‘Coolhunting‘ and ‘swarm creativity‘ are powerful concepts about identifying emerging trends and discovering the key trendsetters. They are about uncovering hidden innovation and innovators and they include the how and why new ideas and new knowledge are converted into products and services that correspond to the collective human mindset. Coolhunting involves making observations and predictions as part of the search for cutting-edge trends. It is a way of capturing what the ‘collective mind‘ is thinking, and using what is captured to one’s advantage. Humans swarm around like-minded people, with whom they not only feel comfortable but also can collaborate to produce winning ideas.
The book is structured around a series of “lessons” for unlocking and applying swarm creativity in organizations to build greater creativity, productivity, and efficiency. It explains how to harness an organization’s natural ability to self-organize new processes spontaneously, and explains the traits that characterize collaborative members and community behavior. For business, these processes can result in successful development of products in R&D through lead-user innovation; better customer relationships by finding influencers and early adaptors; and better project management processes by finding gatekeepers and hidden leaders. The applications transcend sectors and organizations. It is about finding what is “cool” and putting that to productive use, whether by a small group of individuals or a large corporation.
Learning Change 