We often hear about the need for being creative. We even have a so-called creative class. It is usually people ( all dressed in black ) working in the advertising industry. They claim they have unique skills when it comes to creativity and they are excellent at luring lots of money out of their clients’ pockets. But creativity in itself doesn’t bring and progress to the table. There are lots of people who are extremely creative, who barely can make enough money to support themselves. So does that mean that creativity is not important? No not at all, but creativity only becomes useful if you add an ingredient.
The sliced bread – are you creative?
You can see the solution to the test in the image below. Did you figure it out or did you find another solution?
Innovation and creativity – What is the difference?
There is often confusion between the terms innovation and creativity. In short, creativity is just coming up with ideas while innovation is developing ideas for a particular purpose e.g. developing a new product, improving customer service or developing a new sales channel. So, in short, we can define innovation as:
In most situations, the purpose will be embedded in the company’s strategy or mission. In this article, the purpose is how we can improve competitive advantage. And the direction is utterly important. Only if you stay focused on your objective you can prioritise your ideas and work on those who serve the purpose best. When we work with our client developing cross-cultural competencies we often hear, “I/we are not creative or innovative”. But that is not true. Unlike what most people believe creativity is not a special gift you are born with. Being creative or innovative is in fact a very structured process that everybody can – and should – learn. If you are interested you can learn more about our innovation workshop here.
- We align your corporate culture with your strategy.
- We take you safely through major changes in your organisation.
- We develop the crucial cultural intelligence in your organisation by training your employees and leaders
- We help you develop a competitive advantage with a unique corporate culture
Gugin has helped more than 600 companies around the world creating a winning corporate culture.
Leadership Keynote Speaker by Dr Finn Majlergaard
Leadership keynote speaker, Dr Finn Majlergaard delivers thought-provoking global leadership speeches and workshops all over the world, based on 25 years of experience with 600+ companies. Anyone can copy your product but no one can copy your culture. Learn to become the best in leadership
When Innovation dies it is too late to change
Becoming innovative is difficult – staying innovative is harder – and when it fades it is almost always too late to change the culture
I just say things as they are…
"I just say things as they are" is a phrase you might hear quite often. Maybe even without paying attention to it. If you - as we do in Gugin work with leadership development, conflict reconciliation and cultural identities you DO pay attention to phrases like that....
You can’t make a dog happy by wagging its tail
This post is about employee satisfaction. More specifically about why it is so hard to achieve and why we continuously continue to do all the wrong things to increase employee satisfaction. My motivation to write this post comes from many of our clients, who don't...
3 Topics all Leaders should have on their Radar Screen in 2022
Leaders are often so tied up with short-term issues that they don’t see the iceberg in front of them. Here are 3 topics that should be on their radar screen.