Let the Elephants Run: Unlock Your Creativity and Change Everything

by David Usher

Overview

A national bestseller, Let the Elephants Run is the essential guidebook for anyone looking to reignite their creativity.

Creativity is in everyone’s DNA, not a select few. Award-winning musician and founder of CloudID Creativity Lab David Usher believes we just need the right tools to help us reconnect with our imaginations in our day-to-day lives, whether in the head office, the home office, or the artist’s studio. Using a mix of personal anecdotes and professional examples from the worlds of industry, technology, science, music, and art, he shows us that creativity is not magic; it is a learnable skill that any person or business can master. The dynamic full-colour design includes photographs, artwork, and illustrations, as well as action pages to help readers start cultivating the habit of documenting their ideas for future execution. Based on his wildly popular speaking engagements, Let the Elephants Run is the essential guidebook to reigniting and nurturing our creativity in accessible and productive ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770898684
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press
Publication date:	03/07/2015
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

DAVID USHER is a musician, entrepreneur and keynote speaker. He has sold more than 1.4 million albums and toured all over the world. When Usher is not making music, he is equally passionate about using technology to build new and interesting businesses. His company, CloudID Creativity Labs works on vast range of innovative projects, from building web platforms to creative consulting for companies like Cirque du Soleil and Deloitte. Usher sits on the advisory board of McGill University’s Institute for the Public Life of Art and Ideas and is the founding director of Amnesty International’s Artists for Amnesty. Find him on Twitter @davidusher.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for David Usher and Let the Elephants Run:

KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Go ahead, write in this book. I dare you. David’s writing will change you, possibly forever.” — Seth Godin, author, The Icarus Deception

“David Usher has written a passionate, eclectic, rule-breaking, and practical guidebook to finding your creative side. Unlike most such books, however, this isn't merely arm-waving: it is data-driven and grounded in David's many years of success as an artist and entrepreneur. I loved it.”  —Dr. Paul Kedrosky, venture capitalist and contributing editor to Bloomberg

“Let the Elephants Run is a wake-up call for sleeping synapses, and an ode to our natural curiosity and imagination. The reader is invited to dare, to reflect, and to play.” — Gillian Ferrabee, Director of Cirque Du Soleil Creative Lab

“This book is an enthralling exploration of the creative process that will both fascinate and challenge you. David’s insightful take on how to both unleash and control one's own creativity is particularly relevant in today’s world, where new ideas and innovation are becoming a key part of our everyday lives.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“Let the Elephants Run is a wonderful exercise into the questions we were always so afraid to ask. It’s a look inside our own patterns as human beings, and teaches us how to bring out the best in our creativity and ourselves.” — Béatrice Martin, musician (Coeur de pirate)

“Usher asks readers to draw, dream, and explore as they read. The entire book is visually stunning, with beautifully chosen photos, typography, and graphics throughout. Combining hard data and personal experience, Usher offers inspiration and a clear map to creativity.” — Publisher’s Weekly

“This is not the kind of book you want to borrow, but buy and own, write and colour inside of, and return to throughout your artistic journey. It will provide an ephemeral burst of inspiration to even the most closed of minds, and for those that are truly receptive to it, the contents of this book could do anything from blast away writer’s block to radically shift your perception, and ,ultimately, your life.” — The Clarion

“There’s a real artistic quality to [the book], but it’s also very direct and easily digestible.” — City Life Magazine

“An imaginative but practical guidebook to finding and nurturing our creativity . . . I couldn’t put it down.” — Waterloo Chronicle

“For both the young or the inexperienced entrepreneur, Usher offers some valuable insights.” — BetaKit

Editorial Reviews

There’s a real artistic quality to [the book], but it’s also very direct and easily digestible

City Life Magazine

Let the Elephants Run is a wonderful exercise into the questions we were always so afraid to ask. It’s a look inside our own patterns as human beings, and teaches us how to bring out the best in our creativity and ourselves.

musician (Coeur de pirate) Béatrice Martin

This book is an enthralling exploration of the creative process that will both fascinate and challenge you. David’s insightful take on how to both unleash and control one's own creativity is particularly relevant in today’s world, where new ideas and innovation are becoming a key part of our everyday lives.

politician Justin Trudeau

For both the young or the inexperienced entrepreneur, Usher offers some valuable insights.

