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In this chapter, you will:
1. Explain the differences among creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
2. Describe why creativity and innovation are such an integral part of entrepreneurship.
3. Explain the 10 “metal locks” that limit individual creativity.
In addition, you will:
4. Understand how entrepreneurs can enhance the creativity of their employees as well as their own creativity.
5. Describe the steps in the creative process.
6. Discuss techniques for improving the creative process.
7. Describe the protection of intellectual property through patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
What is the entrepreneurial “secret” for creating value in the marketplace? In reality, the “secret” is no secret at all: It is applying creativity and innovation to solve problems and to exploit opportunities that people face every day.
Entrepreneurship requires business owners to be bold enough to try their new ideas, flexible enough to throw aside those that do not work, and wise enough to learn about what will work based on their observations of what did not.
Creativity is not only an important source for building a competitive advantage but also a necessity for survival.
Can you identify the phrases the symbols represent?
Can you identify the phrases the symbols represent?
Creative thinkers tend to model the following types of behavior:
Always ask: “Is there a better way?”
Challenge custom, routine, and tradition.
Are reflective.
Are prolific thinkers.
Play mental games.
In addition, creative thinkers:
Realize that there may be more than one “right” answer.
Know that mistakes are pit stops on the way to success.
Recognize that problems are springboards for new ideas.
Creative thinkers also:
Understand that failure is a natural part of the creative process.
Have “helicopter skills.”
Relate seemingly unrelated ideas to a problem.
Successful entrepreneurship requires both divergent reasoning, which is the ability to create a multitude of original, diverse ideas, and convergent reasoning, which is the ability to evaluate multiple ideas and choose the best solution to a given problem.
Barriers to creativity include:
Searching for the one “right” answer
Focusing on “being logical”
Blindly following the rules
Constantly being practical
Viewing play as frivolous
In addition:
Becoming overly specialized
Avoiding ambiguity
Fearing looking foolish
Fearing mistakes and failure
Believing that “I’m not creative”
Smart entrepreneurs establish a culture that encourages employees to share their creative ideas and rewards them for doing so.
In addition to establishing creativity as a core company value, entrepreneurs who want to enhance organizational creativity should:
Hire for creativity.
Create an organizational structure that nourishes creativity.
Embrace diversity.
Expect creativity.
Expect and tolerate failure.
Entrepreneurs should also:
Incorporate fun into the work environment.
Encourage curiosity.
Design a work space that encourages creativity.
View problems as opportunities.
Provide creativity training.
Provide support.
Develop a procedure for capturing ideas.
Organizational creativity can also be enhanced when entrepreneurs:
Talk and interact with customers.
Reward creativity.
Model creative behavior.
Monitor emerging trends and identify ways your company can capitalize on them.
Look for uses for your product or service in other markets.
Don’t forget about business model innovation.
Just as entrepreneurs can cultivate an environment of creativity in their organizations by using the techniques described above, they can enhance their own creativity.
Although creative ideas may appear to strike as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, they are actually the result of the creative process, which involves seven steps.
This step involves getting the mind ready for creative thinking.
This step involves developing a solid understanding of the problem, situation, or decision at hand.
Transformation involves viewing the similarities and differences in the information collected.
This phase requires two types of thinking: convergent and divergent.
How can you increase your ability to transform the information collected into a purposeful idea? Try these methods.
Incubation occurs while the individual is away from the problem, often engaging in some totally unrelated activity. Research shows that walking away from a problem to engage in routine tasks sparks creativity.
How can you enhance the incubation phase of the creative process, letting ideas marinate in your mind? Try these techniques.
This phase of the creative process is kicked off at some point during the incubation stage, when a spontaneous breakthrough causes “the lightbulb to go on.”
For entrepreneurs, validating an idea as being realistic and useful may include conducting experiments, running simulations, test marketing a product or service, establishing small-scale pilot programs, building prototypes, and many other activities designed to verify that the new idea will work and is practical to implement.
The goal of verification is to subject the innovative idea to the test of cold, hard reality. Ask questions like these.
The focus of this step is to transform the idea into reality. Plenty of people come up with creative ideas for promising new products or services, but most never take them beyond the idea stage. What sets entrepreneurs apart is that they act on their ideas.
The goal of brainstorming is to create an open, uninhibited atmosphere that allows members of the group to “freewheel” ideas. Participants should suggest any ideas that come to mind without evaluating or criticizing them.
For a brainstorming session to be successful, entrepreneurs should follow these guidelines.
Another useful tool for jump-starting creativity is mind-mapping, an extension of brainstorming.
One strength of mind-mapping is that it reflects the way the brain actually works. Rather than throw out ideas in a linear fashion, the brain jumps from one idea to another.
Mind-mapping is a graphical technique that encourages creative thinking by visually displaying the various relationships among ideas and improving the ability to view a problem from many sides.
Force-field analysis is a useful technique for evaluating the forces that support and oppose a proposed change.
Force-field analysis allows entrepreneurs to weigh both the advantages and the disadvantages of a particular decision and work to maximize the variables that support it and minimize those that work against it.
Unlike brainstorming and mind-mapping, which are right-brain activities, TRIZ is a scientific, step-by-step process that is based on the study of hundreds of the most innovative patents around the globe.
TRIZ is a scientific, step-by-step process that is based on the study of hundreds of the most innovative patents around the globe.
This figure shows the TRIZ Contradiction Matrix.
Rapid prototyping plays an important part in the creative process because it serves as a way to screen ideas that are not practical or just will not work so that entrepreneurs can focus their creative energy on other ideas.
The premise behind rapid prototyping is that transforming an idea into an actual model highlights flaws in the original idea and leads to improvements in its design.
Once entrepreneurs come up with innovative ideas for a product or service that has market potential, their immediate concern should be to protect it from unauthorized use.
Table 3.3 shows the top 10 counterfeit goods seized by customs agents.
Although inventors are never assured of getting a patent, they can enhance their chances by following the basic steps suggested by the PTO.
To receive a patent, an inventor must follow specific steps.
A trademark serves as a company’s “signature” in the marketplace. A trademark can be more than just a company’s logo, slogan, or brand name; it can also include symbols, shapes, colors, smells, or sounds.
Figure 3.5 shows trademark applications and trademarks and renewals issued.
A copyright protects only the form in which an idea is expressed, not the idea itself.
Acquiring the protection of patents, trademarks, and copyrights is useless unless an entrepreneur takes action to protect those rights in the marketplace.
Table 3.4 provides a summary of the characteristics of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
Table 3.4 provides a summary of the characteristics of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
