Managing for Creativity

A R T I C L E www.hbr.org

by Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight

Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

1 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

2 Managing for Creativity

9 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications

Product 1832

Managing for Creativity

The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice Your company’s most important asset? Cre- SAS’s strategies for maximizing creativity: • Bringing groups of employees together to ative capital: the arsenal of creative think- exchange ideas ers whose ideas turn into valuable products HELP EMPLOYEES DO THEIR BEST WORK • Asking lots of questions and services. Creative people excel when you present them • Procuring materials that employees need Creative employees pioneer new technol- with on-the-job challenges. Give each type of ogies, birth new industries, and power employee the form of mental stimulation that • Avoiding penalizing people for making economic growth. But the process by most engages him or her. honest mistakes which they do all this is complex and cha- Example: otic. How to manage your firm’s creative SAS’s developers thrive on intellectual stim- ENGAGE CUSTOMERS AS CREATIVE capital so it delivers maximum value— ulation. So the company sends them to PARTNERS increasing efficiency, improving quality, industry- and technology-specific confer- Ensure that people throughout your organiza- and raising productivity? Apply software ences, where they hone their programming tion hear customers’ voices loud and clear. giant SAS’s three-pronged strategy, say skills. It also maintains a healthy training Customers will tell you why your company’s Florida and Goodnight: budget so developers can keep up with products or services aren’t ideal and how to • Help employees do their best work by cutting-edge technologies. make them better. And they’ll work with you to improve them. engaging them intellectually and elimi- But as much as creative people like to feel nating distractions. challenged, they don’t want to have to sur- Example: • Make all managers responsible for mount unnecessary obstacles, so SAS also Every day, SAS gathers—and acts on— sparking creativity, removing arbitrary strives to eliminate hassles off and on the job. customer complaints and suggestions through its Web site, over the phone, and distinctions between “suits” and “creatives.” Example: through annual users’ conferences. It priori- SAS provides perks—including on-site dry • Engage customers as creative partners tizes complaints and comments and routes cleaning, exercise, and medical facilities— so you deliver superior products. them to the appropriate experts, incorpo- that make it easy for employees to handle rating as many suggestions as possible The payoff? SAS’s results say it all: 28 straight everyday errands and chores. These bene- when developing next versions of software. years of revenue growth. A subscription re- fits make employees more productive and It has taken action on about 80% of all cus- newal rate of 98%. And an employee turn- improve retention. over rate of just 3%–5%, compared with a tomer requests. 20% industry average. MAKE MANAGERS “CREATIVES” Ensure that all managers do hands-on work: You’ll send the message that everyone’s on the same team, striving to provide a superior product. When employees know their boss has actually done the work they do, they ask more questions, put more faith in their boss’s decisions, and feel comfortable discussing problems and pitching new ideas.

Example: SAS’s CEO writes software code for some of its products. The director of SAS’s on-site health care center is a nurse practitioner who sees her own patients one afternoon a week.

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Over many years, the leaders of SAS Institute have distilled a set of principles for getting peak performance from creative people. Among them: Value the work over the tools, reward excellence with challenges, and minimize hassles.

Managing for Creativity

by Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight

A company’s most important asset isn’t raw stock options and other crude financial incen- materials, transportation systems, or political tives. This view is supported by the research of influence. It’s creative capital—simply put, an Harvard Business School’s Teresa Amabile and arsenal of creative thinkers whose ideas can be Yale University’s Robert Sternberg, which turned into valuable products and services. shows that creative people are motivated from Creative employees pioneer new technologies, within and respond much better to intrinsic re- birth new industries, and power economic wards than to extrinsic ones. Mihaly Csikszent- growth. Professionals whose primary respon- mihalyi at Claremont Graduate University in sibilities include innovating, designing, and California has documented the factors that problem solving—the creative class—make up generate creativity and its positive effects on a third of the U.S. workforce and take home organizations, advancing the concept of “flow”— nearly half of all wages and sala-ries. If you the feeling people get when their activities want your company to succeed, these are the require focus and concentration but are also people you entrust it to. That much is certain. incredibly enjoyable and rewarding. What’s less certain is how to manage for maxi- While most students of the creative process mum creativity. How do you increase effi- have focused on what makes individuals cre- ciency, improve quality, and raise productivity, ative, a growing number of thinkers such as all while accommodating for the complex and Andrew Hargadon at the University of Califor- chaotic nature of the creative process? nia, Davis, and John Seely Brown, former chief Many academics and businesses have made scientist of Xerox, are unlocking the social and inroads into this field. Management guru Peter management contexts in which creativity is Drucker identified the role of knowledge work- most effectively nurtured, harnessed, and mo- ers and, long before the dot-com era, warned bilized. Eric von Hippel of MIT and Henry of the perils of trying to “bribe” them with Chesbrough of the University of California, OPYRIGHT © 2005 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. BUSINESS SCHOOLOPYRIGHT © 2005 HARVARD PUBLISHING CORPORATION. C

