Innovation vs. Action

In many industries today, ingenuity is a trait prized above almost all else. A company’s ability to stay ahead of the curve often determines it’s ultimate success or failure. But in his new book “Making Ideas Happen”, Scott Belskey posits that equally important to an innovative mindset is the ability to see ideas through to fruition.

I read an interview Belsky did a couple days ago in Newsweek and was intrigued by his idea that, to be truly successful, a company must regularly walk a fine line between pragmatism and creativity. He describes creativity as a “double edged sword,” enabling us to be receptive to the kind of steady flow of ideas that spurs innovation, while also hampering our ability to see those ideas through to completion.

Belsky recognizes creativity as vital for success in a competitive business market, but says it should be mixed with a well managed organizational skills to truly be effective. While this notion sounds reasonable in theory, for many in creative fields, this is often easier said than done. Many creative people view words like organization and management with a stigma in relation to their type of work. Having worked professionally in a creative capacity for almost a decade, I can attest that organization was a skill I avoided at first and only attempted to master upon realizing it was central to the success of my creative endeavors.

Though a seemingly contradictory set of skills, I agree with Belsky that for creativity to reach it’s full potential, it must be combined with persistence, attention to detail and pragmatism. He sees our current global marketplace as one that wastes untold productivity through faulty management of creative skill. I would argue that business is more of a Darwinian atmosphere, where companies that can master both innovation and organization thrive and those that cannot fail. However, I do wonder what the global marketplace would look like if more companies adopted Belsky’s notions of combining ingenuity with efficiency.