Foreword

by Hans Snook,
Founder & former Chief Executive of Orange plc

To me, creativity is simultaneously the most important and least understood aspect of contemporary business. For an occasional, inspired company - it is the lifeblood. I like to think that Orange counts amongst them. But for the majority, it is a mystery best outsourced to others.

However understanding, harnessing and investing in creativity are likely to become central to any and all businesses as we move through the 21st century. As consumers become more sophisticated, competition more aggressive and regulation more intrusive, the need to find creative solutions, and creative means of serving and interacting with customers, is likely to become acute.

Creativity, therefore, must no longer be the sole preserve of the professional creative. It must pervade every division, department and employee.

For that to become true, we have to redefine what we mean by creativity - especially within the context of business. In a harsh commercial setting, creativity could best be defined as synthesis. Every organisation is, to a greater or lesser extent, capable of analysis - deriving trends and tendencies through extrapolation and regression. Only truly creative organisations are capable of synthesis - assimilating and manipulating vast reams of data in a way that results in coherence, insight and the generation of value.

Creativity could also be defined as tension. Too many companies march towards the simplest, most comfortable consensus view without ever challenging the issue. I firmly believe that creativity derives from a healthy - and sometimes painful - tension which forces all concerned to question themselves, their assumptions and everything that has gone before them. Comfortable consensus is the root of all evil.

And as this book very ably demonstrates, creativity is as analytical and systematic as it is free form and improvised. There is method, process and undeniably, a clear set of rules.

The book sets out the means by which any organisation can instill, encourage and leverage creativity: not in a contrived way, but in a systemic manner that respects when creativity is needed, how it should be inspired and managed, and perhaps most importantly, when it should reach its conclusion. Unending creativity, with no execution, is as perilous as no creativity at all.

Patrick's unique approach to creativity is extremely powerful and practical. He recognises that creativity should not just be limited to advertising or brand, but should transcend the whole organisation. It should become a core part of the company's culture. It should inspire and energise - not just employees and customers, but every onlooker.

And to me, that is what makes this book so important. Within a business setting, creativity for its own sake is distracting at best. By contrast, creativity that is bonded to the needs of the business, informed by the preferences of customers, and inspired by the actions of competitors, is potentially transformational.

As the world continues to endure its worst economic downturn since the 1930s, the companies that stand out are those that have creativity at their heart. While the majority bemoan the doom and gloom of reduced consumer spending and gridlocked debt markets, creative companies are finding new routes to market, new types of products and services, and new ways of generating income - even as recession bites.

Mindlessly optimistic they are not. They recognise the scale of the world's problems. But their response is to create - to innovate, to change, to act.

Of course, creativity isn't the only answer. But it is a critically important part of the solution - and it is an aptitude that helps to drive every part of a company forward. Moreover, it is an aptitude that can help companies to combat their own, often harmful, reflexes. Cut prices, reduce costs, lay-off talented people: the very first things that companies do when the economy takes a dive. Tragically these reflexes are allowed to manifest before creativity is given a chance.

As a result, this book is more important now than ever. It provides a wealth of insights and techniques to help instil creativity throughout the organisation.

Every time you hear another news story that suggests the world is in crisis or the economy is sinking ever-faster, I suggest you pick up this book and read - or reread - another of its Truths about creativity. Then think again about how your company should respond to the world around it.