In this weeks podcast Michael Gelb explains the power of Qi Gong and how it relates to innovation and creativity. You can find out more n Michael’s new book: Creativity On Demand: How to Ignite and Sustain the Fire of Genius.
An excerpt from tomorrows podcast:
Joe: One of your first books was the Alexander Technique, and now you’ve moved to ‘Qi’; has the body always played an important role in your work? 
Michael Gelb: Very much so, very much so. I mean I work with corporations, and you say well they are totally dissociated from the body, but what does the word ‘corporation’ mean? Corpus means body. We talk about the ‘head’ of a corporation and I’m also working with the head of the corporation and trying to get the head in coordination with the whole body, with the limbs, with the metabolism and the energy is the metabolism of the organism which is oftentimes somewhat sluggish or just out of whack. The body is actually a fantastic metaphor for working with an organization. But it’s not just a metaphor; the most important commodity in organizations today is energy.
About 20 years ago, every company sent their executives on time management seminars, and those don’t happen anymore because we realize, it’s not about managing time, it’s about managing energy. It turns out that for thousands of years, the Chinese have been studying how do you manage your energy on a personal basis, how can you actually get more energy as you get older, what are the practices you need to do.
I’ve been studying this for many years and I’ve made the connection that in teaching my clients how to be more creative, whether individually or organizationally, I’ve always taught them about the creative mindset, the attitude you need and I’ve taught the techniques of the creative process like for example mind mapping, but that the missing link for most people is the energy.
That’s why I wrote this new book, and it has three parts: mastering creative energy, mastering the creative mindset and mastering the creative process. It’s called Creativity on Demand really because there’s such a demand for people to be creative. I try to help them meet that challenge by giving them the insights that I’ve developed over these many years on how to access the mindset, the process, and the energy.