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Features

What Makes Beautiful Minds

Some forms of creative genius seem unfathomable. But as the author of A Beautiful Mind tells us, that doesn't mean we can't learn from them. Sylvia Nasar

The Fabric of Creativity

At W.L. Gore, innovation is more than skin deep: The culture is as imaginative as the products. Alan Deutschman

Fast Take: Gore's Text for Innovation

W.L. Gore's new rules of business start with breaking the old rules. Alan Deutschman

Innovation Awards

How do you quantify corporate imagination? Meet the top companies on the first-ever Fast Company/Monitor Group Innovation Scorecard -- firms where new ideas are a competitive advantage. Michael A. Prospero

What Money Can't Buy

Each year, Microsoft spends more than $6 billion on R&D. And for all that money, it gets...digital toilets and SPOT Watches. Is there a problem here? Carleen Hawn

Microsoft Skills

William H. Gates III is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corp. He spoke with Fast Company about patience, fast-following, and the innovation gap. Carleen Hawn

Fast Take: Lessons on Innovation From Microsoft

There are plenty of internal reasons why Microsoft's record of innovation is so lackluster. Not to mince words, Bill Gates's researchers have placed a bunch of expensive bets on technologies that haven't panned out. But the company's failure also points to three much bigger lessons about innovation. Carleen Hawn

The 6 Myths Of Creativity

A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company. Bill Breen

Fast Take: Getting Creative

How do you build a creative work environment? Here is Harvard professor Teresa Amabile's four-part plan for leaders, coupled with journal excerpts from her pioneering study of creativity "in the wild. Bill Breen

It's Not About the Doughnuts

Can an old New England pastry purveyor find new life as a hip coffee shop? Dunkin' Donuts plans to give Starbucks a run for its latte. Linda Tischler

Creme of the Crop

Dunkin' Donuts' CEO on turnarounds, the value of values, and the "healthy halo"

Green Power

Thanks to soaring fuel prices, lots of creative energy is being applied to alternative energy. The time may finally have come for these three champions of on-the-verge technologies. Scott Kirsner

Fast Take: Slipping Into the Future

Jeremy Bentham took over last year as CEO of Royal Dutch/Shell's hydrogen business. Here's his advice on how a big company can prepare for big change. Scott Kirsner

Please Displease Me

Hey, sometimes innovation ain't pretty. And neither are the cars Patrick le Quement designs for Renault. Ian Wylie

Fast Take: Don't Brake for Change

Patrick le Quement's cars provoke strong reactions. Here's his recipe for getting an organization to embrace risky design. Ian Wylie

What I Know Now

Myrtle S. Potter, a top exec at Genentech, explains how to pare down, focus, and move forward. Paul B. Brown

Fast Talk: The Creative Impulse

Five young professionals in the fields of fashion, design, publishing, advertising, and architecture discuss the source of their creativity and what drives it. Ryan Underwood

Next

Offshoring Creativity

Never mind the call centers. Look at the high-tech firms and markets in China and India, and worry about the emigration of innovation. Alan Deutschman

Chatter

Awards Day!

They're Not Playing Around

We review the cutthroat business of toys: Does Toys "R" Us stand a chance against industry behemoth Wal-Mart this holiday season? Chuck Salter

Tinier Towels

Diane Cheshire on smaller-sized sheets. Paul Lukas

No Wonder the Economy Is Dragging!

The price of professionalism. Lucas Conley

Reinventing the Wheel

Our Consultant Debunking Unit travels full circle when it comes to reinventing the wheel. Martin Kihn

The Year of Learning Dangerously

"12," an advertising school launched by an ad agency, is an "incredibly messy" education in solving real-world problems. Polly LaBarre

How To Fix CNBC

Five years ago, CNBC pole-vaulted into the zeitgeist. "Business news is hot," a spokesman bragged then. Today, it's not -- and CNBC's daytime viewership is off 51% from its 2000 peak of 348,000. How to goose the sagging ratings? Ryan Underwood

60 Seconds With Caroll Spinney

The man in the giant canary suit on Sesame Street talks about staying fresh, fighting with Elmo, and making football players cry. Lucas Conley

Linear Thinking

Lessons from the Rockettes. Alec Appelbaum

Why the %#$@ Computer Doesn't Get It

Why can't humans and computers just get along? We say one thing, they hear something different. People are from Venus, computers are from, well, a factory somewhere. Michael A. Prospero

Datebook

Critical calendar listings for December 2004. Danielle Sacks

Wishful Thinking

Getting and giving: fun tech toys for your holiday list, plus three worthy causes. Magnus Hoij and Fiona Haley

Gift Gallery

A seasonal guide to the best in innovative products and services for leaders. Heath Row

Office Handbook

The rules on holiday festivities. Ryan Underwood

The Corporate Shrink

How to cope with the guilt of firing a coworker. Dr. Kerry J. Sulkowicz

Playbook

The Care and Feeding of the Creative Class

Secrets for fielding teams that are passionate, playful, and high performance. Linda Tischler

Brain Calisthenics

We road-test three exercises designed to stretch the imagination. David Lidsky

Acting Up

Casting director Mark Bennett takes you behind the scenes on auditioning your way to success. Danielle Sacks

People Who Need People

Helping leaders navigate the strategy-execution gap.

Readers' Choice

Clued In makes the case for a successful customer-service experience.

It's Not a Fair Fight If You're the CEO

Watch your mouth. As the boss, you stand to wreak havoc by mere suggestion. Marshall Goldsmith

No Choice Without Voice

Why do we demand so much from our toys and TVs, and so little from our banks, insurers, and drug companies? Shoshana Zuboff

More Great Stuff

Finding Your Inner Creative

This month's letter from the editor. John A. Byrne

Between The Lines

The stories behind this issue's stories.

Feedback

Letters. Updates. Advice.

The Net/Net

A go-to guide of the products and services featured in this month's issue.