Unit 1

Innovation and Creativity

1. Explain the meaning of these quotes. Give arguments and examples

either to support the statements or refute them.

George Kneller: "Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of

rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know.

Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we

normally take for granted."

Sir Isaac Newton: "No great discovery was ever made without a bold

guess."

Carl Jung: Without the playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet

come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable."

Discussion

2. Read the text, think of the word which best fits each gap and answer

the questions.

Discussions about innovations are often made difficult because people are

unclear ........... (1) the exact meanings of ........... (2) key terms. ........... (3)

particular there is confusion about the difference between creativity,

innovation and invention.

Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving .......... (4) original or unusual.

Innovation is the implementation of something new.

Invention is the creation of something that has never been made before and is

recognized .......... (5) the product of some unique insight.

If you have a brainstorm meeting and dream up dozens of new ideas then you

have displayed creativity but there is ........... (6) innovation until something

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gets implemented. Somebody has to ........... (7) a risk and deliver something

........... (8) a creative idea to be turned into an innovation. An invention might

be a product or device or method that has never existed before. So every

invention is an innovation. But every innovation is ........... (9) an invention.

When your company first published ........... (10) website that was a major

innovation for the company even ........... (11) many other websites already

existed.

We tend to think ........... (12) an innovation as a new product ........... (13) you

can innovate with ...........(14) new process, method, business model,

partnership, route to market or marketing method. Indeed every aspect of your

business operation is a candidate ........... (15) innovation. Every organisation

must prepare for the abandonment of everything it does. So do not restrict

your vision of innovation to products. Some of the most powerful innovations

you can ........... (16) are in business methods and customer services. If we

look at companies like Dell, eBay and Amazon we see that their great

innovations were with their business models rather than in new products.

Innovations can be incremental or radical. Every improvement that you make

........... (17) products or services can be seen ........... (18) an incremental

innovation. Most businesses and most managers are good at incremental

innovation. They see problems in the current set-up and they fix them.

Radical innovations involve finding an entirely new way to ........... (19)

things. As such they are often risky and difficult to implement. Most larger

organisations and most managers are poor at radical innovation. If you had

been making LP records then you could have introduced incremental

innovations ........... (20) your design and marketing. However if this was your

strategy then a radical innovation, the CD, would eventually kill you. The CD

manufacturer could similarly introduce various incremental improvements.

Once again a radical innovation, music downloads over the Internet, would

............ (21) your offering obsolete. So we need to constantly look for

incremental innovations and radical innovations. We need to develop

creativity and turn it quickly ........... (22) innovation.

Why do people often find it difficult to discuss innovations?

What is the difference between creativity, innovation and invention?

Back up your answer using relevant examples from your own

knowledge or experience.

Why is every invention an innovation but not every innovation an

invention?

What mistake do people make thinking of an innovation as a new

product?

What two types of innovations does the text dwell upon? Give your own

example to show the difference between the two.

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3. Read the quotation and involve your fellow students into discussion

using the hints below.

"Innovation— any new idea—by definition will not be accepted at first. It

takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals

before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization.

This requires courageous patience." (Warren Bennis)

According to the writer, is any innovation doubted initially?

Think of examples of when innovators being persevering made a

reality of their new ideas.

Explain the last sentence of the quotation.

Do you share the writer's stance? Give your reasons why.

4. Discuss how creativity and innovation are relevant in your subject

areas.

Example: biologists innovate using biotechnologies such as designing

DNA to fundamentally disrupt the many unsustainable ways people make

things today, to improve how food is produced, medicines are designed, and

materials and chemicals are manufactured.

Multimedia

5. Watch the video episode The Difference between Creativity and

Innovation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7kKiL4I0DQ. Complete

Useful vocabulary

on the whole, by and large, with respect to, in

a variety of ways, in terms of, with the

exception of, with regard to, to some extent,

in more detail

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the notes of the lecture using no more than 2 words for each gap. Watch

the video again and summarize the lecture giving the speaker's examples

to support his stance.

Difference between Creativity and Innovation

Definitions

Creativity and innovation - different but 1 ......................

Creativity - production of 2 ..................... and useful ideas

Innovation - attempts to 3 ..................... out of ideas

Types of professionals

Creatives: - challenging 4 ....................

- trying something new

- taking risks

Innovatives: - 5 .................... ideas

- understanding risks and 6 .....................

- pushing without problems

Every area is 7 ..................... of creative and innovative types. Don't

understand each other.

Tips

For creative type: - learn when and how to 8 .................... ideas

- find a couple of 9 .................... before sharing ideas

- show 10 .................... for innovators

For innovative type: - learn how to help creatives remaining 11 ................

and without berating

- show interest in creatives' 12 ................... to projects

6. Watch the video episode What is the Difference between Innovation

and Creativity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL2d2t2iZkY. Complete

the following lecture notes. Write no more than 3 words in each gap.

Watch the video episode one more time and summarize the talk.

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Difference between Creativity and Innovation

Use of terms

Creativity - in creative industries: arts, design, 1.................... , media,

music.

Innovation - in 2 .................... and big business.

People from big business are 3 ...................... about using the word

creativity.

That started to change.

History

Can be compared with meditation and 4 ................... . They are similar.

The latter is preferred as it sounds as if it could be 5 .................... . The

same is about creativity. The term innovation will still be used. But

executives will feel more 6 ................... using the word creativity. It is

7..................... to think of difference between creativity and innovation as

they are the same.

Creativity framework (6 Ps)

1. Purpose (why you aspire to 8 .....................)

2. Personality (how to blend different personality types into 9 ....................

team)

3. Process (how to create and refine ideas)

4. Place (how to create and 10 ..................... environment to do best work)

5. Product (what you are creating)

6.Persuasion (how to persuade someone that your idea is worth

11...................)

Big C creativity

How to change 12 ..................... you are working in.

Creativity can be trained and taught

7. Compare the perspectives of both speakers. Whose opinion do you

adhere to? Be ready to discuss it with your fellow students. Write a

synthetic review of the two lectures.

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Reading

Words in Context

8. Tick the word closest in meaning to the boldfaced one.

Tame v. Athena was said to have invented the plough, and to have

taught men to tame horses and yoke oxen.

a. subdue b. ride c. mount

Homespun adj. Origami flowers can add a nice punch of bright color to

your home décor, or simply bring a touch of homespun

flair.

a. sophisticated b. funny c. simple

Harbour v. He harbours a severe grudge against his father

a. bear b. let out c. burst

Contemplate v. The cost of interactive information exchange, such as

asking questions about products you are contemplating

purchasing, has fallen to nearly zero.

a. risk b. endeavor c. consider

Dub v. Long before his death he realized that he had outlived his

own principles, and many of his former admirers had

commenced to dub him a "rank conservative," whose

political aims and reforms were no longer adequate.

a. name b. tease c. offend

Adorn v. The earliest in the order of time of the poets who adorn

this age - P.Vergilius Maro or Virgil (70-19) - is also the

greatest in genius, the most richly cultivated, and the

most perfect in art.

a. embellish b. admire c. berate

Preeminent adj. The country has always been preeminent in the field of

medical research.

a. inferior b. superior c. reluctant

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Delineate v. Paragraph tags delineate blocks of text, and are usually

used to include spacing so that screen text is easier to

read.

a. hide b. outline c. overshadow

Insatiable adj. Success only stimulated his insatiable ambition.

a. voracious b. cherished c. unrealized

Epitome n. The volume of his African and European addresses,

published in the autumn of 1910, not only presents an

epitome of his political philosophy, but discloses the

wide range of his interest in life and the methods by

which he had striven to bring public opinion to his point

of view.

a. analogy b. simile c. embodiment

9. Complete the sentences with the words from the box in the suitable

form.

Tame, insatiable, epitome, preeminent, homespun, adorn, delineate,

harbour, dub, contemplate

1. Her mother educated her in strict seclusion, but seclusion altogether failed

to .................... her imperious and ambitious temper.

