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Volume 1
Issue 2
August 1998
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Book Review
Cultivating Corporate Creativity Through Dreamwork
By Anjali Hazarika
Reviewed by Sarah Richards
Attention corporate world! Your wake up call has come: It's time for you to sleep perchance to dream. Dr. Hazarika's combined experience of working with high-powered corporations and dreaming has brought together two unlikely bed partners, dream work and corporate requirements for productivity.
Learning to mine dream material for gold has been a lifelong occupation for some people throughout most of human history. Dream work has usually dwelt on the fringes of society and has had an aura of mystery and otherworldliness. In this day of rational thought with hard proof required for much of decision making in business, the world of dreams seems an unlikely tool for managers to use and administrators to tolerate. However, that irrationality and the subsequent training in how to open to creative thinking that allows dreaming life to significantly help people who are struggling to make good business decisions. Dr. Hazarika shows how to do that in a way that makes sense within a corporation's structure.
In her book, Dr. Hazarika explains most of what is necessary for beginners to start working with dreams. She acknowledges that while it is not necessary to be trained in dreaming work, such training can deepen the results of the work. She has many references, so the more serious students of dream work can access information. There is an appendix that reviews interview techniques developed by Dr. Gayle Delaney who also has written several popular books on dream work.
Because Dr. Hazarika lives and works in India, she brings a unique slant to her work by bringing in some of the understanding of consciousness that pervades her culture. This makes it particularly interesting for those westerners who have an interest in other cultures. But mainly, it is her long experience in working with corporations that brings to her writing a sense of competence and wisdom born of many hours training corporate staffs.
Due to increasing international competition corporations need fast and creative actions. While administrators may see the need for innovation, there is often very little done to foster it. Learning to incorporate dream work into the creative process and the training of staff members is one way to encourage and nurture innovation and allow enough reflection to make sure that a decision is a viable one.
Working with dreams stimulates a level of personal disclosure that can be uncomfortable or even threatening. It is critical that corporations who use these techniques also train people about integrity and confidentiality. Dr. Hazarika addresses this situation in her book, but it is an ongoing problem anytime you have a group of people working together who share personal information. If a corporation wants to harvest the fruits of creative thinking, it has to keep its garden weeded from the invasive tendrils of maliciousness.
I expect to see increasing numbers of Dream Seminars and Dream Groups in corporations thanks to people who will use this book as a starting point.
Table of Contents
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One |
Introduction: Discovering a Dream |
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Two |
Creativity: The Unanswered Question |
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Three |
Creativity-2000 |
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Four |
We Shape Our Dreams and Our Dreams Shape Us |
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Five |
When Corporations Start Dreaming |
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Six |
Seeking Solutions in Sleep |
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Seven |
The Royal Road to Empowerment |
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Eight |
Dreams of the Future and the Future of Dreams |
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Appendix 1 |
General Questions About Dreams |
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Appendix 2 |
Dream Interviewer's Cue Card |
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Appendix 3 |
The Four States of Being |
Read
the Netsurfer Science article about Iris Publishing's Sleep
Site:
- NETSURFER SCIENCE
- More Signal, Less Noise Volume 01, Issue 06
- Friday, July 31, 1998