Monday, 10 September 2012
by Tania de Jong AM
The global economy swings between signs of recovery and predictions of imminent collapse. Businesses appear paralysed. Though many are cash-rich, they’re risk-averse, strategically incremental and lacking fresh ideas and innovation. The world needs leadership, invention and daring now more than ever. We need audacity not austerity. We need to attack big, wicked, problems that improve the economy and society as a whole. We need to embrace bold ideas that represent real business opportunities and spark a revolution for courage and change.
Our world faces incredible challenges. We live in a world full of surprises – there’s something about technology that brings us ever closer to the margins than we could go before: drilling oil deeper, taking greater banking risks and even increasing the number of aeroplanes in our skies. When things go wrong and the oil leaks, or the finance sector collapses, or volcanic ash clouds block our skies, they go very wrong indeed.
Inevitably as technology progresses, the extent of associated risks does too and our lives in this new millennium will be, as they already are, filled with large surprises. We face the certainty of uncertainty. Individuals and organisations need creative new ideas and innovative solutions to adapt to constant change and re-invent the future.
Strategic creativity is increasingly valuable to nations, communities and individuals making the transition to innovation and knowledge-based economies. Creativity and innovation are vital for businesses exposed to globalisation, increased competition, consumer diversity and rapidly changing technology. Tomorrow’s competitive success will be based on creative ideas.
The development of people who can imagine and create innovative new solutions is the key to future success and sustainability. The recent IBM CEO Global Study surveyed 1500 CEOs and identified creativity as the most important leadership attribute over the next five years in an increasingly complex global environment. This study is the largest known sample of one-on-one CEO interviews, with over 1,500 corporate heads and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries polled on what drives them in managing their companies in today’s world.
So what is creative leadership?
Creative Leadership has been defined as the ability to shed long-held beliefs and develop and introduce original and at times radical concepts and execution. This requires bold, breakthrough thinking. This isn’t about having a lone creative leader at the top but rather a “field” of creative leadership, by igniting the collective creativity of the organisation from the bottom up. In essence, creative leaders excel at creating creative leaders.
The IBM report identifies a group of standout organisations that delivered solid business results even during the recent downturn. Their revenue growth was six times higher than the rest of the sample and they plan to get 20 per cent of revenues from new sources in the near future.
How do these firms succeed? These top performers focus on developing creative leaders across their organisations, deepening partnerships with employees and customers and achieving operational agility. Creative leaders in these firms are more prepared and willing to make deeper business model changes to realise their strategies. To win, they take more calculated risks and keep innovating in how they lead and communicate. They are ready to upset the status quo even if it’s successful and are committed to ongoing experimentation with disruptive business solutions.
Changing the work culture, unlearning and selectively forgetting past success formulas, and co-creating future products and services with employees, customers, and external partners are hallmarks of creative leaders in organizations from the US, Europe, and Asia. Firms exhibiting creative leadership out-performed their competition during the recession.
Let’s stop saying we are creative and innovative and start doing. We need to develop creative and courageous leaders and build a culture of innovation where failure is acceptable and successfully implemented ideas are rewarded and celebrated.
For more information, please visit:
www.creativeuniverse.com.au
www.ci2012.com.au