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Berkeley, have called attention to the critical individuals’ ideas, but a product of interaction. role played by users and customers in the cre- As University of Chicago organization theorist ative process and to a new model of “open in- Ronald Burt has shown, long-term relation- novation.” Duke University’s Wesley Cohen has ships between employees and customers add shown that corporate creativity depends upon to a company’s bottom line by increasing the a firm’s “absorptive capacity”—the ability of its likelihood of “productive accidents.” Thus, research and development units not just to when SAS nurtures such relationships among create innovations but to absorb them from developers, salespeople, and customers, it is in- outside sources. Business history is replete vesting in its future creative capital. with examples of companies—from General Managing with a framework like SAS’s pro- Electric and Toyota to the design-intensive duces a corporate ecosystem where creativity Electronic Arts, Pixar, and IDEO—that have and productivity flourish, where profitability tapped into the creativity of workers from a and flexibility go hand in hand, and where wide range of disciplines, as well as the creativ- hard work and work/life balance aren’t mutu- ity of users and customers, to become more in- ally exclusive. novative, more efficient, or both. Despite such insights and advances, most Help Workers Be Great businesses have been unable to pull these no- Creative people work for the love of a chal- tions of creativity together into a coherent lenge. They crave the feeling of accomplish- management framework. SAS Institute, the ment that comes from cracking a riddle, be largest privately held software company in the it technological, artistic, social, or logistical. world, is a notable exception. Based in Cary, They want to do good work. Though all people North Carolina, SAS has been in the top 20 of chafe under what they see as bureaucratic ob- Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list structionism, creative people actively hate it, every year it’s been published. The employee viewing it not just as an impediment but as the turnover rate hovers between 3% and 5%, com- enemy of good work. Do what you can to keep pared with the industry average of nearly 20%. them intellectually engaged and clear petty The governments and global corporations that obstacles out of their way, and they’ll shine rely on SAS’s sophisticated business-intelligence for you. software are overwhelmingly satisfied: The Stimulate their minds. SAS operates on the subscription renewal rate is an astounding 98%. belief that invigorating mental work leads to And in 2004, the company enjoyed its 28th superior performance and, ultimately, better straight year of revenue growth, with revenues products. It does not try to bribe workers with topping $1.5 billion. stock options; it has never offered them. At What’s the secret to all this success? As an ac- SAS, the most fitting thanks for a job well ademic and a CEO, the two of us approach this done is an even more challenging project. question differently, but we’ve come to the An InformationWeek survey of tens of thou- same conclusion. SAS has learned how to har- sands of IT workers confirms that theory: On- ness the creative energies of all its stakehold- the-job challenge ranks well above salary and ers, including its customers, software develop- other financial incentives as the key source of ers, managers, and support staff. Over the past motivation. This is no surprise—since the pio- three decades—through trial and error as well neering work of Frederick Herzberg, managers as organic evolution—SAS has developed a have known that learning and being chal- unique framework for managing creativity, lenged motivate workers more than money or one that rests on three guiding principles: fear of disciplinarian bosses. What’s different Help employees do their best work by keeping about SAS is that it goes to uncommon lengths Richard Florida ([email protected]) is them intellectually engaged and by removing to find the right intrinsic motivator for each the Hirst Professor of Public Policy at distractions. Make managers responsible for group of employees. George Mason University in Arlington, sparking creativity and eliminate arbitrary dis- Artists are inspired by the desire to create Virginia, and the author of The Flight of tinctions between “suits” and “creatives.” And beauty. Salespeople respond to the thrill of the the Creative Class (HarperBusiness, 2005). engage customers as creative partners so you hunt and the challenge of making their quotas. Jim Goodnight (jim.goodnight@sas can deliver superior products. Whatever the particular incentives, companies .com) is the CEO of SAS Institute in Cary, These principles are driven by the premise can take steps to help employees realize their North Carolina. that creative capital is not just a collection of goals. To ensure that its salespeople could harvard business review • hbr.org • july–august 2005 page 3

