Managing Creativity and Innovation by Richard Luecke, Harvard Business Press (Business Essentials series)

It is interesting that the author’s name is very much played down in the book; this series appears to be an attempt to use the Harvard brand to sell short practical publications on key management topics. The Harvard book that was reviewed last month - on the topic of private equity investors and the lessons that we can learn from them – was an encouraging introduction to the series but this book is less powerful. It is perhaps because any attempt to reduce such a complex and challenging topic to a few short chapters is almost bound to lead to accusations of over simplification and superficiality.

This is certainly how it felt reading the book though there were some useful reminders of key issues and success factors around innovation. However these were usually in the form of bullet points and checklists that seemed rather out of place in the context of such a creative topic. For example a list of key success factors that just says – create right climate, reward idea generators, hire innovative people, provide necessary support etc – is not going to help those who are seriously looking for fundamental change.

But there are some useful reminders and insights, for instance that there is no proven correlation between intelligence and creativity, yet intelligence is often the criterion that is seen as most important for selection throughout life. Even more interesting – particularly to me as MTP’s senior citizen - is the lack of any proven link between age and creativity, which is counter- intuitive and, from what one hears, is not always followed in advertising agencies and similarly creative organisations.

There are also some very practical references to the need for the key innovators in organisations to be in physical proximity to each other with confirmation that most good innovation comes from collaborative efforts rather than individual brilliance. This led me to think of an issue that maybe could have had more attention in the book and elsewhere; does the modern tendency for more people to work at home or other remote locations put a damper on creativity and what are the best ways in which this can be mitigated?

There is also useful coverage of the criteria by which creativity should be rewarded which must relate to customer needs and the strategic context; the three tests of strategic fit, within technical competence and within business competence seemed to be sensible and practical as screening questions.

On a similarly practical note there is reference to the need for innovation to extend to the ‘commercialisation’ of the idea, which links to ‘Fast Second’ - the book on innovation that we mention above and was reviewed earlier in the year. The reference confirms that the people who make most money out of innovations are those like Steve Jobs of Apple who take other people’s ‘un-commercialised’ ideas and take them to market.

Overall this is a book that could be useful for someone just starting to think about innovation and creativity as key issues for the future, but not one to create new insights for more experienced managers.