Do you harness creativity well in your business?
If there's room for improvement, this book; Unlocking Creativity by Michael Roberto might be perfect for you.
It looks into how some of the biggest businesses, entrepreneurs and even musicians (such as Dave Grohl) find creative ways to grow and develop their businesses, products and services and even musical talents.
Surprisingly, when surveyed, 60% of leaders at IBM stated that creativity drives success, but today, so many businesses don't put creativity into their marketing mix!
Instead, they prefer to take a linear approach; research, analyse, create a plan, budget and then execute the plan.
There's no time or resources allocated for meandering and going off-piste!
It's deemed safer to check the competition, benchmark against them, all the while, stifling creativity. I've been in big corporations and seen this first hand myself.
So here are my 4 biggest take-aways from the book, to try myself and recommend for you too:
- When someone has a new idea in the team, it's too easy to say 'we tried that last year and it didn't work.' Instead, listen more, develop the concept in a new direction and encourage creative thinking - it might surprise you!
- Strive to be LESS like the competition.
- Have an internal 'designated nay-sayer' when there are multiple ideas, to become the usual 'devil's advocate.' This is polar opposite to #1, and only works in a very super-creative environment, where the same person looks at the projects from all the negative angles, thus it sounds less personal coming from multiple angles. This reminds me of Edward de Bono's 6 Thinking Hats.
- When creativity is hard to come by, don't force it. Put problems aside and come back to them, go for a run, shower, or even lock them away for a few weeks. You'll be thankful for your fresh eyes!
The book does come with a big word of warning. Michael Roberto explains that companies need to harness innovation, or they're 'doomed to fail.'
Want to plan a chat with me about how your business can unlock creativity and innovation? I work with businesses who have big ambitions and we build the marketing strategy together, including creativity and innovation!
Book a 30 minute call with me here to suit your schedule.