Beyond Execution: Embracing Creativity in Business

Is the key to success in business creativity or execution? Join us on The Water Trough as Ed Drozda explores the power of creativity in business and why sometimes it's okay to just be the idea generator. #SmallBusiness #Creativity

Transcript

0:10

Welcome to the Water Trough where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've all. Always wanted.

Ed Drozda: 0:42

Welcome back to The Water Trough. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor. I had a guest recently who made a particularly interesting comment. He said he's thinking about moving from the operational side of business to the creative side. This guy's extremely creative, in my opinion. He's also one who's taken a lot of time to capitalize upon his creativity, bringing that creativity to fruition in the form of the various projects that he's done. Now he's seeing himself perhaps as one who can create not only for himself, but for others as well, rather than being engaged in the process of doing, of executing upon the creative elements that he produces. Now, of course you're probably thinking, if I don't create, if I don't innovate, then I don't have anything to do. Certainly in a case where the tried and true is the course, in a business we may stop innovating. I'm not suggesting that we do, but we might stop innovating, we might stop creating, but creativity does precede action. Creating an environment, creating a product, creating a service, all these things precede the actual execution. So one could say, well, isn't he doing that right now? Yes, he most certainly is. He has to. But what I hear him telling me is this; rather than being the one who has to get bogged down in the details of execution, he has sufficient intuition about creativity that he can create things that others in turn can utilize. As time goes on our business evolves, and as our business evolves, we of course evolve with it. The evolution has led this individual to a point where he realizes his creativity itself is a phenomenal gift, a phenomenal opportunity. Perhaps boredom has set in, or the sheer effort, the amount of work that goes into executing upon that creativity. It takes a lot of work to convert a concept into action. It takes even more work to maintain that action, to be able to deliver upon it over and over, and to do so in such a way that it hasn't lost its spark. Because remember, when we create something, the spark is very, very, very strong. At that time, we can imagine all of the things that we can possibly do with this creation, with this idea, but as we execute, we realize there are many, many more layers involved. And so what I'm hearing him say is for some of us, creativity is all that matters. Gee, it doesn't sound like any big revelation, does it? Some of us like creativity. Some of us like to create and produce, and execute on things, but it really is a big and important thing to consider because a lot of us do get caught up in the fact that if I create, I'm obliged to go out and make things happen with it. The idea of creating a concept seems for some to be dead-ended. Oh, that's all you got? You came up with this idea, but you did nothing with it. When in fact, ideas are the seed, the germ from which fantastic things grow. Somebody has to come up with the ideas, somebody has to be the creative. And some of us, whether we grew bored of execution or we really, really never were that gifted at execution, are best staying in that creative space. Okay, I guess you could liken it to an artist, create some beautiful artwork and in the process of creating the artwork, they are not necessarily able to sell, said artwork. It's a source of frustration for a lot of folks in the art field. I have had a lot of creative clients in my day, and it is a source of frustration for people like this when in fact the creativity cannot lead to an income, if you will. That is a distinction, it's important to make. It's not simply about the matter of making money in response to the creativity that you've produced. It's about being able to use that creativity to good ends. It may be that your idea is just what somebody else is looking for, but they could never come up with that concept on their own. They would never be able to find the path from concept to prototype. But you can do this. You have this capacity. You can envision things in a very rich way, even lacking the concreteness that many of us depend upon. So when we talk about creativity for the sake of creativity, we have to give it a wide berth, I believe. We have to give it a wide berth because we have to accept the fact that it is not only the first step, but that for some of us it's an appropriate last step. Creativity does have a place in the world. We don't all have to be folks that can go out and make things happen. We don't all have to be the ones that come up with this fantastic idea and bring it to fruition in the workplace or in retail or wherever. It's just not always necessary. What is necessary is that we recognize that the ability to create and bring ideas to the attention of those that have the potential, that have the capacity to make something happen with those ideas, that is what we have to be aware of. We have to be engaged in the fact that creativity by itself is important. Again, it's not a one size fits all. This is not for everybody, but the conversation I had with this particular guest brought it very clearly to mind that there is a distinction here, and it's really important to know that some of us will indeed be the creators. Some of us will be the executors, and some of us will have the capacity to do both. All three are perfectly acceptable. That's it for today. I hope that this has been insightful. I hope this has given you some things to think about that you might not have thought about before, and I hope it'll serve as an opportunity to open up your creativity as well. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor and here at The Water Trough, as always I want to wish you a healthy business.