MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Mix Creativity With the Right Mindset to Serve Up Innovation

First-time inventors, film directors, and novelists often have a hard time replicating their early success. In our recent study about creativity in the United Kingdom, we found that first-time cookbook writers suffered a similar challenge, and for similar reasons.

While cookbooks and management may have little in common, understanding who publishes a second cookbook and who doesn’t does shed some light on what it takes to sustain creativity, in the kitchen or out. Of the first-time cookbook authors we studied, 50% published a second book within the next five years — often a variation of or sequel to the first idea. The other 50% stopped writing.

About the Author

Dirk Deichmann is an associate professor at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University. Markus Baer is professor of organizational behavior at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

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