Creativity: A Business Imperative
Duncan Egan
Vice President of Marketing APAC, Adobe
Since its inception, Adobe has been a platform for creatives and creativity. Now, we’ve grown as a brand and a service, evolving to cater to a broader, more diverse range of users.
Adobe’s evolution isn’t a reflection of its own internal goals and objectives, rather it reflects the evolution of creativity – within workplaces, industries, and society as a whole – and the continued growth and importance of creativity as a fundamental skill.
What is defined as being ‘creative’ has changed.
Creativity is no longer just an output or medium. It’s no longer the exclusive realm of designers and creators. Engineers, manufacturers, marketers, astronauts and scientists are all creative in their own unique ways.
As Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen says, we are entering the Golden Age of Creativity, and creativity is all about making connections. In today’s environment, that skill is more important and resonant than ever before.
Creative skills are by no means new, but in the face of an unprecedented global environment, the value of insight, collaboration and ideation can’t be understated. These skills are essential in forming and maintaining our connection with the world and each other.
Creativity has become increasingly vital in all areas of business. Now, creativity has real business impact which means leaders need to understand how to use it and cultivate it to get the most out of their teams.
Creativity is multifaceted and, particularly when talking about creativity within organisational teams, we believe there are five key areas where creativity impacts business success.
- Culture: Fostering an environment that encourages and celebrates creativity has an impact on employee fulfilment, drives innovation and thinking outside the box
- Skills: Empowering team members to upskill can help innovate workflows and processes
- Technology: Experimenting with new technology can improve efficiencies, reduces the burden of mundane tasks and allows teams to focus on more exciting work
- Data: New data can unlock insights that reframe how teams approach their work, and pose new outcomes
- Experience: Constantly going beyond the status quo and delivering enhanced customer experiences ensures continued business growth
To get the most out of their teams, creative leaders need to be facilitators in these areas. The challenge for most leaders is not just understanding the areas of improvement in their business or team but recognising their own skills and how they themselves are shaping and driving creativity in these areas.
We created Adobe CQ (creativity quotient) to help leaders understand their creative ability in leadership, allowing you to assess not only your strengths in fostering creativity within your team, but also your creativity blind spots.
We know creators don’t work alone and that the creative process involves multiple people across teams and companies. Take the test to discover how you stack up.
This is well and truly the Golden Age of Creativity.