THE CREATIVE IMPERATIVE

By Klaus Schwab and - - Reprint | | Print |

This column is available for visitors to the IPS website only for reading. Reproduction in print or electronic media is prohibited. Media interested in republishing may contact romacol@ips.org.

DAVOS, Jan 1 2006 (IPS) - We are entering a new era, for both business and the whole world, in which the \’\’creative imperative\’\’ will come to dominate our lives, at home, at work, and at leisure, and in which the assumptions, tools, and frameworks which leaders from business, government, and civil society have employed to make decisions over the past decade are no longer valid, writes Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. The theme of this year\’s Forum, to be held 25-29 January, is The Creative Imperative. A global networked economy, economic imbalances, new mindsets, demographic shifts, and the gravitational pull exercised by the emergence of India and China are just a few of the factors that are radically reshaping the global environment. The \’\’Creative Economy\’\’ which is emerging is in one sense the logical extension of the process of globalisation that has been sweeping the world for the last fifty years but which has accelerated almost exponentially in the past decade. But is not just business that must adjust to this new emerging environment. Governments, multinational institutions, and civil society organisations must also adopt new policy designs and innovative approaches if they are to remain effective and credible.

We are entering a new era, not just for business but for the whole world. It is one in which this ”creative imperative” will come to dominate our lives, at home, at work, and at leisure, and in which the assumptions, tools, and frameworks which leaders from business, government, and civil society have employed to make decisions over the past decade are no longer valid.

A global networked economy, economic imbalances, new mindsets, demographic shifts, and the gravitational pull exercised by the emergence of India and China are just a few of the factors that are radically reshaping the global environment.

The ”Creative Economy” which is emerging is in one sense the logical extension of the process of globalisation that has been sweeping the world for the last fifty years but which has accelerated almost exponentially in the past decade.

But is not just business that must adjust to this new emerging environment. Governments, multinational institutions, and civil society organisations must also adopt new policy designs and innovative approaches if they are to remain effective and credible.

Moreover, for many of the world’s most pressing problems it is becoming increasingly clear that no single government, company, or multilateral institution working alone can be effective. Leaders and their institutions must learn to adopt, collaborative approaches to address issues, and such multi-stakeholder approaches have creativity at their core.

This fundamental change in the global environment comes at a time when the world is faced with weak leadership, insecure populations, and institutional fragility. In business, technology and information are becoming globalised and commoditised and with this commoditisation of knowledge core advantages are being shipped abroad — not just in manufacturing but increasingly in high level service jobs.

But the pressure is not just on the old world in this new era; simply doing things faster and cheaper is no longer enough. More and more, creativity and design are becoming the key drivers and differentiators.

But this new creative age is not simply one that business must take note of. Design Strategy connects (or reconnects) organisation to the customer, supplier. In the case of government and non- governmental institutions, it allows leaders to gain (or regain) legitimacy by becoming more relevant and addressing dilemmas with innovative approaches. Creativity becomes imperative to address global issues. The old single issue and single organisations methods of tackling world problems will no longer work.

At the recent Millennium Development Goals summit of the UN in New York (September 2005) there was, I believe, finally a dawning recognition that the world’s problems –whether HIV/Aids, natural disasters, or other– cannot be left to one group of leaders or institutions, whether politicians or NGOs.

Business for example can offer significant innovations, advantages of scale and yes, a wealth of resources too, which can no longer be ignored by so-called civil society.

Take for example the Hurricane Katrina. There yet again we saw the failure of local institutions and government to come up with the solutions by themselves. We also saw many business groups lending their expertise in key areas. And it is these creative alliances that will increasingly provide solutions to our problems. More or less loose alliances will form and dissolve and adjust themselves to deal with different problems.

Thus, more and more in this creative era we will need matrix organisations that can provide a platform for people to work. The new global organisations will be platforms that will enable creative and collegiate solutions to emerge to deal with specific problems.

There has been a fundamental change in the global economy — and concomitant changes in our globalised society and polity. It’s hardly surprising that leaders, like the led, are finding it hard to keep pace with these changes. But some leaders are beginning to see that they must change the way we do things — that they must take brave, bold, and above all creative steps to match the new landscape.

These leaders realise that we can not depend upon existing framework and assumptions that only years ago were taken as a given and must move forward in an environment of uncertainty where only creative solutions will work.

We are entering into a new paradigm and still do not fully perceive its shape — it is in this new world that citizens, business people and politicians will all have to grasp the creative imperative to thrive. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)