In this age of innovation businesses require a creative spark. Surveys of CEO’s consistently point to a desire to develop more innovation power, but they don’t say how to do it. In my book Corporate Creativity, we did not try to address the basic cognitive or physiological issues of creativity, but rather explored the social and collaborative aspects of creativity in order to help organizations develop a creative workforce and corporate culture.
Creativity is no longer the exclusive domain of the creative department at the ad agency; rather, it should be the fabric of every company. This requires developing a culture encouraging risk and out-of-the-box thinking, and building a creative workforce. Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein argue that building creativity is about “schooling the imagination.” We like approaches that encourage informed play, the blurring of disciplinary boundaries, and encouraging a polarity of ideas including creative abrasion.
Although there is no single “right way” to foster corporate creativity, we can encourage creativity as it occurs in individuals, teams, and organizations at large. My friend the late Jeff Mauzy argued that creativity can be divided into three categories; creative thinking, climate, and action. With this in mind, I organized the book Corporate Creativity into three sections – create, collaborate, and innovate. In the create section, we look into creative thinking and address the dynamics of personal creativity, how creativity works, and reinvigorating creative thinking in organizations. In the collaborate section we explore working in groups, and climate and environment for innovation, including the dynamics of the creative process. In the third section, innovate, we provide numerous examples of innovation, and show evidence of creative initiatives with business results.
Twenty-six authors contributed to Corporate Creativity. I hope the book helps show how to bring new innovative products and services to market, transform businesses into brands, and develop meaningful experiences for customers. All good!