BetaKit - John Gray

David Usher has written a passionate, eclectic, rule-breaking and practical guidebook to finding your creative side. Unlike most such books, however, this isn't merely arm-waving: it is data-driven and grounded in David's many years of success as an artist and entrepreneur. I loved it.

venture capitalist and contributing editor to Bloo Dr. Paul Kedrosky

an imaginative but practical guidebook to finding and nurturing our creativity… I couldn’t put it down.

Waterloo Chronicle - Marshall Ward

This is not the kind of book you want to borrow, but buy and own, write and color inside of and return to throughout your artistic journey. It will provide an ephemeral burst of inspiration to even the most closed of minds, and for those that are truly receptive to it, the contents of this book could do anything from blast away writer’s block to radically shift your perception, and ultimately, your life.

The Clarion - D.J. Pierce

…reads like a TED talk; it has that level of focus and intensity but it also has that universality to it…It’s one of those books that it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what form your creativity takes, it will be valuable to you.

CBC All Points West

Go ahead, write in this book. I dare you. David’s writing will change you, possibly forever.

Seth Godin author of The Icarus Deception

Let the Elephants Run is a wake-up call for sleeping synapses, and an ode to our natural curiosity and imagination. The reader is invited to dare, to reflect, and to play.

Director of Cirque Du Soleil Creative Lab Gillian Ferrabee

there’s sure to be something fresh and inspiring waiting in the pages for you to discover

Apartment 613

Usher’s credibility comes built-in: he has established parallel careers as a keynote speaker and creative consultant, but it’s as an artist…that he commands the most attention, and the book is at its strongest when he draws directly on that experience.

Montreal Gazette

Go ahead, write in this book. I dare you. David’s writing will change you, possibly forever.” — Seth Godin, author, The Icarus Deception

“Let the Elephants Run is a wake-up call for sleeping synapses, and an ode to our natural curiosity and imagination. The reader is invited to dare, to reflect, and to play.” — Gillian Ferrabee, Director of Cirque Du Soleil, Creative Lab

“This book is an enthralling exploration of the creative process that will both fascinate and challenge you. David's insightful take on how to both unleash and control one's own creativity is particularly relevant in today's world, where new ideas and innovation are becoming a key part of our everyday lives.” — Justin Trudeau, politician

“Let the Elephants Run is a wonderful exercise into the questions we were always so afraid to ask. It's a look inside our own patterns as human beings, and teaches us how to bring out the best in our creativity and ourselves.” — Béatrice Martin, musician (Coeur de pirate)

From the Publisher

06/15/2015
Musician and tech entrepreneur Usher makes his living being creative and is highly successful. It's wrong to think that just some people are born artistic, says the author; we all are original, but it's easier to believe that you lack talent than to take on the challenge of harnessing it. Featuring highly relatable language and many stories from Usher's own accomplishments, short chapters describe how to reconnect with the imagination you enjoyed as a young child, or bring the inventiveness you use in one area of your life to bear on other endeavors. Usher's advice will be familiar to self-help readers, but his book adds welcome, concrete tips that are often missing from other books in that genre. He recommends various approaches to getting out of a rut and seeing things differently—everything from making your coffee in a different way to taking a hard look at your business. He suggests that readers develop a routine and a ritual and allow a half hour for innovation each day. Reading and writing are essential habits, Usher maintains, as are sometimes unpalatable-to-artists ideas such as imposing a deadline on yourself. He closes with a useful case study: his process for writing this book. VERDICT An enjoyable read with many easy-to-implement tips; this is just the right length for would-be creators, whether their project is a painting, a book, or a new way of doing business.—Henrietta Verma, Library Journal

Library Journal