Lack of Creativity is Killing Business

Hi Nick,

Great to hear your son’s doing so well.

I couldn’t agree more with you about creativity, but in going down a “different” road myself, I find I’m constantly faced with a paradox.

Ultimately, I believe that being unique wins, but unless you’ve got a serious marketing budget it’s not an easy path to success. Yes, people do love different things, but usually after they have social approval from others.

From what I understand, few people automatically flock to something because it’s different or creative. Because different = “scary”. Even though the cereal aisle is overwhelming, those same ol’ cartoon characters are “safe” to the consumer – they can pick any one of them and know roughly what they’re going to get. As a business, step outside your industry norm and you risk confusing and scaring your customers. At least for a little while.

I think a lot of businesses steer clear of creativity and being different because it’s hard work creating something new (and risky – as in, are people going to like this and respond to it?), and because it’s not easy communicating to potential customers in a way that makes them “get” you and want to come on board.

Then again, perhaps if more businesses risked being creative and unique consumers might become more accustomed to being adaptable!

Great topic – I could talk about it all day

Cheers, Danielle

Danielle, I think you run the risk of confusing customers when your target is too broad and/or you do not understand their needs.

It’s much easier to mimic the competition than to go out on a limb. From a pure financial point of view, the benefit rarely out ways the risk. But we all know that most financial analysts are not visionary leaders. They prefer to stick with the tried and true. They’re also the primary driver behind the falling customer satisfaction #s. They are focused on internal metrics related to cost, not innovation.

Without risk, there is no reward. I’m not saying it’s easy or that I have all of the answers for every business. But I know that breakthroughs can happen when you develop a solution that meets an unsaid need. Apple didn’t have to build the largest music store, the iPod would have been successful on it’s own; but in doing so they revolutionized the music industry. Same thing with Southwest Airlines. They are the only profitable carrier and they approach the business completely different from every other airline.

We’re aren’t used to thinking out side of the box. We’re used to studying the competition and trying to fill the holes, but in today’s market, there are very few holes. I think a new approach is needed.

You’re right different can be scary. But when you meet a customer need, it doesn’t matter. People flock to what helps them, improves them, uplifts them, etc…

I’d back dani up on the point she made about companies (established ones) being too afraid to really because of the hard work. That seems to be one of the things that makes the SMB great. Shoot get creative and realize that there is a ton of value in your creativity.

The tasty point of this is that large companies just figure because they’ve cornered a market that they own it but the real ownership goes to the customers, hands down!

Now as an SMB, you can start off from a familiar place and work to create your own unique spin on things. if you don’t risk then you really don’t deserve to gain and chances are you will not. I was reminded of this today at work.

I was in a Benefits meeting and i was watching all these smart people, capable people around me worrying about there RRSP (Retirement) and i just remember thinking… wow do i want this to become my life 10 or 20 years down the road? My answer is “No” and with that i know it takes some risk… risk is everywhere and will never go out of style but it always serves as a marker, “You have a choice here”.

That’s my two cents!

Luc
Keep Creativity Alive!

Nick,

Thanks for the clarification. I hear what you’re saying, and I think it’s spot on. Lack of creativity is certainly applicable to many larger companies simply because of the risk factor and lack of vision. When it’s purely about dollars, that’s what seems to happen. The beauty of being small is that you don’t have the internal battles such as the finance department always wanting to put the brakes on innovation.

In terms of being different, sometimes it’s about “creating” a need, as opposed to meeting one. And that’s a whole different ball game again.

Thanks for the conversation.

Luc,
Love the catch-cry! Stay risky

Luc & Danielle, you’re both right. Creating a need is much riskier, but the reward is much better if you hit it.

A lot of people are scared of creativity because it exposes them to criticism. I worked for a Fortune 500 company where creative people where effectively pushed out of the organization. If you shook the boat too much, then you weren’t a “team player” and you ran the risk of needing to find other employment. It was very difficult for an innovative outsider to come in and be successful. The average tenure of an outside marketing VP was very short.

This company is still struggling with some core customer satisfaction issues. They need a new approach but the culture isn’t open to it. Culture comes from the top down. If you’re not in an innovative progressive company, don’t risk too much. It may not be worth it.

Creativity in fortune 500 companies cannot exist because of the shareholders… nothing has a way of killing business like publically traded companies that value profits more then originality.

That seems to be the battleground… for most small businesses its best not to compete with bloated companies but rather use that creativity as the new cornerstone of your business.

Luc, I’d say that you are right except for the fact that all of the companies I listed in my original post are publically traded companies.

That’s why I believe it goes back to culture and leadership. Very few organizations are strong enough to survive without defaulting to the tried & true methods of cost cutting. BUT those who can develop a very loyal following. There is a reason why the Apple iPod costs more than the competitors AND they are #1 in marketshare. Two things that break the commodity cycle. But even Apple struggled without Steve Jobs as the leader.

I agree with you that most large scale companies surviving at the base needs (cost cutting, etc.) Only a select few (the ones you mentioned) can pull off that creativity mainly because that is a part of their culture… i think that smaller businesses can compete on a higher level of creativity because they are smaller and willing to take a good risk to see an excellent payoff.

Leadership is a key part of the most successful businesses because great leadership is hard to come by. Steve Jobs is a diamond in the rough in my opinion because he is willing to put it on the line and risk to win and advance in his market. Other fortune 500s fail partly due to poor leadership or cost cutting focuses… basically no real talent running the show. So i say to all small business guys and gals… stay creative!

Cheers

Luc

Right on!

Creativity shouldn’t solely live with the “creatives”.

[...] What originally prompted me to write about this was an article on SmallBusinessBranding.com in which Nick Rice discussed a “Lack of Creativity is Killing Business”.  I have to agree that for me anyways creativity has to be highly involved in any business that I create because to me creativity is just as important as profits maybe even more so in the initial startup phase of a business. [...]

Great points Nick. Businesses should be creative in their thinking. My contention is that it takes guts to be creative. Our culture breeds conformity, lemmings.

They want what everyone else has. As kids, most of them just want to fit in. To stand out takes guts. Look at two of our creative thinkers, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. These two have the balls to be creative.

It is not easy for most businesses to be different. Their life experiences teach them to mirror the leaders. It pains me sometimes to watch good business people agonize over a decision that would differentiate them. It is simply not a comfort zone for them. It’s sad, but then I guess it we were all Steve Jobs, standing out would be even harder.

Consumers, me included, want products and services to be creative and different. If customers view your products/services as creative and different this is a good sign. If your product is creative enough, the majority of people will fall in love with your offering and they will believe your product was precisely created for them and thier individual needs.

Hi, im writing a paper on the subject ‘is a business is a science or an art? and the role of creativity in a business and how it is manifested.’ This article has somewhat helped me understand the role of creativity in the marketing aspect however i still don’t quite understand the role of creativity in the other aspects of a business. I also still dont know if a business is an art or a science. if anyone can help me understand or comment on this, that will help met a lot.

I think we should have a good idea on marketing to get a good profit in business.