Creativity - The Next Big Thing

During the last decade more and more emphasis has been placed on creativity, ideas and innovation as the key source of business survival - and success Why?

The inescapable conclusion I have reached by studying a large number of companies in many parts of the world is that the truly excellent are those who have consciously learned how to harness creative ideas from within the firm and from the external environment and at the same time managed the firms innovation in a systematic way. Simon Majaro

3 factors behind this development (1)Hypercompetition Most companies have now reached the point of diminishing returns in their incremental improvement programmes Gary Hamel

3 factors behind this development (i)Hypercompetition Radical non-linear innovation is the only way to escape the ruthless hypercompetition that has been hammering down margins in industry after industry Gary Hamel

3 factors behind this development (ii)The Age of Aquarius The gift of insight of making imaginative new connections - once the speciality of the lucky few - is there now for anyone willing to persist, exploit or explore Marilyn Ferguson

3 factors behind this development (ii)The Age of Aquarius We now have a better idea of how the brain works:

3 factors behind this development (iii)Post Modernism A degree of scepticism with rational planning has now become commonplace. Flux, Flow, Fragmentation

3 factors behind this development (iii)Post Modernism For this very reason, it is not surprising to see leading edge management theorists and practitioners move away from over reliance on insights from natural and social scientism and increasingly seek to recapture insights from literature and the humanities Dr. Charles Carroll

Summary HypercompetitionWe must become more creative The Age of Aquarius We can become more creative Post Modernism We are more creative

Can we become more creative? We believe creativity is the birthright of all men and women. All of us have wings but some of us dont know why, we have forgotten how to fly The Breakthrough Group

How to enhance creativity in a business (i)Domain Skills The myth of the eureka factor Creativity does not happen because you decide to take a bath or sit under an apple tree.

How to enhance creativity in a business (ii)Techniques for improving creativity There are useful well documented techniques but - beware of over reliance on brainstorming

The evidence from science suggests that business people must be insane to use brainstorming groups Business Strategy Review 2000

How to enhance creativity in a business (iii)Creating and maintaining the environment Open to new ideas - new ways of thinking Allow time for consideration Continuous initiatives

The New Emphasis on Creativity An opportunity for Ireland?

The brand image of a country is no different to that of a product or service - but it is much more difficult to manage. Brand images of countries exist, whether we like it or not.

Ireland as an Investment Location

Managed Country Brands

Support arguments for Creativity Branding (i) Ireland does appear to punch above its weight in some areas of the creative arts - music, literature (ii) Widespread perception of being good communicators.

The Irish Mind From the earliest times, the Irish remained free in significant measure from the linear logic of Greco-Roman culture which dominated most of western Europe Richard Kearney

The Irish Mind John Scottus Eriugena Edmund Burke Bishop George Berkeley James Joyce

The Irish Mind Edmund Burke The form of rationalism he most deplored was that scientific logo centrism which sacrificed the rich multiplicity of human existence to the abstract systematisations of cold cut and dried ideology

The Irish Mind Eriugena Berkeley It is a curious if much neglected fact that two of Irelands most reputed thinkers in the ninth century and in the eighteenth, reacted against the mainstream logo centric philosophies of their time in an effort to espouse heterodox currents of thought.

The Irish Mind In contradistinction to the orthodox dualistic logic of either/or the Irish Mind may be seen to favour a more dialectical logic of both/and: an intellectual ability to hold the traditional oppositions of classical reason together in creative confluence

The Irish The first post moderns

INVEST IN IRELAND TO ENSURE THAT YOUR BUSINESS IS EQUIPPED FOR TODAYS ONLY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE -CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION.

What needs to be done (i)Formal recognition of the advantages of branding Ireland for creativity (ii)Creativity improvement techniques to be included in the school curriculum (iii)All businesses to be encouraged to introduce creativity and innovation initiatives (iv)Renewed support for the Arts Council