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CREATIVITY Un-Ltd
DETLEF REIS
Two weeks ago, this column introduced you to the first three of seven creative principles that chief creative officer John Lasseter uses to create magical movies at the Pixar Animation Studios. Over the last years, Pixar has enriched the world with such hilarious computer-animated movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and most recently Wall-E. Today, John Lasseter's remaining four creative lessons deal with aspects related to creative leadership and the culture of a creative organisation.
4. It's the team, stupid. "One of the most popular questions is always whether groups are more creative than individuals. My answer: In most cases, it's the team - provided you follow certain rules", says Mr Lasseter. "As a manager, it is my task to abolish hierarchies. It doesn't matter at all who has the idea; that's a very important rule for us. The group must be honest, direct, and endeavour to sincerely help the creative individual. But in the end, nothing that the group says is binding".
My comment: Make sure that everyone in your company understands that innovation is a team sport. Complement your most creative brains with a complementing team of pragmatic implementers, and encourage creatives to push through a controversial idea if it intuitively feels right. "I've learned to trust our gut. If it feels right, we just go with it," notes Mr Lasseter.
5. Fun invokes creativity, not competition. "There is this idea that you put two people, who cannot stand each other, into a room, hoping that all this negative energy leads to a creative result. I disagree. Co-operation, confidence and fun - that is the way", says Mr Lasseter. He emphasises the complex managerial challenge to successfully motivate creative employees, and to create a climate conducive for creativity. "Creative people must believe that all others support them in making a great movie. They need to believe that all people involved understand what they talk about. Creative people are easily bored, moody, a bit difficult to handle. You have to make it fun for them, care for them. Creative people only produce really good work if you creatively challenge them. They have to like what they're working on. They have to be damn proud of the fact that they're a part of a particular project. That is again the task of the manager. Each time, you have to give them creative challenges. That's difficult, but nobody said it is easy to lead creative people."
My comment: An innovation-friendly culture is at the heart of the world's leading innovation firms such as Pixar, Google, Apple, and so on. Among other cultural dimensions, organisational factors such as trust and mutual care, a playful and relaxing work environment, and challenging creative work projects drive these companies to innovation success and excellence. Countless studies have investigated the connection between motivation and creativity, and they all arrived at the same conclusion: Creative professionals are motivated intrinsically, not extrinsically. This means that managers cannot simply use financial incentives or similar extrinsic motivators to "bribe" creative people into producing great creative achievements. The popular shortcut of the extrinsic carrot-or-stick approach does not work with creative employees. Creative professionals only produce awesome creations if you provide them with creative challenges that they perceive as inspiring, enthusing, meaningful and rather difficult to achieve.
6. Creative output always reflects the person on top. "Poor managers harm the creative process," as John Lasseter knows from personal experience. After landing his dream job as animator at the Disney Animation Studios in the late seventies, his outspoken individuality and creative extravaganzas quickly made him enemies among mediocre middle managers at Disney. Within a few years, Mr Lasseter became a victim of internal politics and got fired.
Committed to go his own way, Mr Lasseter became one of the founders of Pixar in 1986. Twenty years later, following Pixar's acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, Mr Lasseter returned in triumph as chief creative officer of both animation studios.
"Laughter, being crazy, freaking out, behaving in ridiculous manner are hard work. A manager who spreads his bad mood and who forbids his employees to have fun impairs their creativity, and thus harms the enterprise. I would fire him. Animated movies are not least a bang-hard business. I cannot risk so much money, only because a manager indulging in his bad mood harms my business."
My comment: A fish always rots from the head, as they say. A creative team or an innovation project should be led by a creative leader who is visionary, participative, action-oriented, positive, inspirational and leads by giving example.
7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust. Being an accomplished creative leader, John Lasseter gives some direct advice to junior creative leaders in progress. "Bring only those new members into your creative team, whom you consider to be at least as talented as you. If they also have a pleasant and nice character - even better.
Most managers don't follow this approach, as they are insecure. Insecurity and creativity do not get along with each other well. Most managers surround themselves with yes-men, and in result, the audiences get bad films to see," explains Mr Lasseter.
My comment: Put an authentic creative leader to spearhead a creative team or innovation effort. How can you identify such a person? Authentic creative leaders such as John Lasseter or his role model Walt Disney lead by example. They walk their talk. Their subordinates trust and respect them because they can demonstrate their skills and abilities.
Creative people intuitively feel if the track record and experience of their leader is genuine - or is just a facade. Truly authentic creative leaders hire only the best people into their team. They dislike yes-men and want creative talents who challenge the existing process, the other team members and - most importantly - themselves. In that way, they ensure that their team, the organisation and their own personality continue to grow.
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Dr Detlef Reis is a university lecturer for Business Creativity and Innovation Leadership at the College of Management, Mahidol University. He is also the founding director of Thinkergy Limited (http://www.Thinkergy.com), the Idea Company in Asia. He can be reached at dr.d@thinkergy.com
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