A Model for Creativity and Leadership

Here is a slideshare presentation recently uploaded to Slideshare by Dr Gerard Puccio of the International Center for Creative Studies at Buffalo State, State University of New York. I don't necessarily agree with his statements about the difference between leadership and management. However, it is a good short presentation on how we might think about creative leadership as a concept.

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Think Like Chinese!!

The difficulty Westerners have doing business in China is in the cultural differences that affect the commercial realities. Westerners identify an opportunity; thinking revolves around making that opportunity work financially in order to do the deal. If the figures stack up the game then becomes getting the customer, regardless of who she/he is, to sign on the dotted line. A new book Think Like Chinese written by husband and wife team, Chinese born and educated Zhang Haihua (Helen Zhang) and Australian born and educated lawyer, Geoff Baker quickly exposes the folly of this thinking. Haihua and Geoff, a former investment banker, have their own management consultant business China Time Inc based in Shanghai and their purpose for writing this book is to offer a practical perspective on the vexed issue of business dealings from the Chinese perspective. Their proposition is that it is important to understand the cultural thinking of the Chinese in order to understand how a business negotiation plays out. They identify 5 core elements that drive Chinese cultural thinking and

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The Forgotten Truth - Innovation is The Outcome of Invention

For some time now, I have been inundated with information on innovation methodologies and practices. They all offer meaningful theories around how innovation could occur. All propose systems or processes that are logically constructed and this is where I think these theories miss the point. We invent daily and naturally and we do so non-linearly, illogically and emotionally and we reflect on these inventions - some we have good experiences with, some we don't and some we are not conscious of constructing at all. However, it is the reflection on how we invent where we can best develop an expertise, capability or professionalism in whatever endeavour we work at, not through theoretical constructs. Innovation systems or theories per see don't produce outcomes. Innovation systems simply provide a framework. It is the invention, the ideas

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Insights in Times of Turmoil

At its inception in Nov 2005, the Creative Leadership Forum presented a philosophy for creative leadership based on these principles. * Numbers are considered the measure for business success. * It is not the financial and performance targets that produce the outcomes or value. * It is the relationships and actions among people, clients, suppliers and their patterns of working and thinking together that produce the outcomes and the value. * A successful creative leader understands that to nurture the relationships between all stakeholders in order to satisfy customer needs is what produces immediate value and long term viability. When we presented these principles we generally received grudging acknowledgement spiced with a degree of cynicism around the numbers proposition. Still, the numbers have to work was often the parting comment!! When measured against the current backdrop in the world financial markets, this philosophy with its four principles not only holds up strongly, it proposes a way forward. Right now all the major financial media commentators agree on one thing - nobody knows where the world economy is going. It is in the area of paradox, ambiguity and uncertainty and there is no way out!! The most insightful commentary I have read on the current situation is George Soros' new book

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Big Ideas from Ontario's Public Education Media Organisation

I have to thank Linda Naiman from Creativity at Work to turning me onto TVO, “Ontario's public educational media organization and a source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires, and stimulates curiosity and thought empowering people to be engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media.” One of their most popular programmes now in its seventh season is Big Ideas, the antithesis of the prevailing sound-bite television norm. Engaging, articulate speakers stand behind lecterns across Ontario addressing audiences - a stark, on-air aesthetic running counter to fast edits and whizzy sound effects. Big Ideas offers a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science and the array of speakers is astounding. Names such as Naomi Klein, Oliver Sachs,Deepak Chopra and Steven Pinker indicate the level of lecturer. "BIG IDEAS is a showcase of ideas that shape our public debates. At their best the lectures featured on the program expose us to the differing ways of defining what matters

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