The Art of Creative Rebellion: How to champion creativity, change culture and save your soul

(Paperback)

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A career is doing something that you love with passion, without concern about monetary return. And the irony, of course, is that done with truthfulness and courage, most of the time your passions will bear monetary rewards. John S. Couch

From one of today's leading creative minds comes a book for modern rebels about how to find success without losing your edge. Written for uncompromising creative thinkers and aspiring change-makers, The Art of Creative Rebellion encapsulates insights and wisdom collected over a life of creative and professional success.

In a frank, reflective and insightful series of letters to young free thinkers, John S. Couch shares the knowledge he wishes he'd had at the beginning of his own career journey. With refreshing irreverence and candour, he does more than urge young iconoclasts and non-conformists to follow their passionshe lays out the uncompromising principles they must cultivate in order to thrive in a world that seems to reward conformity.

Filled with honest self-reflection of his own missteps, Couch mentors his readers through the steps of finding their courage, embracing discomfort, and nurturing creative habits that strengthen their true self and power their careers.

Reviews

John S. Couch lays out a compelling and inspiring how-to for kickstarting your life into a world of creative ideas. His approach inspires genuine belief that this elusive trait known as creativity can actually be cultivated by any one of us.
Tim Kring, Screenwriter and Creator of Heroes

John S. Couch is a refreshingly honest truth teller who shares his experiences with us and brings us along for the ride. Grab this book whenever you need to jump-start your creative engine.
Maria Giudice, Founder, Author, Coach, Consultant, Co-author of Rise of the DEO

How do rebels build teams that foster everyones individuality, and encourage dissimilar people to collaborate without demanding conformity The Art of Creative Rebellion offers practical advice for creating order without too much control or chaos.
Kim Scott, Author of Radical Candor

Creativity is personal. This account of creativity is personal and that is what makes it such a valuable read. If you aspire to be creative, or remain creative, then dive into this book and learn how personal choice and intense passion translate into excellence and achievement.
Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO and Author of Change by Design

This is a rigorous call to take creatively honest action! It is about untethering ourselves from daily shrinkage in our creative labors. The Art of Creative Rebellion is a generous testament to the importance of creativity as a life practice and moral commitment. John S. Couch eloquently offers truth, wisdom and wit while conveying how your work can (and really must) override predetermined expectations and output measurements. John puts his extraordinary life, attained perspectives and creative leadership in service to being infinitely useful to others.
Kristy Edmunds, Executive and Artistic Director, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA

Its so easy, so predictable to travel from the freedom of a child to the conformity of an adult. If you want to buck that trend, it wont happen accidentally. This is the book to help you plan and deliver on a life thats courageously and creatively lived.
Michael Bungay Stanier, Bestselling Author of The Coaching Habit

The ideals and creative dreams of your youth havent been choked out by the constriction of corporate culturetheyre waiting to be reclaimed through a small act of conscious rebellion. John S. Couch shows us how to clear the distractions and reconnect to the spark within.
Aarron Walter, VP of Design Education, InVisionApp Inc

John S. Couch delivers a kindly roadmap for the individual creative soul. His fluid and engaging writing style confidently guides the reader to step up, stand their ground and achieve; all for a life well lived. Bravo!
Bonita Pietila, Producer/Original Casting, The Simpsons

John has built not just the primer for a creative job, but an exercise routine for a joyful soul.
Jonathan Miranda, Strategist and Hopeful Futurist, Salesforce

The Art of Creative Rebellion is a masterful koan on the essence of design. Like a true Zen teacher, John S. Couch writes with a poetic brush and sharp sword. This book is a call to arms for designers who seek to make a meaningful impact in an evolving world. I love this book!
Michael Margolis, CEO, Storied, and Author, Story 10x

John S. Couch wants to give his younger self the wisdom of a career in design among the top-level technocrats who shape our reality. While his time machine is on backorder, hes written it all down in this book, so the rest of us can benefit as well. Im looking forward to consulting Johns book often to get a fresh poke in the ribs and a gentle kick in the ass!
Stefan G. Bucher, Narrative Brand Designer

Author Bio

Widely recognized as one of the great creative minds of our modern world, John S. Couch is a prolific artist and designer working as an Entertainment and Technology Specialist focused on cross-platform content strategies. He is currently Vice President, Product Design for on-demand video service Hulu, where he lead its successful 2017 Hulu Experience redesign across mobile, living room and web platforms. His first job out of college was curating an art show in London of Beat writer William Burroughs' "Shotgun Paintings" (as implied, shotguns and exploding cans of spray paint were involved). In classic young starving artist mode, he ambulated to Paris, Vienna and Tokyo before finally settling in San Francisco. He launched his design career at Wired Magazine, where he shared an office with Douglas Coupland ("Generation X") and developed a love for technology, design and tech. Fluent in Japanese, he helped launch Wired Japan before moving to LA, where he took on leadership roles at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), CBS and eBay, finally landing at Hulu. Couch lives with his wife and daughter in the Santa Monica Mountains, California, where, in addition to his day job, he writes every morning before sunrise and paints every evening.