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By Costas Andriopoulos
I am currently finalizing the last chapter (covering the creative industries) of the second edition of my book: Managing change, creativity and innovation (published by Sage books) and I was delighted to discover the continuing contribution of the creative industries to the economy. Creative industries account for 3.4% of total world trade, with exports reaching $424.4 billion in 2005 and an average annual growth rate of 8.7% during 2000-2005.[1] In the UK, there were 106.700 creative businesses in 2011 (5.13% of the UK), which represents an increase in business from 4.9% (2009) to 5.1% (2011). During 2009, the creative industries in the UK employed around 1.5 million people and generated revenues in the area of £36.3 billion (Creative Industries Economic Estimates, 2011). The value of creative organizations to the global economy is considerable. Some key facts: 1. Advertising: The worldwide market for the conception and development of advertising campaigns was in the area of £289 billion (2010).[2] 2. Architecture: UK architecture firms’ turnover was around £3.29 billion in 2009.[3] 3. Art and antiques: The global art market is estimated to be in the area of €46.1billion.[4] 4. Crafts: The UK crafts market employs around 91.983 people.[3] 5. Design: UK design firms generated a fee income of £1.79 billion in 2009, while fees earned abroad amounted to £104 million.[3] 6. Designer fashion: In 2009, British fashion companies grossed approximately £120 million at home.[3] 7. Film, Video and Photography: Globally, the film industry market is around $88.8 billion (2011).[5] 8. Music and Visual and Performing Arts: The global turnover of the music industry is estimated to be around $16.6 billion (2012).[6] Interestingly, the physical format sales slumped by 8.7% globally, falling from a trade value of $11.1 billion in 2010 to $10.2 billion in 2011. Yet, global digital revenues grew around 8.0% to $5.23 billion in 2011 (from $4.84 billion in 2010).[6] 9. Publishing: The UK publishing industry is in the area of £11.5 billion (2009) and employs 243,809 people (2010).[3] 10. Software/Electronic Publishing: The global software industry is estimated to be around $278 billion (2012).[7] 11. Digital and Entertainment Media: The global market for video games is estimated to be worth around $67 billion in 2012.[8] 12. TV and Radio: The global TV revenues in 2010 were in the area of £239 billion, coming from net advertising revenue, TV license fees and subscriptions.[9] ---------------------------------------------------- [1] Creative Economy Report 2008, UNCTAD [2] Ofcon, The Communications Market 2011 [3] DCMS, Creative Industries Economic Estimates 2011 [4] The European Fine Art Foundation, The International Art Market in 2011 [5] PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2012-2016 [6] IFPI Recording Industry in Numbers, 26 march 2012 [7] Srivastava, I. India to be the world’s fastest growing enterprise market: 2016: Gartner, The Times of India, September 29, 2012 [8] DFC Intelligence Worldwide Market Forecasts for the Video Game and Interactive Entertainment Industry [9] Ofcom International Communications Market Report 2011
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By Costas Andriopoulos
Although the value of good leadership skills has been recognized since the times of Aristotle and Plato, today’s complex business environment continues to spotlight the need for effective leadership in organizations. Trends like shorter product life cycles, the increase in mergers and acquisitions, the increase in outsourcing activities, the constant drive for innovation and the unprecedented pace of change (to name but a few) are challenging leaders perhaps more than ever before. Interestingly, 84% of executives across a range of industries say that innovation is extremely or very important to their companies' growth strategy (McKinsey Global Survey, 2010). There is no doubt that leaders' vision, actions and the way that they direct and support ‘followers’ in their creative endeavours, can mobilize creative thinking and activate innovation processes. So, what are the keys to effectively lead innovative employees? 1. Encourage communication and information exchange: Communication is vital to the innovation process since the cross-fertilization of different ideas/concepts is more likely to lead to more and better ideas. Individuals tend to make more connections when they are exposed to a diverse range of sources and this will eventually lead them to be more innovative. For instance, Smart Design, a New York-based design consultancy, promotes the acquisition of both internal and external information. Its employees are not only encouraged to communicate informally through social interaction and during the more formalized weekly staff meetings, but they are also regularly expected to gather information from outside the company. For example, its designers are encouraged to visit and observe how products are currently used by consumers in order to identify new opportunities for innovation. At other times, groups of designers may organize trips to exhibitions or several retail stores so that they can gather information related to the latest material and design trends in different industries. 2. Intellectually stimulate them: Innovative employees are motivated by interesting and complicated problems that require considerable intellectual skills. When the task at hand is complicated and intellectually demanding, Innovative individuals tend to focus all their energy and time on their jobs. Leaders, therefore, need to pursue projects that encourage intellectual engagement, a sense of personal achievement and a feeling of control over their professional lives. 3. Involve them: Leaders need to allow employees to choose the projects that they wish to work on, or to strive to provide them with projects that they find attractive and challenging. Another good tactic that effective leaders adopt is encouraging participation in the framing of the problem at hand and how best to approach it, as employees tend to show higher levels of satisfaction when they participate in such activities. 4. Create room for them to "manoeuvre". The Oscar-winning director Brad Bird (behind The Incredibles and Ratatouille) is known to encourage team members from different departments at Pixar to put forth their creativity in a harmonious way (like an orchestra). He encourages people to express their ideas, initiates brainstorming sessions to address key problems identified over the different stages of a movie and regularly steps back to let them work on the task. Autonomy allows creative/innovative individuals flexibility to experiment with new ideas/concepts. However, innovative leaders need to balance the amount of autonomy that they grant their employees with accountability; and this is often tricky. Too much control is often perceived by creative employees as a loss of autonomy, whereas too loose controls may allow employees to focus on pursuing their own passions and ignore the directions set by the organization. |
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