Business Week special issue on creativity
Get creative!
The Knowledge Economy as we know it is being eclipsed by something new — call it the Creativity Economy. Even as policymakers and pundits wring their hands over the outsourcing of engineering, software writing, accounting, and myriad other high-tech, high-end service jobs — not to mention the move of manufacturing to Asia — U.S. companies are evolving to the next level of economic activity: creating consumer experiences, not just products; reconceiving entire brand categories, not merely adding a few more colors; and, above all, innovating in new and surprising arenas.
The Knowledge Economy as we know it is being eclipsed by something new — call it the Creativity Economy. Even as policymakers and pundits wring their hands over the outsourcing of engineering, software writing, accounting, and myriad other high-tech, high-end service jobs — not to mention the move of manufacturing to Asia — U.S. companies are evolving to the next level of economic activity: creating consumer experiences, not just products; reconceiving entire brand categories, not merely adding a few more colors; and, above all, innovating in new and surprising arenas.
Online extra: old needs, new ideas slide show
Paradigm shifts have not just replaced products, they’ve revamped the markets the items sell in. Take a look at some of these transformations.
Online extra: bringing innovation to the home of Six Sigma
Says GE CEO Jeff Immelt: “We want to make it O.K. to take risks”
Online extra: toolbox for the creative corporation slide show
The problems and their solutions, the mistakes and the lessons to draw from them — and the rewards of creativity.
The brand wizard: Yves Behar
fuseproject, San Francisco
The transformer: Beth Comstock
General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn.
Mr. metrics: Larry Keeley
Doblin Group, Chicago
The experience guy: David Rockwell
Rockwell Group, New York
DNA decoder: Sohrab Vossoughi
Ziba Design, Portland, Ore.
The coach: Jeneanne Rae
Peer Insight, Alexandria, Va.
The academic: Roger Martin
Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Ont.
Tomorrow’s B-School? It might be a D-School
Business schools are hooking up with design institutes — or starting their own.
Online extra: design’s new school of thought
IDEO’s David Kelley is building a “D-school” that aims to put students in direct contact with the people they’re designing for.
Online extra: 3M: reading between the lines
When customers said they needed bigger batteries to power larger computer
screens, 3M figured they really needed brighter displays. It was right.
Online extra: P&G’s quest for “wow” design
CEO Lafley is pouring resources into making consumer products a hothouse for innovation and probing deeper into customers’ psyche.
