The Business Playground: Where Creativity and Commerce Collide (Voices That Matter) Stewart, David A. and Simmons, Mark

"Dave's knowledge and experience from all aspects of the music business is applied to the entire world of businessùsheer brilliance."-John Meglen, President and Co-CEO, Concerts West/AEG Live

In Today's flat world business as usual no longer cuts it. Anyone can compete on quality, price and timing. So what's the secret weapon that will boost your business over and above the competition?

Creativity! Far too often creativity is sidelined and the energy and excitement that go alongside it are subdued.

The Business Playground will Change All That. Prodigious musician, producer and entrepreneur Dave Stewart and advertising and branding guru Mark Simmons show you how to rediscover your creativity. Through a quirky selection of idea-inducing games and stimulating stories, you'll be able to bring your workplace back to life.

Be inspired by creative conversations with the legendary Mick Jagger, Tony Award winning director Matthew Warchus and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. And learn from innovative organisations like Google, NASA and Nokia

Unleash your amazing creativity potential and get ready to play!

"In this thoroughly enjoyable and highly instructive book, Dave Stewart and Mark Simmons tell you how we all can tap into our best creative selves, the way we could when we were children. Who knew having so much fun was the key to success!"-Laura Ziskin, Motion Picture Producer (including Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3, Pretty Woman, To Die For, and As Good as it Gets) and co-founder of Stand Up to Cancer

"Commercial growth is driven by creativity. This book gives you the keys to the car."-Andrew Robertson, President and CEO, BBDO Worldwide

"Brainstorming with Dave Stewart is a rare privilege. If you can't work with Dave in person, this book is the next best thingùan insight into another way of getting innovation to take root into your organisation. The Business Playground will help you raise the game with your team."-Christopher Rodrigues CBE, Chair of Visit Britain, International Personal Finance plc, The Almeida Theatre and The Windsor Leadership Trust. Past President and CEO, Visa International

"The Business Playground reminds us that instilling a good dose of humour and a bit of fun and games to the process is one of the most powerful creative tools an organisation has to drive performance, collaboration and shareholder value in a highly demanding environment."-Stephen Davis, President, Hasbro Studios

"Innovation requires vision, intuition, courage, and the ability to see what others don't see. Dave has them all."-Tero OjanperS, Executive vice president, Services and member of the Nokia Group Executive Board

Dave Stewart is founder and chairman of Weapons of Mass Entertainment, an idea factory described by the Los Angeles Times as "a media company for the new world." A multimedia entrepreneur, his career spans more than 25 years and over 100 million album sales. As well as being one half of Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, Stewart has worked with some of the best including Bono, Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani, Sinead O'Connor, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, winning best songwriter and best producer four times as well as numerous Grammy and Lifetime Achievement Awards. Described by Dylan as "a fearless innovator," Stewart was recently named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company magazine. Stewart is an acclaimed public speaker and regularly advises businesses on creativity and innovation. He is a key advisor to mobile phone giant Nokia, where he has the unique title of "Change Agent," and has created a number of game-changing ventures in the entertainment industry.
Mark Simmons is a branding expert, innovator and co-author of Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass and Join the Revolution (HarperCollins, 2007). Over the past 20 years he has been a senior global marketer at Coca-Cola, run advertising agencies in the UK and US, been an advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, and is the co-founder of useless.org, a social enterprise dedicated to helping people use less and give more. Mark frequently speaks at conferences about creativity, marketing and branding. He passionately believes in the power of ideas to make a positive difference in business and society, and works with organisations around the world to put this into practice.

Dave Stewart is founder and chairman of Weapons of Mass Entertainment, an idea factory described by theLA Times as 'a media company for the new world’. A multimedia entrepreneur, his career spans more than 25 years and over 100 million album sales. As well as being one half of Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, Stewart has worked with some of the best including Bono, Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani, Sinead O’Connor, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, winning best songwriter and best producer 4 times as well as numerous Grammy and Life Time Achievement Awards. Described by Dylan as ‘a fearless innovator’, Stewart was recently named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company Magazine. Stewart is an acclaimed public speaker and regularly advises businesses on creativity and innovation. He is a key advisor to mobile phone giant Nokia, where he has the unique title of ‘change agent’, and has created a number of game-changing ventures in the entertainment industry. Stewart is an accomplished photographer and filmmaker, and also makes a mean vodka martini.

Mark Simmons is a branding expert, innovator and the co-author of Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass and Join the Revolution. Over the past twenty years he has been a senior global marketer at Coca-Cola, run advertising agencies in the UK and US, been an adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, and is the co-founder of useless.org, a social enterprise dedicated to helping people use less and give more. Mark frequently speaks at conferences about creativity, marketing and branding. He passionately believes in the power of ideas to make a positive difference in business and society and works with organizations around the world to put this into practice. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markjcsimmons.