I’m of the school that every business needs to be a “creative business” and in the tech industry it’s high time we turn our sales professionals into creative individuals capable of co-creating solutions with clients.
On this basis, Ed Catmull’s Creativity, Inc. is a superb insight on how we need to transform.
Here are my top 10 thoughts he shared in his book:
#1 “Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.”
#2 “There is nothing quite as effective, when it comes down to shutting down alternative viewpoints, as being convinced that you’re right.”
#3 “If there is more truth in the hallways than in meetings, you have a problem.”
#4 “Many managers feel that if they are not notified about problems before others are or if they are surprised in a meeting, then that is a sign of disrespect. Get over it.”
#5 “It is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.”
#6 “Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that someone won’t screw up – it means you trust them even when they do screw up.”
#7 “Our job as managers in creative environments is to protect new ideas from those who don’t understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness. Protect the future, not the past.”
#8 “Excellence, quality and good should be earned words, attributed by others to us, not proclaimed by us about ourselves.”
#9 “Do not accidentally make stability a goal. Balance is more important than stability.”
#10 “Don’t confuse the process with the goal. Working on our processes to make them better, easier, and more efficient is an indispensable activity and something we should continually work on – but is is not the goal. Making the product great is the goal.”