Enhancing personal creativity and fostering organizational innovation.

Dr. Sawyer is best known for his studies of creativity and innovation. He’s published numerous academic books and articles on individual and group creativity, with a particular focus on super-creative groups like jazz bands and improv theater ensembles. He’s been a jazz pianist since high school, and while conducting his studies of jazz creativity, he performed with several jazz groups. While studying improv theater, he played piano with several Chicago improv groups in the early 1990s.

Building on this extensive body of research, Dr. Sawyer has published three editions of "the creativity bible," Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation, the 2024 third edition co-authored with Danah Henriksen. Since the publication of the 2006 first edition, the book has been widely used in college courses in psychology and in business. In 2013, he published a book for everyone who wants to realize their full creative potential: Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity. Zig Zag is filled with hands-on techniques for enhancing personal creativity, all based in the latest scientific research.