ANDY BOYNTON IS THE DEAN of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He was a professor of strategic leadership at IMD (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he created and directed the school’s highly-rated global Executive MBA program. BILL FISCHER IS A PROFESSOR at IMD. He previously served as dean and president of the China-Europe International Business School, a joint venture of the European Union and Chinese government, in Shanghai, China. WILLIAM BOLE IS A JOURNALIST and a research fellow of the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics at Boston College.

• Preface: Why Hunt? xiIntroduction: Brilliance Not Required 1Already Out There 3Ready to Unlearn 71 Know Your Gig 11The Discernment 13The Circle of Competence 17Gigs Matter 19The I–D–E–A PrinciplesInterested2 Be Interested, Not Just Interesting 25Curiosity at the Trading Post 28Learning Machines 29Your Brain is Open 33Defining Your Own Hunt 36Ideawork #1: Selling the Best Hour of the Day to Yourself 39Diverse3 Diversifying the Hunt 47The Color of Your Ideas 49When Weak Ties are Strong 51Widening Your Intellectual Bandwidth 54Bridging Distant Worlds 58Ideas are Everywhere 61Ideawork #2: The I’S and T’S 65Exercised4 Mastering the Habits of the Hunt 71The Practice of Ideas 73Begin with an Eye 75Observing at the Ritz 77Erecting a Personal Platform of Observation 80Write It Down 83Get It Moving 86Observe Yourself 88Ideawork #3: Assembling an Idea Portfolio 91Exercised4 Mastering the Habits of the Hunt 71The Practice of Ideas 73Begin with an Eye 75Observing at the Ritz 77Erecting a Personal Platform of Observation 80Write It Down 83Get It Moving 86Observe Yourself 88Ideawork #3: Assembling an Idea Portfolio 91Agile5 Idea Flow is Critical 101The Case of the Guitar Strings 104Creating Idea Spaces at Pixar 106Finding the “Informal Bosses” 110Letting Ideas Percolate 112When It’s Time to “Kill” Ideas 115Ideawork #4: Ready, Set, Launch 1216 Create Great Conversations 129“Continuers” and “Terminators” 132The Value of a Naive Question 136Preparing for the Big Conversation 138Epilogue: Thoreau and the I-D-E-A Assessment 143References 151Acknowledgments 161About the Authors 165Index 167

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