We can’t be good at everything. Great engineers aren’t necessarily good at dealing with people, and artists generally can’t write a good business plan – or so the cliché goes. That’s why I am so excited about THNK’s philosophy of cross-over teams or “creative teams”.
This method is often used by creative industries – and its influence in spreading. Organizations are realizing that individuals cannot solve the serious problems our world is facing. For powerful companies and ego-based businesses, this can be quite shocking. They are used to different development models, or more comfortable with top-down decision making.
Knowing your core strengths – one of the prerequisites of creative leadership – isn’t necessarily the issue. One’s weaknesses are also key because this allows the orchestrator of the creative team to fill the gaps with people who complement each other. It’s not only more fun to work this way, it’s much more productive.
Imagine the thrill of starting with a seedling of an idea and taking it as far as you can – then throwing it into the group and watching how all those different types of minds turn it over and toy with different solutions and approaches, each based on their own experience and gut feelings and personal passions… that’s when an idea can really take off and soar. That’s how you get innovations that can change the world.
And changing the world is what THNK is all about. Because – and I can’t state this strongly enough – THNK is not about innovation for innovation’s sake, just to create more market share. THNK is about meaning and purpose and respect for our world. In other words, we are proponents of people-oriented change.
I love Apple, for instance. They make beautiful products that are quite innovative and seem so very personal and quickly become part of my daily routine. But why am I forced to get a new iPhone every 2 years? It’s like a 4-year-old who wants to be the best and the fastest. It’s exciting for a while, but you burn out fast, and we can’t all be born again every few years. Nature prefers it when we mature and slow down.