By Sir John Hegarty
When companies find themselves in turbulent waters, some leaders tend to respond to a crisis with restrictions. This means cutting costs, reducing teams, and trying to do more, faster, with less money. These tactics can prevent disaster in the short term, but if applied for too long, or too zealously, they create new problems themselves. On the other hand, leaders facing a crisis also have additive options: inventing something new, entering a new category, or bringing a product to market. In short: creativity is required.
How do business leaders think about this second option? We might assume they believe it belongs exclusively to marketing departments, or serves only for brand executions. However, according to participants in our recent study, that is not the case. Our panel views creativity from a holistic, yet strictly commercial perspective. Encouragingly, they see it as an equally powerful driver of longevity, prosperity, and resilience as cost-cutting.
For example, 82% of respondents said creativity is important for driving product and service innovation. Another 81% shared the same view when it comes to identifying new market opportunities. And 82% stated that creativity is important for generating or growing revenue, confirming our core hypothesis. Creativity means growth. The biggest surprise was that 83% said creativity is essential for adapting to change and dealing with new or unexpected challenges.
Cost-cutting (however sensible it may be) is born out of fear. Creativity, on the other hand, is born out of courage, conviction, and optimism. The first is defense, the second is action. History shows that companies prioritizing the latter are most often the ones that win. What is the purpose of creativity? Quite simply: everything.