2. No public man of his time was more fitted to act as unofficial national

orator; none more happy in the touches with which he could .................... a

social or literary topic and charm a nonpolitical audience; and on occasion he

wrote as well as he spoke.

3. To be a good business man is the .................... of development and these

learned people secretly aspire to that goal.

4. In the autumn of 1921 he was reported to be ................... some still vaster

venture in the nature of a super trust to control every industry in Germany, so

that the whole might ultimately be coordinated like one gigantic concern

regulating production, transport and the supply of the German markets and

those of the whole world.

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5. Exploring all of the caves in the western hemisphere did not even cure the

adventurer’s ................... curiosity for the unknown.

6. Such was the simple .................... charm of his style it was as if he had

stepped in from a parallel universe.

7. She .................... a deep-seated resentment toward her father.

8. The August Revolution, as it would be henceforth .................... , assumed

different shapes in different places.

9. Our business class learned a great deal from the seminar given by one of

the nation’s .................... business leaders.

10. The aim of environment analysis is to .................... the target investment

area, industry and partner.

10. Read the text and the cultural notes, learn the vocabulary.

Notes:

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was an

American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He

was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as

the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United

States Coast Guard, the New York Post newspaper, the first Secretary of the

Treasury.

James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American

statesman and Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the

United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the "Father of the

Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the United States

Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for Mathematical

Principles of Natural Philosophy), often referred to as simply the Principia,

is a work in three books by Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published 5 July

1687. The Principia states Newton's laws of motion, forming the foundation

of classical mechanics; Newton's law of universal gravitation; and a

derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (c. 1447–1517) was an Italian

mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an

early contributor to the field now known as accounting. He is referred to as

"The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping" in Europe.

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Euclid (/ˈjuːklɪd/), was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the

"founder of geometry".

The Vitruvian Man ("The proportions of the human body according to

Vitruvius"), is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci around 1490. It is

accompanied by notes based on the work of the architect Vitruvius.

Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, one of the

communities, regions and language areas of Belgium.

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (/ˈreɪli/ 12 November 1842 – 30

June 1919), was a British physicist who, with William Ramsay, discovered

argon, an achievement for which he earned the Nobel Prize for Physics in

1904. He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering,

which can be used to explain why the sky is blue, and predicted the existence

of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves.

The Genius Issue

Being a genius is different than merely being supersmart. Smart people are a

dime a dozen, and many of them don't amount to much. What matters is

creativity, the ability to apply imagination to almost any situation.

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Take Benjamin Franklin. He lacked

the analytic processing power of a

Hamilton and the philosophical depth of

a Madison. Yet with little formal

education, Franklin taught himself to

become the American Enlightenment's

best inventor, scientist, writer and

business strategist. He proved, by flying

a kite, that lightning is electricity, and

he invented a rod to tame it. He devised

clean-burning stoves, charts of the Gulf

Stream, bifocal glasses, enchanting

musical instruments and America's

unique style of homespun humour.

Albert Einstein followed a similar

path. He was slow in learning to speak

as a child - so slow that his parents consulted a doctor. The family maid

dubbed him "der Depperte", the dopey one, and a relative referred to him as

"almost backwards." He also harboured cheeky rebelliousness toward

authority, which led one schoolmaster to send him packing and another to

amuse history by declaring that he would never amount to much. These traits

made Einstein the patron saint of distracted schoolkids everywhere.

But Einstein's contempt for authority also led

him to question received wisdom in ways that

well-trained acolytes in the academy never

contemplated. And his slow verbal development

allowed him to observe with wonder the everyday

phenomena that others took for granted. "The

ordinary adult never bothers his head about the

problems of space and time, "Einstein once

explained. "But I developed so slowly that I began

to wonder about space and time only when I was

already grown up." So it was that in 1905, while

he was toiling away as a third-class examiner in

the Swiss patent office after graduating forth out of five students in his class

at the Zurich Polytechnic, Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the

universe by coming up with the two pillars of contemporary physics:

relativity theory and quantum theory. And he did so by rejecting one of the

basic assumptions Isaac Newton made at the beginning of The Principia, that

time marches along, second by second, irrespective of how we observe it.

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Today Einstein's name and likeness - the wild halo of hair, the piercing eyes -

are synonymous with genius.

Then there's Steve Jobs. Much like Einstein,

who would pull out his violin to play Mozart

when he was stymied in pursuit of theories

(he said it helped him reconnect with the

harmonies of the cosmos), Jobs believed that

beauty mattered, that the arts, sciences and

humanities should all connect. After dropping

out of college, Jobs audited classes on

calligraphy and dance before seeking spiritual

enlightenment in India - which meant that

every product he made, from the Macintosh to

the iPhone, had a beauty that was almost

spiritual in nature, unlike the products of his

competitors.

Studying such people leads to Leonardo da Vinci, who is believed to be

history's greatest creative genius. Again, that doesn't mean he was a smartest

person. He didn't have the superhuman theoretical brainpower of a Newton or

an Einstein, or the math skills of his friend Luca Pacioli.

But he could think like an artist and scientist, which gave him something

more valuable: the ability to visualize theoretical concepts. Pacioli may have

extended Euclid's theories to produce influential studies on mathematical

perspective and geometric proportions. But da Vinci's illustrations - of

rhombicuboctahedrons and dozens of other multifaceted geometric shapes -

brought it to life, which was ultimately more important. Over the years, he did

the same things for geography (through the aerial three-dimensional maps he

drew for warlord Cesare Borgia), anatomy (through his memorable drawings

of Vitruvian Man) and more - all while creating some of the world's greatest

works of art.

Like Franklin, da Vinci was largely self-taught. He was born out of

wedlock, which meant that he could not follow in the family tradition of being

a notary and was not eligible to attend one of the "Latin schools" that taught

the classics and humanities to well-groomed young men of the early

Renaissance. And like Einstein, da Vinci had a problem with authority. He

often seemed defensive about being an "unlettered man," as he dubbed

himself with some irony, but had little patience for the "foolish folk" who

thought less of him. "They strut about puffed up and pompous, decked out

and adorned not with their own labours, but by those of others," he wrote in

one of his notebooks.

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So it was that da Vinci learnt to

challenge conventional wisdom,

ignoring the dusty scholasticism

and medieval dogmas that had

accumulated in the millennia

since the decline of classical

science. He was, by his own

words, a disciple of experience

and experiment. That approach to

problem solving was nothing

short of revolutionary,

foreshadowing the scientific

method developed more than a

century later by Francis Bacon

and Galileo Galilei. And it

elevated da Vinci beyond even the

smartest of his peers. "Talent hits

a target that no one else can hit,"

wrote the German philosopher

Arthur Schopenhauer. "Genius

hits a target no one else can see."

Like Einstein, da Vinci's most

inspiring trait was his curiosity. The thousands of pages of his notebooks that

survive sparkle with questions he listed to pursue. He wanted to know what

caused people to yawn, how they walked on ice in Flanders, methods of

squaring a circle, what makes the aortic valve close, how light was processed

in the eye and what that meant for the perspective in a painting. He instructed

himself to learn about the placenta of a calf, the jaw of a crocodile, the

muscles of a face, the light of the moon and the edges of shadows. "Describe

the tongue of the woodpecker," he wrote in one of his entries. Da Vinci's

grand and noble ambition was to know everything there was to know about

everything that could possibly be known - including our cosmos, and how we

fit in.

Much of his curiosity was applied to topics that most of us have outgrown

even noticing. Take the blue sky, for example. We see it almost every day, but

not since childhood have most of us stopped to wonder why it is that colour.

Da Vinci did. He wrote page after page in his notebook exploring how the

scattering of light by water vapor creates various misty or vibrant shades of

blue. Einstein puzzled over that question too: building on Lord Rayleigh's

work, he worked out the mathematical formula for light spectrum scattering.

