A company’s most important asset isn’t raw materials, transportation systems, or political influence. It’s creative capital—simply put, an arsenal of creative thinkers whose ideas can be turned into valuable products and services. Creative employees pioneer new technologies, birth new industries, and power economic growth… If you want your company to succeed, these are the people you entrust it to. That much is certain. What’s less certain is how to manage for maximum creativity.*
Creative management is a complex process, but mastering it is imperative for those who want to deliver true value.
Besides various other things, creativity is the use of imagination. It is a new way of solving problems and crafting value-adding solutions.
Creativity, by its very nature, is contextual, solution-focused, and futuristic. In creative arts, it transforms words into stories, drama, poems, and songs; canvas and colors into beautiful paintings; and stones into valuable sculptures. In a commercial context, creative thinking may be viewed as a mindset—an innovative solution-seeking mindset.
Management has been defined by its originators as a focused discipline of controlling processes, people, and materials. In the world of business, resources are expected to enhance commercial value.
I visualize creative management as a creativity-driven, customer-focused, and disciplined value creation process that transforms innovative ideas into profit-generating products and services. Thus, it may not be wrong to say that creative management is the genesis of value-creating sustainable commercial enterprises.
innovative ideas and creative management
Creative management is the prime mover of innovative idea-driven entrepreneurship. The transformation of idea into positive cash flow generating products is a multi-functional, dynamic, customer- focused, value creating journey.
In a firm, creative management includes proactive assimilation of required creativity from different functional areas—integration of contextual entrepreneurship to ensure commercial viability, and for sustainability, amalgam of the perspectives of different strategic business partners.
Curiosity, contextual thinking, and questioning as well as learning, unlearning, and relearning are also integral parts of the creative management processes.
why creative management
The present ecosystem is often described as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. What next is a perpetual question.
This story is from the September - October 2018 edition of The Smart Manager.
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This story is from the September - October 2018 edition of The Smart Manager.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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