CREATIVITY

Creating a climate of innovation

Tom Peters asserts that imagination is the “only source of real value in the new economy.” Managers who fail to see what isn’t there and who have not developed a climate of innovation may be dooming and damning their own futures.

Old mindsets can easily strangle new thoughts, even before they’ve had an opportunity to draw their first metaphorical breath. In offices and shops and retail establishments throughout the country, employees are told every day,

“It won’t work.”

“It’s too expensive.”

“Just do your work. We don’t pay you to think.”

These and other killer phrases are spoken by managers who regard employees as hired hands instead of employees with hands and heads and hearts that can have tremendous ...

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