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Da Vinci never stopped observing. When he visited the moans surrounding

Milan's castle, he looked at the four-wing dragonflies and noticed how the

wing pairs alternated in motion. When he walked around town, he tracked

how the facial expressions of people talking related to their emotions. When

he saw birds, he noted which ones moved their wings faster on the upswing

than on the downswing, and which ones did the opposite. When he poured

water into a bowl, he watched how the eddies swirled.

Much like Franklin - who sailed from England as a teenage runaway and

later measured the temperature of the ocean currents, thereby becoming the

first person to chart the Gulf Stream accurately - da Vinci could not resist

chasing and studying whirlwinds of air when he was out on a ride.

Those observation led him to create some of his most brilliant strokes of art,

from the ripples of the river Jordan around the ankles of Jesus in the Baptism

of Christ to the disturbingly powerful Deluge drawings. He was also the first

person to explain how the eddies of blood from the heart cause the aortic

valve to close. And his drawing of Vitruvian Man - a work of anatomical

exactitude combined with stunning beauty - became the preeminent icon of

the connection of art and science.

Some people are geniuses in a particular field., like Leonhard Euler in math

or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in music. But the most interesting geniuses are

those who see patterns across nature's infinite beauties. Da Vinci's brilliance

spanned multiple disciplines. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers,

delineated the muscles that move the lips and then painted the world's most

memorable smile. He studied human skulls, made layered drawings of the

bones and conveyed the skeletal agony of St. Jerome in St. Jerome in the

Wilderness. He explored the mathematics of optics, showed how light rays

strike the cornea and produced magical illusions of changing visual

perspectives in The Last Supper.

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There have been, of course, many other insatiable polymaths, and the

Renaissance produced other Renaissance men. But none painted the Mona

Lisa, much less did so at the same time as producing unsurpassed anatomy

drawings based on multiple dissections , coming up with schemes to divert

rivers, explaining the reflection of the light from the earth to the moon,

opening the still-beating heart of a butchered pig to show how ventricles

work, designing musical instruments, choreographing pageants, using fossils

to dispute the biblical account of the Deluge and then drawing a deluge. Da

Vinci was a genius, but not simply because he was smart. He was, more

important, the epitome of the universal mind, the person most curious about

more things than anyone else in history.

Adapted from Time

Vocabulary

tame v. 1. to reduce from a wild to a domestic state: It is little wonder

that men who could tame and handle the reptiles gained esteem and influence.

2. to bring under control: One day man will tame nature. 3. to deprive

of spirit: He made the public realize that the reddest of Socialists, Radicals

and Republicans may be tamed and rendered harmless by the offer of cabinet

appointments. 4. to soften: They tamed the language in the play. 5. to

become tame: They soon tamed in captivity. tame adj. tamable adj. tamer n.

homespun adj. 1. spun or made at home: Other French fabric designs

come from the French homespun fabrics made by rural peasant women in the

19th and early 20th century. 2. simple: Most small towns would have gladly

forfeited some of their homespun values if it meant luring a firm there.

harbour v. 1. to give shelter or refuge to: Harbouring criminals is an

offence in law. 2. to be the home or habitat of: The town harbors

several textile factories. 3. to hold especially persistently in the mind:

He still harbors deep feelings of resentment toward his former

employer. harbour n.

contemplate v. 1. to view or consider with continued attention: He

refuses to contemplate change. 2. to look at quietly and solemnly: She

stood and quietly contemplated the scene that lay before her.

contemplation n.

dub v. 1. to call by a distinctive title, epithet, or nickname: The papers

dubbed the period of strikes and labour trouble "the winter of

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discontent". 2. to change the original spoken language of a film: The

British film was dubbed into Russian.

adorn v. to make more attractive by adding something: He adorned his

story with all sorts of adventures that never happened.

preeminent adj. having paramount rank, dignity, or importance: With

its preeminent worldwide Web-hosting position, the company is strategically

poised to capitalize on the global electronic commerce explosion.

delineate v. 1. to describe, portray with accuracy or in detail: The

report clearly delineates the steps that must be taken. 2. to indicate or

represent by drawn or painted lines: He delineated each area where a

specific color would be used with a line on the paper to mark the difference.

delineation n.

insatiable adj. incapable of being satisfied: Her desire for knowledge

was insatiable.

epitome n. 1. a typical or ideal example: His behavior was the epitome

of bad manners. 2. a brief presentation, summary or statement of

something: An epitome of his doctrine is contained in three letters preserved

by Diogenes.

11. Translate into English, make use of the prompts in brackets.

1. Мы в ответе за тех, кого приручили (to tame). 2. Она приложила

немалые усилия, чтобы сдержать свой гнев (to tame). 3. После Нью-

Йорка жизнь здесь покажется вам довольно скучной (tame adj.). 4. Мой

врач довольно сговорчив - всегда выписывает больничный, когда мне

нужен выходной (tame adj.). 5. На фоне недавних вспышек насилия

прошлые восстания, кажется, было легко подавить (tamable). 6. Думаю,

стоит посмотреть на укротителя, который посадил в клетку этого льва -

Аль Капоне (tamer). 7. Даже если у вас останется только кусок

домотканой материи, наденьте его и носите с достоинством (homespun).

8. Заканчивай с кухонной философией и иди искать работу (homespun).

9. Вероятно, поджигатель затаил злобу на компанию (to harbour). 10. На

этих болотах водится много птиц (to harbour). 11. Он питает

политические амбиции (to harbour). 12. В городе есть маленькая бухта

(harbour n.). 13. Судно вышло из гавани (harbour n.) 14. Сообщалось, что

он думает о создании гигантского концерна, чтобы контролировать все

отрасли промышленности в стране (to contemplate). 15. Она спокойно

наблюдала за происходящими за окном событиями (to contemplate). 16.

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В этих нормах обычно рассматриваются ситуации, связанные с

материальными активами (to contemplate). 17. Мысли о возможной

войне приводят людей в ужас (contemplation). 18. Влад III Цепеш

получил прозвище Дракула за свою неутолимую страсть к человеческим

мучениям (to dub, insatiable). 19. Интересно, кто озвучивает персонажа

Джонни Деппа в новом фильме (to dub)? 20. Золотые кольца украшали ее

пальцы (to adorn). 21. Не форма красит человека, а человек - форму (to

adorn). 22. Возможно, он и является украшением дипломатической

миссии, но наверняка не справится с таким важным политическим

постом как министр по делам Шотландии (to adorn). 23. Джеймс Джойс

был выдающимся английским писателем своего времени (preeminent).

24. Наши цели должны быть четко определены (to delineate). 25.

Маршрут корабля был ясно обозначен на карте (to delineate). 26. Ясно,

что разграничение и последующая демаркация границы крайне важны

для отношений между двумя странами (delineation). 27. Он - эталон

современного молодого человека (epitome). 28. Она всегда одета с

безупречным вкусом (epitome).

12. Find the following set phrases in the text, match them with the

definitions given on the right and use them in the sentences below. There

are extra definitions that you will not need.

to be a dime a

dozen

to amount to much

to be nothing short

of sth

1. to be only equalled by

2. to be unreasonably expensive

3. to be not at all unusual or valuable

4. to be far away from

5. to be of high importance

1. Their ignorance .................... their stupidity. 2. Coaching classes are

.................... , but most of them are of low quality and do not deliver on their

promise. The really good ones are far fewer. 3. The closure of the factory will

.................... a disaster for the people in the area. 4. What he said didn't

.................... as he had long lost his political influence. 5. Low paying jobs are

.................... and anyone can get one if they try, but the high paying ones are

not so easy to get and require proper and relevant skills. 6. Websites on health

and fitness are .................... nowadays, but not all of them are accurate and

have correct information. 7. She's a nice girl, but she'll never ..................... . 8.

