ePrize CEO Josh Linkner's creativity book hits top of Amazon, Barnes & Noble sales

Thursday, February 24, 2011 | Source: Metromode

Say the word creative around Josh Linkner and you'll probably repeat what he just said. The chairman of ePrize and CEO of Detroit Venture Partners has had creativity in the workplace on the mind for a while and now has it on paper with his new book, Disciplined Dreaming.

The self-proclaimed "proven system for driving breakthrough creativity" focuses on helping entrepreneurs and their companies become more imaginative and thus more effective in the 21st Century workplace. The book was released on Sunday and climbed to the top of the sales charts for both Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites Monday and Tuesday.

"Creativity is the most important skill that individuals and companies should be nurturing," Linkner says. "It's the one thing that can't be outsourced."

One of Linkner's favorite mantras is that entrepreneurs should be trying to invent the next Groupon instead of copying the idea. He points out that pioneers in certain new economy segments are often outdone by late-coming rivals (Friendster by Facebook and AltaVista by Google) and Linkner will counter that continued innovation is what made the latecomers first.

"They were able to outcreate their competitors even though they were late out the gate," Linkner says.

He offers local start-up hireMYway as an example of a building force in Metro Detroit's emerging new economy. The website for hiredMYway features technology that uses a dating-service model on the Web to help people find jobs. It basically pairs employers and job seekers with matching needs and skills in the same way a dating service would.

"They used creativity to fundamentally displace the complacent incumbents," Linkner says.

Source: Josh Linkner, chairman of ePrize, CEO of Detroit Venture Partners and author of Disciplined Dreaming
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Related Company

ePrize
One ePrize Drive
Pleasant Ridge, MI 48069 Website

Interactive promotions developer ePrize is the jewel in Metro Detroit's new economy crown. The Pleasant Ridge company was founded in 1999 and has dominated the interactive promotions industry since its inception.