The Creativity Imperative - Tom Tresser

The Creativity Imperative Tom Tresser July 25, 2007

If you’d like a copy of this presentation, please email me at tom@tresser.com.

Agenda

Introduction

Sorting

What is creativity?

The joy of creativity

Creativity as U.S. heritage

Creativity and the economy

Creativity and you

Tom’s background… ACTOR INTERNET MARKETER COMMUNITY DEVELOPER PRODUCER EDUCATOR “The Artist As Activist” – Loyola Theatre Department EXEC ED DESIGNER/ FACILITATOR

Current Projects The Moose Jaw Expedition 2007

Sorting

Stand if your organization is pursuing some sort of innovation or creativity management/acceleration program

Stand if your organization is considering some sort of innovation or creativity management program

Stand if you are a creativity or innovation services provider

The power (and profit) of creativity… midnight at my local bookstore

Book sales (1-6) exceed 325 million copies worldwide

#7 had 20 million print run, Amazon sold 2 million (50% boost in profits!)

Revenues:

- Books = $9 billion

- Movies = $4.4 billion (#5 did +$110 million opening week)

- DVDs = $1 billion

- TV = $495 million

The magic of a great story! Shekels Accummulus!

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

“ Creativity is the ability to look at the same thing as everyone else but to see something different.” - Chic Thompson

WHO IS CREATIVE?

Howard Gardner John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. http://www.howardgardner.com Project Zero aims to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. http://www.pzweb.harvard.edu

HOWARD GARDNER’S 8 INTELLIGENCES

Linguistic pitch, rhythm, timbre awareness of others' feelings, emotions, goals, motivations Intrapersonal DO YOU SEE YOURSELF ON THIS LIST? syntax, phonology, semantics, pragmatics Musical Logical-mathematical number, categorization, relations Spatial accurate mental visualization, mental transformation of images Bodily-kinesthetic control of one's own body, control in handling objects Interpersonal awareness of one's own feelings, emotions, goals , motivations Naturalist recognition and classification of objects in the environment Intelligence Core Operations

To be human is to be creative

To be human is to be creative The Caves at Cauvet-Pont-d’Arc + 30,000 BC The Caves at Lascaux + 17,000 BC

The Joy of Creativity Joan Miró - The Circus - 1934

The Joy of Creativity

Creativity & American Heritage Creativity!

December 16, 1773

The Power of words… Thomas Paine – 1737 - 1809

The Power of words… “ We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.”

The invention of America

“ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. etc. etc.”

Tom Crafts reads the Declaration aloud in Boston - July 19, 1776

“ The bells rang, the privateers fired the forts and batteries, the cannon were discharged, the platoons followed, and every face appeared joyful…After dinner the King’s Arms were taken down from the State House and every vestige of him from every place in which it appeared, and burnt…Thus ends royal Authority in this State…and all the people shall say Amen.” Abigail Adams letter to John describing Tom Crafts, a house painter, reading of the Declaration of Independence aloud on July 19, 1776 from small balcony in front of the Massachusetts State House, Boston.

When citizens heard the words “United States of America” read out loud for the first time in the weeks following the signing they all agreed that they now belonged to, came from and owed allegiance to the United States. It was a total fiction and the U.S.A. existed nowhere except in the minds of the Authors and their audience! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!

Creativity is our promise 38,000,000 people in U.S. born abroad

Creativity is our promise Source: UN Dept of Economic and Social Affairs 38,355,000

I.I. Rabi won the 1944 Nobel Physics Prize for his work on the Manhattan Project.

born in Austria - came to America as infant - father worked making women’s blouses in a sweatshop - Rabi was a brilliant student, became a physicist - leading member of the Manhattan Project On the occasion of the award a journalist asked, What did Rabi think of this great honor? “What do I think? I think that in the old country I would have been a tailor.”

- David Halberstam, “Defining a Nation – Our America and the Sources of its Strength,” 2003.

Since 1906 283 U.S. citizens have been awarded Nobel Prizes. 71 were foreign-born (including Isidor Rabi). 26% !