Adventure and traveling based reality shows are now outdated and

.................... . 9. He’s lazy, and he’ll never .......... . 10. Managers get seven-

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figure bonuses, but workers are .................... . 11. Ideas are ..................... :

only execution skills count. 12. Being a bachelor degree graduate may have

been enough 20 years ago, but these days they’re ..................... . 13. His last

visit to Washington ...................... a fiasco. 14. English schools are

..................... in Moscow, but it’s much harder to find an English school that

cares about its students. 15. What they envision is ..................... a new

corporate structure, in which accounting and other functions are outsourced.

16. First, I would strongly advise other CEOs to follow our experience

because the results stood to be ................... spectacular.

13. Translate the following collocations into Russian and use some of

them to complete the sentences below.

to tame atomic energy, a tame party, tame words, a tame campaign, tame

scenery, homespun japes, to harbour a grudge, in contemplation, delineate a

draft resolution, delineate responsibility, delineation of a character, insatiable

of/in learning, epitome of a country's history, an epitome of one's life, the

living epitome of heroism, an epitome of goodness.

1. Some people were fascinated by the view, but I found the .......... pretty

.......... . 2. They ran a pretty .......... election .......... . 3. By the standards of

today's no-holds-barred satire, his .......... ........... about politicians seem

awfully tame. 4. To meet him and his family on trek is to glimpse an ..........

.......... his ........... 5. We are buying tents and other equipment .......... ...........

of a camping trip. 6. Our attitude towards ourselves should be "to be ..........

........... ..........." and towards others "to be tireless in teaching". 7. Various

estimates have been formed of the genius of Flaccus, and some critics have

ranked him above his original, to whom he certainly is superior in liveliness

of description and .......... .......... .......... . 8. He was the author of a brief ..........

.......... Roman .......... based upon Livy, which he utilized as a means of

displaying his antiquarian lore.

14. Paraphrase words and phrases in italics using the active vocabulary

units in the appropriate forms. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the

city. 2. The wolf was domesticated and evolved into the house dog. 3. She

was one of the quietest and most abject creatures imaginable with no will or

power to act but as directed. 4. He provided America with a typical example

of the good father. 5. The police marked the crime scene with yellow tape. 6.

The relationship between Church and State was outlined in a formal

18

agreement. 7. He considered leaving school and taking a full-time job as a

possibility. 8. The area above 57th Street became one of the world's eminent

flagship centers for international designers and retailers, where new trends

and cutting-edge fashion were introduced to the US. 9. She was forced by the

accident to have in mind retirement. 10. He lay in his hospital bed and cried as

he revolved in his mind his future. 11. He requires the presence of titles to

legitimate and enhance his imperfect status. 12. The little boy stood looking

thoughtfully at himself in the mirror. 13. Stevens is an agreeable writer, and,

as is the case with men of talent, his gifts beautify his sterling soundness. 14.

At this time, however, it happened to be the fashion for ladies to furnish their

drawing-rooms with the oldest and oddest chairs that could be found. 15. He

belongs to the great array of the unknown - who are great, indeed, by the sum

total of the devoted effort put out, and the colossal scale of success attained

by their voracious and steadfast ambition. 16. And the ravenous desire of

wealth and the neglect of all other things for the sake of money-getting was

also the ruin of oligarchy. 17. It is not a little remarkable that in every case

reported by ancient history, in which government has been established with

deliberation and consent, the task of framing it has not been committed to an

assembly of men, but has been performed by some individual citizen of

extraordinary wisdom and approved integrity. 18. This transaction is meant to

increase Ford's 20% stake in the venture and create a leading, global

aluminum castings company. 19. The laborers were obviously of the

household: two were young men in cotton shirts and caps, the two others were

hired laborers in home-made shirts, one an old man, the other a young fellow.

20. Pundits have already named this approach narrowcasting. 21. The home

functions as a shelter for runaway teens who need a place to find security and

acceptance.

Comprehension

15. Match the following words from the text with their definitions.

1. dopey a. to walk with a pompous air

2. acolyte b. adorn

3. toil away c. whirlpool

4. stymie d. masquerade

5. strut e. proud of oneself

6. puffed up f. idiotic

7. deck out g. flood

8. moat h. breathtaking

9. eddy i. work hard

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10. deluge j. savant

11. stunning k. fosse

12. polymath l. to present an obstacle

13. pageant m. adherent

16. Fill in the gaps with the words from exercise 15.

1. Using the latest software we produce a ..................... range of illustrations.

2. Brussels’ regulation has also been accused of ..................... innovation.

3.The International Labour Organization estimates that over 600 million

working poor, who earn less than $1.25 a day, ..................... in the informal

economy, unable to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. 4. If she

had gone all-out in one direction or the other, the film would be better -

either a fun, ....................... comedy or an exploration of maturity (or the

lack thereof) told through the lens of a kids game. 5. He's a magistrate who

prefers .................... about in cabinet offices rather than do his job. 6. He is a

highly influential economist whose ..................... can be found at many

major universities. 7. The representative of one country reported on

considerable investments in protecting its borders, including the construction

of ...................., barriers and watch towers. 8. Squad members, already

....................in cumbersome chemical suits, put on masks and rubber gloves.

9. For any type of flow meter, the flow shall be conditioned as needed to

prevent wakes ....................., circulating flows, or flow pulsations from

affecting the accuracy or repeatability of the meter. 10. He was too

..................... with his own importance, too blinded by vanity to accept their

verdict on him. 11. The shift had obviously benefited some national economy

sectors, whose competitiveness had increased, but in other sectors the

.................... of imports and unfair competition had caused loss of jobs and

livelihood, thereby aggravating income inequalities and the gap between the

rich and the poor. 12. The colourful .................... marks the start of a country-

wide programme of more than 600 entertainments at key historical sites,

which aims to attract 10 million visitors. 13. And he is a .................... and

more than qualified to do the research.

17. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F),

according to the article. Justify your answer by finding the relevant

information in the text.

1. Intelligent people are not numerous and they are usually high-

achievers.

2. The fact that in his childhood Albert Einstein was a slow-learner and

20

showed by his behaviour he didn't like rules and authority made him a

role model for all the absent-minded school children in the world.

3. Being a slow-learner Albert Einstein took phenomena of the world

surrounding him for granted.

4. Elated by success with his theories Einstein took his violin to regain

internal harmony.

5. Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of Vitruvian Man was so anatomically

exact and magnificently beautiful that it perfectly connected science

and art.

6. The most interesting geniuses are those who excel in a certain field of

science and art.

7. Leonardo da Vinci failed to become the embodiment of the universal

mind as he was too smart.

18. Find the following phrases in the text and explain their meaning.

referred to him as "almost backwards"; harboured cheeky rebelliousness

toward authority; led one schoolmaster to send him packing; made Einstein

the patron saint of distracted school kids everywhere; to question perceived

wisdom; he was born out of wedlock; strut about puffed up and pompous,

decked out and adorned not with their own labours, but by those of others; to

challenge conventional wisdom; ignoring the dusty scholasticism; a disciple

of experience and experiment; foreshadowing the scientific method; sparkle

with questions; became the preeminent icon of the connection of art and

science; spanned multiple disciplines.

19. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the difference between being a genius and being super smart?

2. What features made Albert Einstein the icon for all absentminded school

children around the globe?

3. How did those traits help Albert Einstein to question theories assumed by

others as true and examine phenomena so customary for others that they

ignored them?

4. What theories made Einstein's name synonymous with genius?

21

5. What conviction allowed Steve Jobs to make products possessing a feature

that sets them apart from those of his competitors? What feature is it?

6. What ability made Leonardo da Vinci history's greatest creative genius?

7. What revolutionary approach to problem-solving elevated da Vinci beyond

his peers?

8. Why, according to the text, was da Vinci a genius? What geniuses are the

most interesting?

20. Summarize the article. Professional summary should include the

following information: its topic, main idea, major details and conclusion.

