January 23, 2008        1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive Change
By Dr. Gerard Puccio

Dr. Gerard Puccio, Director of the Center for Creativity at Buffalo State University in Buffalo, New York, will demonstrate how creativity is an essential element of leadership and entrepreneurship. He will highlight creative thinking as the process that leads to change, by utilizing new research findings and providing specific principles and procedures that leaders can employ to become more effective in creating and managing change.

Creative thinking is a core competence of leaders who bring about positive change. Leaders cannot just create compelling visions for others to follow; they must be able to help others see that the visions are attainable. Creative ideas are in the minds of all people, they just may be hidden. In the first of four Strom Conference seminars, Dr. Gerard Puccio will show attendees how they can improve their creative thinking and inspire creativity in those around them.

Puccio is the Department Chair and a Professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, at Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York. Puccio has written more than 40 articles, chapters and books. His most recent book, co-authored with his colleagues Mary Murdock and Marie Mance, is titled Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive Change.
Puccio is an accomplished speaker and consultant. Some of his recent clients include Fisher-Price Brands, Sun Life Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Kraft Foods, Synovate (Market Research Firm), New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology and the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has delivered creativity workshops and presentations around the world, in such countries as France, England, Spain, Italy, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dominican Republic, and Canada. Puccio holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Manchester, England.