Thomas Edison. Benjamin Banneker. Jerome Lemelson. Alexander Graham Bell. Josephine Cochran. Leonardo da Vinci. Isaac Newton. All brilliant minds. There's no getting away from inventors when we think of innovation. You may also recall the names of innovative products, such as iMac or Post-It Notes, or companies with a strong innovative spirit, such as 3M. Of course, these products are ground-breaking, and the names are therefore instantly recognizable. But it is also important to remember that innovation on a smaller scale--developing a new process or looking at things in a different way--can often deliver just as many benefits for your company. We seldom realize that we can all bring greater creativity and innovation to the workplace, giving our organizations added competitive advantage. Yet, we are often in a unique position to understand exactly what improvements need to be made. Why do we often have our best ideas when we leave work? Is creativity within everyone's grasp, or is it something only the exceptionally gifted are capable of? And what can we learn from science that can help us to be more creative at work? Starting with the foundations of creativity, this series explores the science of creativity, creativity models, and how to create the right culture for creativity and innovation to flourish. Much of creativity is about generating ideas, so traditional and non-traditional techniques are also considered. Watching children at play, for example, can reveal much about the nature of creativity and can also provide a rich source of ideas. Being creative doesn't mean that anything goes. Ideas must be grounded in reality too. And what's an idea without execution? An idea is virtually worthless unless and until it is evaluated, using accepted methods, against corporate strategy, market viability, and other such criteria. Even after evaluation, there are no guarantees of success. Careful management of the implementation process is a must to bring the very best ideas to fruition.