Creativity and the Economy

Features of the Creative Economy

Shift in economic production

Shift in economic value

Shift in types of jobs

Shift in modes of consumption

Shift in skills needed in workplace

Shift in how businesses “win”

The progression of economic value COMPETITIVE POSITION Differentiated Undifferentiated PRICING Premium Market Pine & Gilmore, “Welcome to the Experience Economy,” HBR, July/Aug 1998. Extract commodities Make goods Deliver services Stage experiences

Illustration: Elwood Smith, Exhibitor Online

The increasing value of creativity

Creative Economy Industries

TAPE :

Technology, R&D, Innovation

Arts & Culture

Professional & Managerial

Education & Training

Value of U.S. Copyright Industries 2005

Richard Florida

Hirst Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University

Author, “The Rise of the Creative Class”, “The Flight of the Creative Class”

http://policy.gmu.edu/people/florida.html http://www.creativeclass.org

Creative Economy Workforce According to Florida

Super-Creative Core :

Computer and mathematical occupations

Architecture and engineering occupations

Life, physical, and social science occupations

Education, training, and library occupations

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

Creative Professionals :

Managerial occupations

Business and financial operations occupations

Legal operations

Healthcare practitioners and technical operations

High-end sales and sales management

Rise of Creative Class

Creative Class =

* Super-Creatives,

15 million workers +

* Creativity pros,

23 million workers

38 million strong 28% U.S. work force

“ The Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida

Size of U.S. Creative Economy Workforce Source: Catalytix Consulting

What % of Illinois Workers Toil in the Creative Industries? 30%

Chicago Region Creative Workers Super-Creatives = 467,760 Creative Pros = 834,080 Total = 32% of labor force Source: Metro Chicago Information Center

WHERE THE JOBS WERE (1994 -2004) Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

WHERE THE JOBS WERE NOT Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Creativity Drives U.S. Social + Economic Progress Jane Addams Jonas Salk

Creativity in business

http://innovateamerica.org

“ Innovate America” – National Innovation Initiative Report, December 2004

REPORT SIGNED BY CEOS OF 11 MAJOR US COMPANIES AND PRESIDENTS OF 8 UNIVERSITIES!

BellSouth, IBM, American Airlines, Advanced Micro Devices, Ab Initio, Verizon, Amgen, Dana, Morgan Stanley, GM, PepsiCo

Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M, Columbia University, University of North Carolina, Stanford, Rensselaer, MIT, University of Michigan

PAGE 1: “ RESOLVED -- Innovation will be the single most important factor in determining America’s success through the 21 st century.”

Talent = “The nation’s key innovation asset”

The National Innovation Talent Agenda:

Build the base of scientists and engineers

Catalyze the next generation of innovators

Empower workers to succeed in the global economy

Creativity can be applied to all types of business THIS BECAME THIS

Creativity and you

Your first step… Creativity Champion! Declare yourself a..

Personal steps

Positive attitude, don’t be an idea killer

Reduce stress for yourself, others

- Record ideas when you get them

Personal mental spa treatment: pursue learning for fun, cultivate a hobby, seek new experiences

Create a professional development plan including research, training, certification, related degree

Network and seek out allies, colleagues

Professional steps

- Create a culture of innovation, reward risk taking

Assess your knowledge management IQ – do you know what you need to know? Are you measuring the right things?

Action learning research to get smart quickly

Ask customers, suppliers and other stake holders for ideas

Minimize climate of fear Learn from, celebrate failures!

- Build on success, incremental innovation is OK (but big profits come from true innovations, not extensions)

Create a skunk works and task small team to put you out of business (challenge the business model)

- Hire deviants

- Develop talent, seek talent, reward talent – plan for talent

Innovation as a mindset, not a department IBM 2006 Global Innovation Outlook - 750 global CEOs surveyed - The greater the level of collaborative innovation, the greater the financial performance (revenue growth, operating margin, profitability over time) “ Innovation isn’t a department, it’s a culture” Thomas Tsao, Gobi Partners

Take the Pledge Creativity Champion! “ I hereby declare that I (say your name) as of Wednesday, July 25, 2007 am a Creativity Champion and that I will stand up for creativity, innovation, new ideas and an open mind at home, at work and in my community.”