Process Vs. Creativity

I met an old friend yesterday from the advertising world. He was the creative kinds and we had a fairly heated discussion on something that, till that day, I had not put so much spontaneous thought into. My friend, Thomas for the sake of anonymity, was one of the people who always demonstrated a maverick strain he apparently inherited from his mother. He almost always had the most outrageous approach to exercise problems or real life situations.

And, very often, the shock value of what he came up with would generate a drive triggered by curiosity (What rubbish but then what if?) among the rest of us. This would drive us towards attempting to adopt his way. Of course there were times when we decided to call him obscenities to ensure staying on the right side of authorities, teachers and, a couple of times, the law. Here is how the conversation went….

Thomas: Hey man! How are you?

Me: Good dude. How about you? Still being weird or have you decided to be somewhat normal?

Thomas: Well you conformist punk (like most of the things he said, did not have any idea what that meant), I don’t think there is a normal. Why should I conform to your definition of it.

Me: Well, because my way is generally accepted. It is what most people do?

Thomas: Oh! Most people do it that way, is it? Must be the wrong way to go then. <very loud laugh!!> 

Me: (slightly blushing in fury) Hey! Don’t get cute. I doubt you have gotten any distance with your lawless approach!

Thomas: Well, I am so good at it that they made me a VP of lawlessness. In my office, they have a name for the art of lawlessness  - creative process. But, you know what, you’d fit right in too. So don’t feel left out!

Me: (I was now bordering on murderous rage. This man, who was seldom serious about anything and did not care about anything anyone wise had ever said, has a hefty title and was apparently excited and happy about going to work. And here I was…..) I doubt I will. I am a bit of a process man and….

Thomas: (Before I could finish) hence we need you dude. We have realized that there is a space between the creative and the bean counting driven reality that needs you.

Me: Huh!! What is that supposed to mean?

Thomas: Okay, let me ask you. When was the last time you, or anyone in your company, came up with anything that was truly ground breaking? I mean something that changed the way the world was moving ahead?

Me: Oh there are so many times…

Thomas: Wait. I am talking Post It innovation. I am talking Personal Computer innovation. Not your average repackage and resell.

Me: Why there was that…. (and then I thought hard to name one thing that changed the way business was done, in general).

Thomas: <smirk> Don’t sweat yourself. You are not the only one with that problem.

Me: <Now I was all blushing. I needs to go and read this up on the Innovation Portal. I knew it must be all there but I was just too lazy. But I was not ready to give up so quickly> And how about you? What makes you so different.

Thomas: Well, for one, I have picked up 2 Silver Lions! And let me ask you this? What do you guys work with when you think up an idea?

Me: <This one I knew and I was proud of! We had won awards for this…>   Well, it is very process oriented. We have an Innovation Idea Portal where people are encouraged to put in their ideas in a prescribed template. Every quarter these ideas are reviewed by a multi-functional panel of 12 fairly senior people and a shortlist of 6 ideas are published. The idea anchors are then required to articulate their ideas in the form of actionable steps in a specified template, make a benefits case, and a budget proposal for resource requirements. He is also required to submit the idea to the IP cell for an IP check. These are then sent to the Quality & Process Enhancement Center of Excellence. These is a weekly governance call where each of these ideas are debated and discussed. Based on the outcome of these discussions and sign off from the IP cell, the ideas are sent out to the technology team for feasibility analysis. Once the technology team signs off, the VP of Operations and AVP Finance hear a presentation from the idea generator. Once signed off the idea is sent back…..

Thomas: <Suddenly erupting into a laugh> stop! Stop! Please stop! I almost feel my heart ache for the poor guy with the audacity to come up with the idea.

Me: Huh!

Thomas: Okay. Tell me. How many new ideas came in last quarter to the portal?

Me: <I followed the portal and proudly announced> 28

Thomas: And how many employees do you have?

Me: About 10, 000…

Thomas: Do you still not see where the problem is? We are a 82 people company and we spent a combined 50% of our time away from anything electronic, with white boards and paper. In the last month we came with 36 new campaign ideas and sold 24 of those!

Me: Awesome! So, what is your process?

Thomas: Well, we sit in a wide circle once a week and everyone is given a list of thought areas. People raise their hands and come up with whatever ideas they have. We spend the next 3 to 4 hours refining and adding to it. An artist is and researcher is assigned to them with a week to come up with a proposition. We all vote on the proposition in a ballot box. And if the idea goes to a 60% YES vote, it is sent to the sales guys. And as you can tell 60% of these are sold profitably.

Me: And who worries about the financials?

Thomas: Mostly they take care of themselves. But yes we have a few people like you who worry about the bank accounts.

Me: You cannot be serious!

Thomas: No I can’t. But then most people in my office call me pensive! <again a bout of laughter!>

Me: <I fell back on my favorite argument when I was losing an argument on merit> It is not possible in my industry!

Thomas: Well maybe not in as bohemian a fashion but, sure it is. Tell me one reason it isn’t. P&G managed it, 3M did. Disney did. Google does it everyday. Why not you….? Big, random and audacious works dude…!!

<I am still thinking on the answer as I write. Don’t think I have one.>

 

CAVEAT (cannot help it!): Anything said or not said here, including people, thoughts, ideas and processes are fictitious. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.