Creativity in Business

David Holland, Program Director for Venture Creation, VCU da Vinci Center

July 21, 2016

National Black MBA Association

Questions in the background• How can we approach

what is going on in ourenvironment?

• Do we and others have acommon understandingof what we do?

• Do we need a clear visionof where we’re headed?

• Do we need to dosomething radicallydifferent?

Strategy 2.0…the answers aren’t obvious

• organisations do not onlyadapt to their environments,but help to create them

• organisational success cancome from contradiction aswell as consistency

• success may stem from beingpart of a self-reinforcingcycle, rather than from anexplicit ‘vision’

• revolutionary as well asincremental changes may lieon the route to organisationalsuccess.

Organisations do not onlyadapt to their environments,

but help to create them.

Development approach 1: cyclical growth

Challenges with cyclical growth• Landscape may have

shifted so significantlythat some aspects of thecycle no longer viable ordesirable

• Same approach unlikelyto lead to breakthroughresults

• A ‘loop’ may not be fullycompatible with digitalinnovation

Development approach 2: emergence

Challenges with emergence• Emergence necessarily

generates greater exposureto the pressures of theexternal environment.

• Rapid emergence/breakthrough can lead tounexpected consequences -positive and negative.

• Managing relationships withbreakthrough artists may bechallenging.

• Emergence is not necessarilya goal in itself; it necessitatesfurther (sometimes radical)organisational development.

Revolutionary as well asincremental changes may lieon the route to organisational

success

Organisational success can come fromcontradiction as well as consistency.

Development approach 3:creative evolution

Challenges with creative evolution• Requires more regular

planning cycle.• Approach is necessarily

optimistic and values driven inwhat may be a challengingoperating environment.

• Requires suspension ofdisbelief and continuallymoving out of individual andorganisational comfort zones.

• Aspirations need to betranslated into plans andactions which can reasonablybe taken forward by teammembers.

Holistic development: a way forward

• Pursue integratedorganisational developmentbringing together the bestelements of all threeapproaches…cyclical,emergent & creative

• Make decisions along theway based onclient/customer ‘value’ andorganisational ‘values’

Success may stem frombeing part of a self-

reinforcing cycle, ratherthan from an explicit

‘vision’.

Value Creation

Venture ecosystems as catalyst

Scoping new ventures

• Model - What does it look like?• Product/service - What’s the offer?• Customer/client - Who’s buying?• Likely fee structure and margin or basic

view on profitability - How much?• Competition - Who else is doing it?