Speaking

21. Read the text and find the right word to fit each gap.

The term genius is often reserved for freakish insights ..........

fundamentals of nature. But what .......... an event unique .......... the history of

our species? After many great chemists failed to find a practical process to

convert nitrogen gas .......... ammonia for fertilizer, Carl Bosch managed. This

may not seem .......... the romantic, flash-of-pure-thought type of genius, but it

revolutionized the way humans grow food. .......... large part because ..........

Bosch, our species surpassed 1.8 billion people in 1913 before rising ..........

7.5 billion today. And once we had sufficient crops, we were able to have

more wealth and more violence per capita, and start distributing knowledge

.......... wider scale.

Do you share the opinion that a seemingly modest discovery but the one

which revolutionized the development of the human race matters more

than a striking high profile breakthrough?

22. The article quotes German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

"Talent hits a target that no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one

else can see." To what extent do you agree with this statement? Support

your point of view with examples.

22

23. Develop the idea expressed in the following paragraph into a two-

minute monologue.

Traditionally the strength of an economy was judged by its heavy industry

and manufacturing capacity. In today's rapidly changing, globally oriented,

knowledge-based economies, however, traditional industries are becoming

less important. The potential of creative industries can be illustrated by

powerful global drivers of growth. In the modern economy, where goods can

be produced anywhere and transported easily to markets worldwide, it is those

with the capacity to come up with innovative new products and solutions who

will be successful. Therefore, the importance of encouraging creativity and

innovation in corporations around the world cannot be underestimated.

24. Here are 10 strategies that may boost your company’s ability to

create and innovate. Choose one of them and dwell upon it. Involve your

fellow students into discussion.

1. Truly creative people have developed their ability to observe and to use all

of their senses, which can get dull over time. Take time to “sharpen the

blade” and take everything in.

2. Innovation is based on knowledge. Therefore, you need to continually

expand your knowledge base. Read things you don’t normally read.

3. Your perceptions may limit your reasoning. Be careful about how

you’reperceiving things. In other words, defer judgment.

4. Practice guided imagery so you can “see” a concept come to life.

5. Let your ideas “incubate” by taking a break from them. For example, when

one is working on a big business project, one of the best things one can do

to take a break from it is play the guitar or the flute for a few minutes, or

take a ride on a motorcycle. It shifts the brain into another place and helps

be more innovative and creative.

6. Experience as much as you can. Exposure puts more ideas into your

subconscious. Actively seek out new experiences to broaden your

experience portfolio.

7. Treat patterns as part of the problem. Recognizing a new pattern is very

useful, but be careful not to become part of it.

8. Redefine the problem completely. Your problem may be not the problem;

there is another problem. When you define the real problem, you can solve

it and move on. After all, if you had correctly defined the real problem, you

would have solved it long ago because all problems have solutions.

9. Look where others aren’t looking to see what others aren’t seeing.

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10. Come up with ideas at the beginning of the innovation process and then

stop. Many times we come up with several ideas and start innovating, and

then we come up with more ideas and never get a single idea implemented.

At some point you have to turn off the idea generation part of the process

and really work on the innovation and execution part in order to bring a

project to life.

Vocabulary extension

25. Complete the article with the words from the box.

alerted, anxious, conventional, hinder,

impending, improvise, submit,

wallowing, wander

Note the definition.

Procrastination - repeated delay in doing something that must be done,

especially without good reason.

Procrastination makes you more creative, research says

Martin Luther King’s 'I have a dream' speech, Abraham Lincoln’s

Gettysburg Address and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa are all owed to

procrastination say scientists.

Many of us can feel guilty about putting off ...................... tasks, however

new research has revealed we may not need to feel so shameful. Around 20

per cent of adults claim to be chronic procrastinators, but they may also be

more creative, according to scientists.

Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton Business School, said he was first

.................... to the theory when one of his “most creative students” told him

she had her most original ideas after she procrastinated.

Jihae Shin, now a professor at the University of Wisconsin, investigated the

hypothesis by carrying out surveys at two different companies, analyzing how

often staff there procrastinated and then getting their bosses to rate how

creative and innovative they were. Professor Shin found those who

procrastinated were often found to be the most creative. She cemented the

findings under laboratory conditions, where she asked a group of people to

.................... business ideas. Those asked to submit their ideas after playing

24

games such as Minesweeper or Solitaire for five minutes before giving ideas

rated 28 per cent more creative by assessors than those who started giving

their ideas straight away.

Setting out the findings in his book Originals: How non-conformists change

the world, Professor Grant claims our first ideas are often our most

.................... ones, whereas procrastination allows a person's mind to

.................... , leading to more innovative thinking. Professor Grant also

claims some of the greatest moments of human history are due to

procrastination, including Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream”

speech, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Leonardo Da Vinci’s

Mona Lisa.

He told BBC Radio 4: “The greatest speeches in history were re-written at

the last minute so that you had a lot of flexibility to ..................... while you’re

still on stage, as opposed to getting the script set in stone months in advance.

“And Da Vinci spent 16 years working on and off in the Mona Lisa and he

felt like a failure because he was constantly getting diverted, he wrote in his

journal: 'Tell me if anything ever was done'".

“What he didn’t realise at the time… some of the diversions, like

experiments in optics, changed the way that he modelled light and ultimately

made him a better painter.”

Taking procrastination too far, however, can also .................... creativity

says Professor Grant. Further research found that leaving things to the very

last minute meant people rushed to complete tasks, implementing the easiest

idea rather than coming up with the most original.

Prosser Grant, who describes himself as a "pre-crastinator" – an individual

who becomes .................... long before work is due and completes it ahead of

schedule – said his research has caused him to change some of his working

habits. Writing in the New York Times he said: “If you’re a procrastinator,

next time you’re .................... in the dark playground of guilt and self-hatred

over your failure to start a task, remember that the right kind of

procrastination might make you more creative.”

“And if you’re a pre-crastinator, like me, it may be worth mastering the

discipline of forcing yourself to procrastinate.”

By Alexandra Sims

Are you a procrastinator, a "pre-crastinator", or one of those who do

everything in time? Have you ever found yourself wallowing in self-pity

25

or self-hatred over postponing something? Have the results of the

research mentioned in the article get you to change your attitude to time

management?

26. Read the following text and choose from the list A-G the best phrase

to fill each of the spaces. Explain your choice.

Creativity and Innovation: Your Keys to a Successful

Organization

The companies that have done the best over the long haul are those who

are the most creative and innovative. These organizations don’t copy what

others do; instead, they may use innovative ideas from others as a spring

board to come up with a unique application, product, or service for

themselves. They tend to distance themselves from the competition rather

than compete with them. If they see another company copying what they do,

they create something new and better. 1 .......... .

In fact, all companies can be more creative and innovative no matter what

their expertise, product, or service may be. When you apply creativity and

innovation to every aspect of your business, you are able to stay ahead of a

changing marketplace and the competition.

Creativity is a function of knowledge, curiosity, imagination, and

evaluation. The greater your knowledge base and level of curiosity, the more

ideas, patterns, and combinations you can achieve, which then correlates to

creating new and innovative products and services. But merely having the

knowledge does not guarantee the formation of new patterns. The bits and

pieces must be shaken up and iterated in new ways. 2.......... . In other words,

there really is a process.

Three important levels of creativity are discovery, invention, and creation.

1. Discovery: The lower level of creativity is discovery. 3 .......... . For

example, there is art called “discovered art.” It might be a rock with a unique

shape or a piece of wood with an interesting pattern. If you have ever

purchased a piece of natural stone or wood art, that art was discovered art.

Many inventions start with a discovery.

2. Invention: A higher level of creativity is invention. For example,

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. But you have to ask yourself,

“Would the telephone have been invented without Bell?” The answer is yes.

26

Eventually the telephone would have been invented because the science was

there. 4 ......... . So while invention is higher than discovery, it’s something

that is going to happen. If you don’t invent it, someone else will.