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make their quotas, for example, SAS developed ative thought. So SAS takes great pains to a product-knowledge management system and eliminate hassles for workers wherever and created the position of sales engineer. That whenever it can, both off and on the job. person’s job is to answer staff questions and People who are preoccupied wondering solve technical problems, so the sales reps can “When can I fit in time at the gym?” or “Is that spend more time chasing down leads and less meeting going to waste my whole afternoon?” time digging up product specs. can’t be entirely focused on the job at hand. Since developers thrive on intellectual The more distractions a company can remove, stimulation, SAS sends them to industry- and the more its employees can maximize their cre- technology-specific conferences, where they ative potential and, in turn, produce great can hone their programming skills and build work. The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, and relationships within the larger software com- lots of newspaper and magazine articles have munity. SAS stages its own R&D expos, where publicized the perks SAS lavishes on its em- SAS developers share their work with the ployees, but the company isn’t just doling out nontechnical staff. The company also encour- treats willy-nilly. There’s a deliberate process ages employees to write white papers and col- for choosing which benefits to offer (or, put an- laborate on articles and books in order to other way, which distractions to eliminate). showcase their knowledge. And SAS main- First, by conducting annual surveys and field- tains a healthy training budget so individuals ing employees’ suggestions, HR finds out what can keep up with cutting edge technologies. people need. Next, it determines whether SAS When employees return to the office, they are can reasonably meet each need, asking, “Will energized to apply what they’ve learned to we get enough of a return in terms of em- their own projects. ployee time saved to merit the investment?” If SAS recognizes that 95% Another way SAS keeps employees en- the answer is yes, SAS provides the benefit. If gaged is by frequently updating their tools. it’s no, the company explains why. Even when of its assets drive out the With the most advanced third-party produc- SAS says no, it earns workers’ trust and respect front gate every evening. tivity tools on the market, it’s hard to get by engaging in a dialogue rather than issuing a bored. Homegrown defect-tracking tools and seemingly arbitrary decision. Leaders consider it their source-control tools are continually refined, SAS has said yes to quite a lot. On campus, it as well, and help workers do their jobs effi- has medical facilities for employees and depen- job to bring them back ciently. In all cases, form follows function. As dents. Additionally, there’s a Montessori day the next morning. much as leaders at SAS value technology, care center, and children are welcome in the they strongly believe that it’s people who company cafeteria, so families can eat lunch make technology useful, not the other way together. There are also basketball courts, a around. If a tool is constrictive or makes peo- swimming pool, and an exercise room on-site, ple change their preferred ways of working, all of which make it easier for employees to fit then it gets scrapped. The goal is always the a workout into their day. The company’s Work- same—to help workers be great. Life Department provides educational, network- That holds true for all types of positions. Ev- ing, and referral services to help employees eryone working on the SAS campus is an em- choose the right colleges for their teenagers, ployee; the company doesn’t outsource any job say, or find the best home health aides for their functions. Whether you’re a chef or a program- parents. Massages, dry cleaning, haircuts, and mer, a groundskeeper or a director, you are a auto detailing are offered on-site and at re- full member of the SAS community, and you duced costs. (But SAS doesn’t have, for in- receive the same benefits package. SAS recog- stance, a doggie day care center because the nizes that 95% of its assets drive out the front numbers didn’t add up.) gate every evening. Leaders consider it their Obviously, the perks cost the company some- job to bring them back the next morning. thing, but think about the net gain. Not only Minimize hassles. In the creative economy, do the benefits make workers more produc- time is precious. And as much as creative peo- tive, but they also help retain those workers, ple like to feel challenged, they don’t want to reducing the company’s expenses for recruit- have to surmount unnecessary obstacles. The ment and replacement. SAS saves about former situation inspires greatness; the latter, $85 million a year in such costs, according to migraines—hardly an ideal condition for cre- Stanford University’s Jeffrey Pfeffer, a leading

