By Tony Vengrove
The CEOs said, “We must innovate or die,” but they didn’t know how to do it.
So they brought in consultants to teach them how. The consultants sold them a process.
The CEOs said, “The process is only kicking out average-at-best, incremental innovation.”
“That’s because there’s not enough creativity,” the Consultants said. “We can teach you how to be more creative.”
The CEOs returned months later, “It’s still not working.”
“That’s because you don’t have a culture of innovation,” the Consultants replied.
This is where the state of corporate innovation stands today. If you need advice on Creative Leadership, you better get it from someone who lived and breathed the front lines of corporate innovation and ad agencies.
There is no silver bullet. You can’t unleash innovation. You can only unleash creativity and curiosity.
What is required are the soft skills of Creative Leadership; learning to lead so others are empowered and inspired to create and innovate. Some of these skills can be taught via training and exercise, some via coaching and mentoring. No doubt about it, though, these skills can be taught.
As the innovation-consultant community shifts its focus to Creative Leadership, be wary of history and invest wisely with your company’s precious training budget. Miles Finch Innovation has been championing Creative Leadership since 2013. We’ve been out in front of this well before some of the biggest consulting agencies in the country. Our perspective and philosophies are shaped by 20+ years of agency and F500 innovation leadership roles.
We’re more than happy to share our approach with interested innovators and executives.
We also invite you to listen to our Seven C’s of Creative Leadership podcast series, which includes nine episodes of amazing creative leaders sharing their wisdom of what it takes to lead innovation.
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