3. Creation: Creation is the highest level of creativity. For example, the

stage play Othello is genuinely a creation. Elizabethan drama would have

gone on without Shakespeare, but no one else would have written Othello.

5.......... . The key is tapping in to what those things are.

Here’s an example of how this could play out in your company. While at a

conference you might discover a tool, a technology, or a process that you

didn’t know before. You purchase the tool for your staff, and that discovery

helps everyone work better. 6 .......... . You may then use that innovative idea

as an inspiration that yields something never seen before, something created

by your company that helps you and your customers. That’s how the three

levels of creativity can work together.

Realize that creativity and innovation are different. Creativity refers to

generating new and novel ideas. Innovation refers to the application of an idea

and, in many cases, is a collaborative enterprise. 7 .......... . Or if I put my

creative speaker hat on, I might say, “Creativity is a bioelectrical

thunderstorm that precipitates an inescapable notion.”

The more creative and innovative you and your team members are, the more

long-term success you’ll achieve. So rather than constantly chase “the next

big idea” in your industry, bring creativity and innovation to what you’re

currently doing. When you do, you’ll be regarded as an industry innovator—

the one your competitors are trying to copy.

By Daniel Burrus

a. Just as the name implies, it’s when you become aware of or stumble upon

something—discover it.

b. Therefore, you need to continually expand your knowledge base.

c. Similarly, there are things that only your organization can create.

d. In other words, they are able to leverage their creativity and their

innovative capabilities to attain long-term success.

e. It might have taken longer, but it would have happened.

f. After some time, that discovery may also spur an innovative idea of how to

apply the discovery.

27

g. Then the embryonic ideas must be evaluated and developed into usable

ideas.

h. So in other words, innovation is applied creativity.

Dwell upon the levels of creativity. Think of your own examples different

from those given by the author of the article. Expand the idea of how the

three levels of creativity can work together complementing one another.

27. Use the words from the box to the right to form a word that fits in the

same numbered space in the text.

By Nicholas Fearn

How businesses can stay innovative and creative while

growing

Collaborative working and open communication are

some of the ways that growing start-ups can maintain

their creative flair.

Early-stage businesses can be very creative when it

comes to 1.................... and 2..................... . Limited time

and budgets mean leaner and more 3....................

approaches to getting a product or service off the ground.

Build things fast, garner feedback, then iterate, the

thinking goes. Done right, firms can grow fast.

But once a smaller company becomes larger and more

established, the 4.................... to innovate can slow up, or

stop altogether.

Some larger companies, however, do manage to keep a

start-up-like approach to innovation – and it’s having a

positive impact on product 5..................... and staff

6..................... .

BDG Architecture & Design, based in London, hired

more than 50 people within a year. This required the

company to think about how to improve its internal

(1) accelerate

(2) grow

(3) labour

(4) flex

(5) develop

(6) moral

(7) solve

(8) employ

(9) courage

(10) act

(11) rigid

(12) compete

(13) part

(14) respond

(15) power

(16) add

(17) effect

(18) able

(19) respond

(20) inspire

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structures to maintain growth and a culture of innovation.

The 7..................... , the company figured, was to begin

hosting internal workshops where 8..................... can

share ideas and feed into each other’s projects. It also

implemented collaborative tools and encouraged

employees to spend time working on side projects.

Andy Swann, a project and change consultant at the

company, says that it’s essential for businesses to

understand employees' needs and 9.................... them to

work together more frequently.

As an employer, he aims to create a workplace that’s

flexible. “We thought hard about how we could retain the

essence of innovation that fuelled our success,” he says.

“Innovation comes from ideas, and ideas come from

people. The more they can talk to each other and

collaborate, the better.

“Creating an open, agile workspace that encourages new

and different 10.................... every day, and removing the

11.................... of organisational structure, are ways that

we can still behave like a start-up.”

To get everyone in your business collaborating, Mr

Swann suggests holding internal 12.................... that

address specific briefs or projects. These should be held

every few months and will help foster open, constant

conversation and 13...................... across the company.

Most corporations have executive teams 14 ....................

for all aspects of business management and direction.

However, Justin Basini, co-founder of credit rating

website, ClearScore, believes that this kind of hierarchy

doesn’t work for every business. He has seen it stifle

creativity and 15.................... .

Mr Basini wants employees to contribute to the growth of

the firm and to not see failure as a bad thing. For

example, when the firm grew quickly in its first year,

customer-service staff struggled to cope with the number

of 16.................... queries.

29

Instead of viewing this as a failing, the company solved

the issue collaboratively, settling on the idea to insert a

frequently asked questions (FAQ) page for customers on

its website, to help answer some queries before they

reach the team.

Ensuring staff always have the right resources to do their

jobs is key to fostering innovation, says Mr Basini.

To cut down on email and share ideas 17....................,

each staff member has access to Slack. They also use

performance management tools which 18....................

employees to access company-wide objectives, so they

have a clear idea of what they should be doing.

“Corporate hierarchy, especially in traditional industries,

is designed, either consciously or unconsciously, to

disempower. This helps manage risk, but it kills

creativity,” he says.

It’s about removing those barriers that makes people feel

they have to always ask permission to change things. “It

just slows down the velocity of delivery,” Mr Basini

adds. “We fail and fix fast. It’s better to try and fail than

to not try at all.”

Vikas Shah, an investor in high-growth start-ups and a

professor of entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of

Management, takes the view that staff should never stop

learning or honing their skills. They should attend more

networking events and sign up to e-courses.

“It’s important to realise that innovation has to be

systemic, by which I mean that it has to be deeply

embedded into company culture and everyone must be

19.................... for it,” he says. Innovation can’t just be

left to people in a lab somewhere, he adds.

It’s easy to become blinkered in larger businesses, he

explains.

“Ensure that people involved in the innovation process

are exposed to ideas, concepts and insights outside the

company – it’s an extremely rich source of ideas.

30

20.................... can bring huge success.”

To what extent do you agree with the following ideas expressed in the

text. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples

from your own knowledge or experience.

1. Innovation comes from ideas, and ideas come from people. The more

they can talk to each other and collaborate, the better.

2. Corporate hierarchy is designed to disempower. This helps manage risk,

but kills creativity.

3. It’s better to try and fail than to not try at all.

4. Innovation has to be systemic, deeply embedded into the company

culture, and everyone must be responsible for it.

28. You are going to read an article on dangers of becoming intellectual

misers. Explain the meaning of the words in the grey boxes. For

questions 1-7 choose the answer (А, В, С or D) which you think fits

best according to the text.

The Sound of Silence

Twenty people — specialists, experts, thinkers — sit around a seminar

table. They might be discussing education, the stock market or one of a whole

range of issues. Although people are speaking, no one is saying anything. At

least half of the participants have an original idea at the front of their mind.

But they do not share it because it is too valuable. They are afraid that one of

the others will steal the idea and use it, publish it or sell it before they do.

Their intellectual property is at risk.

Images of the so-called ‘new economy’, that much talked about product of

the 'age of information' are of complexity and hubbub. You get the sense

that it is a noisy place. In fact, however, such is the fear of being

intellectually gazumped that people who you might think of as being in the

driving seat of that new economy are becoming rather cagey, and as a result,

it echoes to the sound of silence as received wisdoms are recycled.

31

There has always been a reluctance to share new ideas in professions

linked to the media, but it's a phenomenon that seems to be spreading,

especially into the world of policy. It is finding its way into government

departments and the 'think tanks', those groups of intellectuals and academics

whose job it is to inform and inspire government policy. On an

individual level, hoarding and hiding make good sense, but collectively it

impoverishes conversation — potentially to the detriment of good

policymaking.

