The Orange Cat Effect : The Science and Practice of Breakthrough Thinking

Stop Chasing Creativity. Start Creating the Conditions for It.

Where do breakthrough ideas come from—and how can we help them stay long enough to matter?
The Orange Cat Effect explores the science and practice of breakthrough thinking—why original ideas often appear unexpectedly, why they disappear so easily, and how individuals, teams, and organizations can create the conditions that help them survive.
Drawing on research in creativity, mind-wandering, psychological safety, leadership, innovation, and organizational design, Hannarong Shamsub, Ph.D., shows that creativity is not a mysterious gift reserved for a lucky few. It is a human capacity shaped by attention, environment, habits, culture, and systems.
Readers will learn how to:
• Notice breakthrough ideas before they disappear
• Create space for insight without losing discipline
• Build psychological safety and smart guardrails for creative work
• Turn sparks into useful outcomes through feedback, testing, and commitment
• Design cultures where innovation becomes sustainable, not theatrical
At the center of the book is the Orange Cat: a vivid metaphor for fragile, surprising, and often inconvenient ideas. Like a cat, insight cannot always be commanded. It appears when conditions are right—and vanishes when chased, crowded, judged too soon, or ignored.
Practical, research-based, and memorable, The Orange Cat Effect is for leaders, teams, culture builders, and curious thinkers who want better ideas to appear, survive, and become real.
Because creativity is not only about having ideas. It is about building the conditions where the right ideas can stay long enough to matter.
Start reading today—and learn how to create the conditions where your next breakthrough idea can appear, survive, and become real.