Out of the box. That’s what we think of when someone asks us what creativity is. Actually, it’s often just a different way of thinking. We are trained to think in linear fashion- so we never consider the nonlinear approaches whatsoever. That’s what schooling teaches- to answer the questions in a linear, step-by-step fashion.
Continue reading Do you want to be loved- or be creative?
We need to innovate to grow our companies. And, as I have always believed and averred, businesses, governments, and non-profits need to be creative and innovate on a regular, almost continuous, basis. It’s what I have tried to do when I have been a division head, a “skunks works” leader, or CEO/COO of an enterprise.
But, not all companies (or governments or non-profits, to be sure) understand this. One of my first employments involved a “discussion” of the assignment of patents to my employer. I refused to agree to provide a blanket patent assignment to the company. The CEO felt I was being unreasonable. When I asked him how many products (patents) he expected from his good technologists, his reply was 1 to 2 every few years. (Trust me, that number was probably higher than his expectation, but I did not argue with the number.) My position was if I were to develop one new product a year- that should be the company’s. But, any developments beyond that should involve special compensation to me. And, the company would get to choose which one it wanted each year. He eventually agreed (only after there were multiple products in the pipeline and no patent assignation on file from me)- and we parted company soon, thereafter.
Continue reading Innovation is the key. Risk is unavoidable.
I have been a fan of Leonardo da Vinci since 1962. I went (with my entire class) to the Met (the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
I read an article about a month ago that really riled me up. (That’s why I haven’t written about it until now.) A fairly well-known business consultant articulated that small business should NOT try to be creative in their business. This was substantiated by a series of reasons- most of which demonstrated that the exemplar businesses that either never studied their competitors (and, therefore, were certain their proposition was unique and creative) or were larger companies that had forgotten how to be creative.
Continue reading No, Ms. R, Businesses MUST be creative in their approach
I daydream. I know you think that’s bad- our whole culture has decided that this is just a lazy habit. In today’s pell-mell pace, we just can’t afford ourselves the opportunity to take things slow. That’s just wrong.
Continue reading Happy trails to you…
