Amabile concurs. After examining 12,000 daily diary entries by several hundred workers, she found that the single largest motivator was making progress in meaningful work.