How do you escape ‘business as usual’ thinking and regularly and reliably create breakthrough ideas?
Millions are spent every year in the quest to generate breakthrough ideas to drive growth. Yet fewer than 25% of people believe they’re doing a good job of harnessing creativity to get to big ideas.
In The Breakthrough Brain, Coral McConnon helps you harness human creativity with the digestible, inspiring and immensely practical Neuroscience of Creativity framework. Discover the 5Cs you need to master to demystify creativity, consistently unlock breakthrough innovation and solve this disconnect: Cognitive Focus, Cycles of Deep Thinking, Creative Flow, Challenging Reality and Courageous Choices.
The result? You are free to play your creative A game, rediscover the joy of creativity, ignite big ideas and drive business growth.
Whether you’re in Innovation, Insights, Marketing/Brand or R&D, or simply have a mandate for injecting fresh thinking into your business, this is for you.
What you’ll discover
It’s easy to feel ‘stuck’ when you are embarking on early-stage innovation. Common challenges include:
Why do teams have innovation fatigue or a lack of engagement?
How do we escape a can‘t-do innovation culture that kills creativity?
Why can‘t we reliably land on-strategy ideas?
Why do ideas that test well still fizzle out in the business?
Why are our ideas dull and uninspiring?
What you'll get from The Breakthrough Brain
Digestible neuroscience
The basics of how our brains really work when thinking creatively.
Real-world practical application
What you practically need to do to innovate smarter.
Actionable diagnostic tools
Figure out what needs dialling up and dialling down in your organization.
What readers are saying
‘In this book, Coral McConnon has pulled off something most “gurus” in the field never manage:
making creativity feel like real work rather than scented vapour from a keynote stage. The Breakthrough Brain is intelligent, grounded and admirably free of the usual hackneyed clichés… a book about discipline, depth and building the conditions for better thinking, rather than just worshipping disruption like some caffeinated cultist.’
Professor Alf Rehn, Professor of Innovation, Design, and Management,
University of Southern Denmark, author of Innovation for the Fatigued
What readers are saying
‘The Breakthrough Brain is a valuable contribution to the field of creativity.
It compellingly reframes creativity not as a mysterious gift, but as a capability that can be deliberately designed and strengthened… a clear and practical model for achieving smarter early- stage innovation.’
Professor Margaret Mangion, Director and Associate Professor,
The Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation
What readers are saying
We’ve long treated creativity as a personality trait. Either you have it or you don’t.
Coral McConnon disagrees – and the neuroscience backs her up… If you think creativity can’t be systematized, this book will change your mind.’
Dr Blair Miller, Co-founder, FourSight,
Co-author, Good Team Bad Team
About the author
Coral McConnon is the Founder of 8 Innovation and a champion for the power of creativity to deliver smarter, more strategic innovation. Over the last almost 20 years she has worked with global brands on hundreds of complex early-stage innovation challenges, applying the neuroscience of creativity to ignite bigger ideas that land.
By understanding how our brains work when creating new ideas, Coral is a catalyst for teams to escape ‘business-as-usual’ thinking and play their creative ‘A’ game. Her MSc, which focused on the neuroscience of creativity, added depth and rigour to the 8 Innovation framework.
Her approach is influenced by the New Zealand No. 8 wire mentality, the knack of ingeniously solving problems creatively yet pragmatically that originated in the New Zealand farming industry, just as Coral did. Living and working in China further shaped her agility and instinct for solving challenges pragmatically and innovatively. Coral now lives in London.
Email me at coral@8Innovation.com or connect with me on LinkedIn
© 8 Innovation 2026
© 8 Innovation 2026