This new intellectual coyness highlights the peculiar quality of

information and ideas in a market economy. The essential problem is this:

you cannot know the value of a piece of information, still less an original idea,

unless you know what it is. But once gleaned, it cannot be returned to its

originator intact. In other words, you cannot feel the quality of an idea

before deciding whether to buy it or not. This means that ideas make bad

commodities. Pricing, in the usual economic sense, is impossible because the

value of the product is not physically captured — at least, not immediately.

This is why intellectual property lawyers are licking their lips, and why

one academic has just taken out the first-ever patent on an idea. But legal

and contractual approaches to the problem are of limited use. Many of the

best ideas come out of a conversation between two people. Who, then, do

they belong to? And the danger of legally based approaches is that they will

make us more guarded, not less so.

On the face of it, the argument that we are becoming intellectual misers

flies in the face of current developments. Isn ' t the Internet

democratising knowledge? And what about the free software at the heart of

cyberspace? Far from living in monastic silence. aren't we being bombarded

with ideas and information?

Well, yes. But most of the information we receive is of limited value.

How many people who have a truly innovative idea will broadcast it on the

web? Some, but not many. With so much guff all over the place, the value of

an original idea is all the more worth guarding.

All this means that intellectual generosity is becoming rarer and much

more precious. It also elevates the role of trust. If my colleague gives me an

idea, and I pass that idea on, either in print or through conversation, it's

critical that I 'tag' it as hers, rather than succumbing to the temptation to pass it

off as my own. Such a system of tagging would mean that my colleague

continues to reap the rewards of her intellectual labour, making her more

32

willing to share her ideas with others in the future, and it would also mean that

our conversations would be free of the fear of theft. In short, she will trust me,

and vice versa, thus ensuring a free flow of information.

There are issues for employers here, too. When someone's ability to

add value rests on their skill at coming up with ideas, how do managers

ensure that they are working as hard as they should be? Maybe they are

storing up the best stuff for the online consultancy they run from home. In

most cases, the desire of workers to be recognised as talented, to win

promotion and gain greater financial rewards is sufficient incentive, but

managers need to ensure that good ideas are credited properly through

tagging, to keep the best minds on board.

So if we want to encourage intellectual generosity, as well as fostering

an atmosphere of co-operation rather than distrust, we need to tag ideas to the

person they originally came from. So how about it? As John Knell puts it: do

you dare to share?

1 According to the writer, the people in the meeting described in the first

paragraph are

A lacking in original ideas to share.

В unnecessarily distrustful of their colleagues.

С overvaluing ideas which they regard as their own.

D too cautious for any worthwhile discussion to take place.

2 Which phrase, used later in the essay, refers to the behaviour of the

people in the meeting?

A 'complexity and hubbub' (paragraph 2)

В 'intellectually gazumped' (paragraph 2)

С 'received wisdoms' (paragraph 2)

D 'hoarding and hiding' (paragraph 3)

3 In the third paragraph, the writer makes the point that

A good policies arise out of open discussion.

В government departments need to co-operate with each other.

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С government policies need to be discussed in the media.

D economic principles should apply to policymaking.

4 Which reason does the writer give for not favouring a legal approach to

the problem of intellectual property?

A It would exacerbate existing trends.

В It would be expensive for academics.

С It would tend to stifle intellectual endeavour.

D It would hinder the democratisation of knowledge.

5 What does the phrase 'so much guff (paragraph 7) refer to?

A an over-supply of imaginative ideas

В the wide availability of copious information

С the various ways of accessing ideas on the Internet

D an atmosphere of distrust between academics

6 What main advantage does the writer see in the system of ‘tagging' he

proposes?

A It will make people more productive in terms of ideas.

В It will foster a cooperative approach among thinkers.

С It will force employers to be more honest with their staff.

D It will ensure that unscrupulous academics are exposed.

7 Towards the end of the passage, what does the writer suggest is a

concern for employers?

A employees who steal the ideas of others in order to gain advantage

В how to reward those who work hard but fail to produce ideas

С how to implement tagging in the business context

D employees who choose to withhold good ideas

29. Read the articles and summarize them separately in English.

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Г. Бережнов

Креативность и инновации в деятельности предприятия

Креативную деятельность предприятия можно рассматривать

как творческий процесс решения научно-практических проблем. Ее

концепция представляет собой отрицание искусственного разделения

теории и практики, а также утверждает неразрывность знания и

действия, единство знаний, умений и навыков.

Креативность, т.е. творческий характер деятельности, является

универсальным требованием современной экономики, доминирующим

условием развития любого предприятия или вида деятельности.

В информационной экономике креативность проявляется в

изменении структуры активов в сторону преобладания нематериальных

активов, которые представляют собой компетенции (знания, навыки и

умения) работников и интеллектуальный капитал организации (патенты,

ноу-хау, программные продукты, монопольные права и привилегии,

лицензии, условную стоимость репутации и деловых связей фирмы,

торговые марки и авторские права).

Продукт креативной деятельности представляет собой особое

рыночное явление. Его специфика состоит в том, что он задумывается и

производится, как правило, при отсутствии такого важного рыночного

фактора, как покупательский спрос.

Креативная деятельность, как избирательный творческий поиск,

совмещает творческие требования с ориентацией на реальные проблемы

предприятия и включает в себя формирование новой модели мышления,

интеллектуальных активов. На этапе формирования производственных,

организационно-финансовых и производственно-коммерческих активов

креативная деятельность переходит в инновационную.

Инновационная деятельность предприятия представляет собой

взаимосвязь и взаимодействие творчества (креативности) и интеллекта

(логического мышления), осуществляемые в процессе инновационной

(коммерчески ориентированной) деятельности предприятия.

В процессе инновационной деятельности предприятия, которая

представляет собой процесс превращения интеллектуальных продуктов

в коммерческую добавленную стоимость за счет реализации новых

товаров или услуг, необходимыми элементами являются и творческий

продукт, и материальные системы.

Таким образом, креативность есть предварительное условие

инновационной деятельности.

Инновационная деятельность есть коммерциализация творческих,

интеллектуальных и материальных активов предприятия.

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Для инновационной деятельности характерны:

- хорошо организованная и финансируемая система получения новых

знаний и обучения;

- ориентация на творческий потенциал личности, группы людей и

организации;

- развитая инфраструктура получения и усвоения знаний;

- постоянное гармоничное наращивание имеющегося потенциала

предприятия.

Инновационные предприятия развивают творчество и

ориентированы на коммерческий результат. Они имеют общие

ценности, децентрализованную структуру, гибкость в творческой

импровизации и переоснащении.

Инновационная деятельность предприятия может быть определена

как способность извлекать стоимость из инновационного потенциала,

т.е. управлять отношениями между человеческим капиталом

(способностями и знаниями сотрудников), капиталом клиента (уровнем

взаимной интегрированности) и организационным капиталом (знания и

культура организации), максимизирующими потенциал организации с

целью создания стоимости. Во взаимодействии с материальными

активами и информационными технологиями это есть инновационный

потенциал организации.

М. Писаревский

Креативность в предпринимательстве: как рождаются

инновации?

Креативность, бизнес и инновации: как связаны эти явления? Нужно ли в

предпринимательской деятельности творчество как инструмент для создания

инновационных продуктов?

Термин «предпринимательская деятельность» разные словари и

энциклопедии определяют немного по-разному. Но в любом описании

так либо иначе будет сказано, что это деятельность с целью прибыли и

все риски этого процесса возлагаются непосредственно на

предпринимателя – организатора бизнеса. Предприниматель рискует

своими ресурсами – временем, денежными средствами – и сам за них

отвечает. Чтобы минимизировать эти риски, бизнесмен хочет одного:

создать продукт, который будет максимально востребован рынком. Ну а

рынок лучше воспринимает товары и услуги, которые дают

определенные преимущества потребителям.

