Gone are the days when business and leadership relied on the information, where knowledge, expertise and technical skills where king. We are now entering a whole new world: an age where the right brain rules the left, the age of creativity and concept.
Considering the speed of change and the complexity that results from it, we need to go beyond just knowledge or expertise. The top businesses of the future will excel at creative problem solving and different ways of thinking and ideation — blending seemingly diverse things together for better solutions, using allegories to explain new ideas for which no framework yet might exist.
In an age where creativity is key; here are a few points to remember:
1. Strategic Imagination or dreaming with purpose: The current business world is so deeply entangled in their busy work schedules that their ability to think and plan long term has diminished. Future businesses of the conceptual age need to learn to actively imagine future possibilities and create scenarios to act on them.
2. Provocative Inquiry or the ability to ask unsettling questions: The power of transformation lies on our ability to ask questions that make us rethink the obvious. To make people stop and think, businesses need to ask better questions. Questions should encourage curiosity and motivate minds that can create new ideas and think “out of the box”.
3. Creative problem solving or the use of best practices from unexpected sources to create fresh solutions: Business should always keep their minds open for new and fresh ideas. Dependability of management or executive teams would diminish our possibility of searching for innovative solutions. A holistic approach would motivate critical thinking and would open the dam for ideas from all possible sources.
4. Contingency and resilience: In a world where change is inevitable, a PLAN B or C or D is utmost critical. In addition businesses will also need to demonstrate tenacity and courage in the face of barriers. Leaders who are fearless will surely give their organizations a competitive edge in the Conceptual Age.
#business #smallbusinesspool #outofthebox #creative #questions #strategic #innovation #management #ConceptualAge #creativeproblem #smallbusiness