Beyond Execution: Embracing Creativity in Business

Is the key to success in business creativity or execution? Join us on The Water Trough as Ed Drozda explores the power of creativity in business and why sometimes it's okay to just be the idea generator. #SmallBusiness #Creativity

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to the Water Troughwhere we can't make you drink,
but we will make you think.
My name is Ed Drozda, The SmallBusiness Doctor, and I'm really
excited you chose to join mehere as we discuss topics that
are important for small businessfolks just like you.
If you're looking for ideas,inspiration, and possibility,
you've come to the right place.
Join us as we take steps to helpyou create the healthy business
that you've all.
Always wanted.

Ed Drozda (00:42):
Welcome back to The Water Trough.
This is Ed Drozda, The SmallBusiness Doctor.
I had a guest recently who madea particularly interesting
comment.
He said he's thinking aboutmoving from the operational side
of business to the creativeside.
This guy's extremely creative,in my opinion.
He's also one who's taken a lotof time to capitalize upon his
creativity, bringing thatcreativity to fruition in the

(01:04):
form of the various projectsthat he's done.
Now he's seeing himself perhapsas one who can create not only
for himself, but for others aswell, rather than being engaged
in the process of doing, ofexecuting upon the creative
elements that he produces.
Now, of course you're probablythinking, if I don't create, if
I don't innovate, then I don'thave anything to do.

(01:28):
Certainly in a case where thetried and true is the course, in
a business we may stopinnovating.
I'm not suggesting that we do,but we might stop innovating, we
might stop creating, butcreativity does precede action.
Creating an environment,creating a product, creating a
service, all these thingsprecede the actual execution.

(01:51):
So one could say, well, isn't hedoing that right now?
Yes, he most certainly is.
He has to.
But what I hear him telling meis this; rather than being the
one who has to get bogged downin the details of execution, he
has sufficient intuition aboutcreativity that he can create

(02:13):
things that others in turn canutilize.
As time goes on our businessevolves, and as our business
evolves, we of course evolvewith it.
The evolution has led thisindividual to a point where he
realizes his creativity itselfis a phenomenal gift, a

(02:34):
phenomenal opportunity.
Perhaps boredom has set in, orthe sheer effort, the amount of
work that goes into executingupon that creativity.
It takes a lot of work toconvert a concept into action.
It takes even more work tomaintain that action, to be able

(02:58):
to deliver upon it over andover, and to do so in such a way
that it hasn't lost its spark.
Because remember, when we createsomething, the spark is very,
very, very strong.
At that time, we can imagine allof the things that we can
possibly do with this creation,with this idea, but as we

(03:21):
execute, we realize there aremany, many more layers involved.
And so what I'm hearing him sayis for some of us, creativity is
all that matters.
Gee, it doesn't sound like anybig revelation, does it?
Some of us like creativity.
Some of us like to create andproduce, and execute on things,

(03:41):
but it really is a big andimportant thing to consider
because a lot of us do getcaught up in the fact that if I
create, I'm obliged to go outand make things happen with it.
The idea of creating a conceptseems for some to be dead-ended.
Oh, that's all you got?
You came up with this idea, butyou did nothing with it.
When in fact, ideas are theseed, the germ from which

(04:06):
fantastic things grow.
Somebody has to come up with theideas, somebody has to be the
creative.
And some of us, whether we grewbored of execution or we really,
really never were that gifted atexecution, are best staying in
that creative space.

(04:27):
Okay, I guess you could liken itto an artist, create some
beautiful artwork and in theprocess of creating the artwork,
they are not necessarily able tosell, said artwork.
It's a source of frustration fora lot of folks in the art field.
I have had a lot of creativeclients in my day, and it is a

(04:50):
source of frustration for peoplelike this when in fact the
creativity cannot lead to anincome, if you will.
That is a distinction, it'simportant to make.
It's not simply about the matterof making money in response to
the creativity that you'veproduced.
It's about being able to usethat creativity to good ends.

(05:15):
It may be that your idea is justwhat somebody else is looking
for, but they could never comeup with that concept on their
own.
They would never be able to findthe path from concept to
prototype.
But you can do this.
You have this capacity.
You can envision things in avery rich way, even lacking the

(05:39):
concreteness that many of usdepend upon.
So when we talk about creativityfor the sake of creativity, we
have to give it a wide berth, Ibelieve.
We have to give it a wide berthbecause we have to accept the
fact that it is not only thefirst step, but that for some of
us it's an appropriate laststep.

(06:01):
Creativity does have a place inthe world.
We don't all have to be folksthat can go out and make things
happen.
We don't all have to be the onesthat come up with this fantastic
idea and bring it to fruition inthe workplace or in retail or

(06:21):
wherever.
It's just not always necessary.
What is necessary is that werecognize that the ability to
create and bring ideas to theattention of those that have the
potential, that have thecapacity to make something
happen with those ideas, that iswhat we have to be aware of.

(06:42):
We have to be engaged in thefact that creativity by itself
is important.
Again, it's not a one size fitsall.
This is not for everybody, butthe conversation I had with this
particular guest brought it veryclearly to mind that there is a
distinction here, and it'sreally important to know that

(07:05):
some of us will indeed be thecreators.
Some of us will be theexecutors, and some of us will
have the capacity to do both.
All three are perfectlyacceptable.
That's it for today.
I hope that this has beeninsightful.
I hope this has given you somethings to think about that you
might not have thought aboutbefore, and I hope it'll serve

(07:27):
as an opportunity to open upyour creativity as well.
This is Ed Drozda, The SmallBusiness Doctor and here at The
Water Trough, as always I wantto wish you a healthy business.