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Инновации в свою очередь способствуют качественному росту с

точки зрения эффективности, что делает их священным Граалем

предпринимательской деятельности. Экономика в новейшей истории

практически целиком связана с инновациями. Если взять любой рейтинг

самых крупных или быстроразвивающихся компаний в мире, мы

заметим, что первые места в нем занимают те, бизнес которых построен

на инновациях. Например, мировым лидером по рыночной

капитализации остается компания Apple, в основе деятельности которой

– разработка и внедрение инноваций. В целом большинство компаний в

рейтингах представляет сферы технологий, обслуживания и финансов (с

мощной технологической составляющей). Так что инновационный

компонент в бизнесе зачастую сопровождается финансовым успехом

компании.

Создание инновационных решений, продукции, реорганизация

процессов напрямую связаны с интеллектуальной деятельностью. А

если говорить конкретно – с творческой деятельностью человека. За

каждым изобретением или рационализаторским нововведением стоит

творчество конкретных людей, их фантазия и новые идеи. Поэтому

креативность в предпринимательской деятельности сегодня – один из

самых важных факторов коммерческого успеха.

Исследуя природу знания и развитие креативности у работников

умственного труда, американские ученые Дэвид Хенард и Энн Мак-

Фэдьен разбили знания на категории согласно источнику их

возникновения и описали, как эти знания помогают в работе (в нашем

случае – в бизнесе). Так, согласно категоризации исследователей, все

знания делятся на полученные (которые были получены от другого

носителя), уникальные (сочетающие сведения из разных областей,

сложившиеся у отдельного индивидуума в ходе его деятельности) и

креативные (созданные человеком в процессе творческого

переосмысления разных факторов, объединения данных, полученных из

разных источников).

Если перевести эти понятия на язык предпринимательства, то

слова исследователей можно трактовать так: в бизнесе полученные

знания обеспечивают конкурентное равенство с другими игроками

рынка, уникальные знания могут обещать конкурентное преимущество,

а креативные знания гарантируют устойчивое конкурентное

превосходство. В контексте работы американских ученых речь шла о

том, что определенные преимущества бизнесу дает большее количество

работников умственного труда, обладающих знаниями более высоких

уровней.

Инновации, как утверждают исследователи, относятся к области

креативных знаний. В этой, высшей среди всех трех, области возникают

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совершенно новые знания – ответы на вопросы, которых до сих пор не

существовало. Также с помощью креативных знаний может быть создан

новый продукт, методика или процесс для тех направлений

деятельности, где прежние решения были значительно менее

эффективными. И в этом сегменте знаний заложен мощный потенциал

для новаторского, прорывного развития существующего бизнеса,

построенного на инновациях. Соответственно, знания такого рода,

полученные путем применения творчества, креативного мышления,

становятся в предпринимательской деятельности самым важным

ресурсом.

Создание новой идеи, безусловно, креативный, творческий

процесс. Наибольшее преимущество предпринимателю дает создание не

просто новой идеи, а в первую очередь инновационной идеи — которая

очевидно, будучи реализованной в продукте, станет востребованной на

рынке благодаря своим достоинствам. Креативность позволит быстро и

эффективно пройти все стадии вызревания идеи в продукт. Инновация

рождается там, где ее создатель задумывается над проблемой, которую

до него никто не выявил или же выявил, но определил как

«нерешаемую», – и задумывается творчески.

Креативность помогает в предпринимательстве не только

создавать инновации в существующих сферах, но и открывать новые

ниши на рынке. С помощью творческого подхода, применения

известных методов в разных сферах деятельности, на стыке разных

дисциплин, объединения разных подходов, создают инновационные

продукты и сервисы. Так в последние несколько десятилетий зародились

целые отрасли: электронная коммерция, социальные сети, применение

искусственного интеллекта в фармакологии, IT, исследования космоса.

Дэниел Гоулман, американский писатель, психолог, научный

журналист, исследуя тему креативности и инновационности

предпринимательства, в свое время высказался так: «Связь между

творчеством и коммерческим успехом очень важна, однако ее часто

упускают из виду. Предприниматели склонны думать о своем деле как о

чем-то очень организованном и стратегическом. Конечно, так и должно

быть, но предприятия не могут преуспеть, особенно в современных

конкурентных условиях, без инноваций. А инновации зависят от

творчества. Креативность – это точка входа в процесс, который в идеале

приведет к инновациям».

30. The articles in exercise 29 are different in style. How does the

difference manifest itself? What media sources are they more likely to be

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published in? Write a synthetic review of the articles in English avoiding

this stylistic difference.

Creative thinking

31. Speak on one of the following topics for 2 min. Two minutes'

preparation time is allowed.

1. What are the ways to cultivate innovation and creativity in business.

2. The importance of industry conferences for inspiring innovation and

creativity.

3. The role of brainstorming with colleagues in coming up with a creative

strategy.

4. The importance of strategic thinking for the success of business.

5. The role of digital technology in the modern business world.

6. How to find remedy for the negative effects of technological advancement.

7. The role of creativity in decision-making environment.

8. Staying close to the customer and the supplier provides feedback and

inspiration.

9. How to create a cultural environment that fosters creativity and innovation.

10. The benefits of an innovative corporate culture and creativity-friendly

workplace environment.

11. Proven processes for generating ideas and brainstorming solutions.

12. The importance to a company of attracting the best creative and

innovative talent.

PRACTICAL ADVICE:

READ THE RUBRIC CAREFULLY. SPEAK TO THE POINT

YOUR ANSWER SHOULD CONSIST OF THE MAIN PARTS

SEMANTICALLY AND LOGICALLY CONNECTED (INTRODUCTION,

DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSION)

USE VIVID EXAMPLES TO SUPPORT YOUR IDEAS

LET YOUR SPEECH BE EXPRESSIVE

MAKE NOTES OF WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO SAY

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ARRANGE YOUR ARGUMENTS LOGICALLY

ABSTAIN FROM READING YOUR TEXT

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

DO NOT SUPPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS AND SOUND DETACHED FROM

THE SUBJECT OF YOUR SPEECH

IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE OR FORGET SOMETHING, DO NOT WORRY –

CONTINUE YOUR SPEECH

32. Write an essay on one of the topics given below using specific reasons

and examples to support your view. Write about 180 words.

1. Without science and innovation, a qualitative breakthrough in the economy

is not possible.

2. Human creativity drives us forward as a species. It’s this preeminent ability

to harness thoughts and ideas that has produced everything from the first

sharpened stick, to the wheel, to the space shuttle, to the micro processor.

3. Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.

4. Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual

and preeminent way.

5. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be

always right by having no ideas at all.

REMEMBER:

TAKE A STAND

After reading the prompt, think about what position you will take. Go with

your instincts or “gut feeling”, about which side you can argue more

effectively. Remember, though, that your personal opinion isn’t relevant;

what matters is what side you can make a better case for. With which

position can you be more convincing? Write down the stand you’ll take in

clear-cut language. It is critical that your thesis directly responds to the

prompt.

MAKE A LIST

List 4 ideas that you can use to support your position. One of those ideas

can be a counter-argument to a view opposite to your “stand”, position, or

thesis. Each of those elements could serve as the main idea of the

paragraphs of the body of your say.

DESIDE ON THE ORDER OF YOUR IDEAS

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Place your "strongest" idea first in the order, your second "strongest" last.

These ideas should be supportable with facts and/or

references to your own core beliefs and values.

ORGANISE YOUR ESSAY PROPERLY USING PARAGRAPHS

FOR MAIN IDEAS

YOUR CONCLUSION SHOULD NOT INTRODUCE A NEW IDEA

Do not focus on one detail in the essay and do not be a sweeping

generalisation.

MAKE YOUR FINAL SENTENCE MEMORABLE

Do not just throw any sentence because you have run out of steam. Make

it conspicuous.

33. Make a project for a 5 minute presentation at a mini-conference.

thinking outside-the-box

Design Thinking Methodology and Process

Overcoming Creativity Blocks

Creative Thinking

best practices for unleashing your creative team’s potential

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