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scholar of talent-based organizations. It takes port the creative process and meet the de- roughly six months to get a new worker up to mands of family life, flexible workday guide- speed in terms of technical knowledge, but it lines encourage people to start each day at takes years for the employee to truly absorb a whatever time is best for them. Some SAS jobs company’s culture and forge solid relation- do require set schedules. Landscapers, for in- ships. By retaining workers, SAS protects and stance, arrive at 6 am to get the bulk of their continues to enrich long-standing relationships work done before the sun gets too hot. But in among sales and support staff, developers, and general, flexibility is appropriate, and it yields customers—and it is in these relationships that more output from workers, not less. creative capital resides. Although the press has played up the com- Of course, there are other, less tangible ad- pany’s 35-hour workweek, the truth is, em- vantages. Having health care on-site, for in- ployees often put in extra time to complete a stance, reduces the amount of time employees project or fulfill a responsibility. But make no are away from work for doctor visits. And med- mistake: This is a far cry from some Silicon ical conditions are generally caught earlier— Valley start-up. The company actively discour- because if it’s not a hassle to set up an appoint- ages people from working 70-hour weeks. “Af- ment and there’s no need to travel across town, ter eight hours, you’re probably just adding most people will see a doctor in the earlier bugs” is a company proverb, repeated often stages of illness. As a result, employee produc- enough by the CEO and others that managers tivity is bolstered, and less time is lost for medi- take it seriously. SAS encourages employees cal reasons. to disconnect from work for a time and then Likewise, subsidizing two-thirds of the cost come back recharged. Creative people can be of day care is an investment for SAS, not an un- trusted to manage their own workloads; their Creativity can’t be necessary expense. It helps parents afford to inner drive to achieve, not to mention account- come back to work, which means both the ability among colleagues, compels a high level shoehorned between the company and the employees win. SAS ac- of productivity. hours of nine and five. knowledges and respects that employees have lives outside the office. The corporate philoso- We’re All Creatives The Muses don’t always phy is, if your fifth grader is in his first school Few companies place as high a value on an play, you should be there to see it. SAS has egalitarian work culture as SAS does. There’s show up on time for earned a spot on Working Mother’s list of best no artificial dichotomy between suits and cre- appointments. companies so many times that professionals atives because everyone there is a creative. are lining up to apply. The fact that the CEO still writes code is well SAS takes equal care to reduce administra- known, but all of SAS’s managers do hands-on tive and other on-the-job hassles for its employ- work. Gale Adcock, the director of SAS’s on- ees. At SAS, you won’t find two-hour weekly site health care center, for instance, is a nurse staff meetings slotted into everyone’s day plan- practitioner who sees her own patients one ner. People meet when demands warrant it, afternoon a week. The willingness—even not because “it’s time.” The CEO has been eagerness—of managers to roll up their known to stand up and leave the room when a sleeves and delve into the “real” work of the meeting becomes unproductive. The informal organization sends an important message: We culture fosters impromptu discussions, and are all on the same team, striving toward the one of managers’ responsibilities is to make same goal of providing a superior product. sure the people who need to be sharing infor- The importance of that point cannot be mation are talking to one another. overstated. Knowing that your boss thoroughly It’s not just useless meetings that SAS is out understands and respects the work you do— to eliminate—it’s also outdated beliefs about because he or she has actually done it—has proper ways of working. Take the standard many positive outcomes. In addition to feeling workday. Creativity is a fickle thing. It often that your contributions are appreciated, you’ll can’t be shoehorned between the hours of nine probably be less hesitant to ask questions, be- and five; the Muses don’t always show up on cause you know your manager “gets it,” and time for appointments. It’s more important to you’ll have more faith in your boss’s decisions. capture the innovative insight—whenever it Business life abounds with stories about man- strikes—than to keep rigid work hours. To sup- agers who’ve failed to earn the respect of pro-

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fessional, technical, and other creative employ- up to snuff, that’s a different matter. But in his ees: the university president with no scholarly seven years in the position, he says, he hasn’t credentials, the law school administrator who’s been given one reason to mistrust his people. not a member of the bar, the movie studio ex- That’s not to say that SAS never has difficul- ecutive who provokes a rebellion among direc- ties with employees. With its enticing array tors, actors, and other talent. of benefits, SAS is bound to attract a few Because colleagues at SAS earn one an- people who would rather enjoy the perks than other’s respect by producing excellent work, do the work. The company uses rigorous hiring not by having a position near the top of the org practices to prevent such candidates from get- chart, people aren’t overly concerned with ti- ting in the door; applicants may have to wait tles. Consequently, it’s not in keeping with the months for a decision while the company con- corporate culture to withhold constructive ducts a thorough vetting. criticism of higher-ups or hide problems from Once they make the cut, they enter a highly them; doing so would just result in an inferior collaborative work culture. And since peers as product. In fact, most of SAS’s leaders have an well as managers are technically savvy, it be- open-door policy. People are free to pop in to comes clear pretty quickly when someone isn’t talk over an issue or pitch a new product idea. performing up to expectations. That person is And the CEO might stop by your office to ask given a corrective action plan and can either you questions about the project you’re work- try to improve his or her behavior in the next ing on. three months or leave immediately with a As egalitarian as they may be, creative com- parting compensation package. Either way, the panies must find the right role for their manag- process serves both the company and the em- ers. At SAS, that role is to spark the creativity ployee well. Some have described SAS’s philos- of the people around them. Managers do that, ophy as “Hire hard, manage soft.” But “Hire first, by asking lots of questions. As Carl hard, manage open, fire hard” is more apt. LaChapelle, director of the Display Products SAS, in other words, takes a relaxed approach Division, explains, “If you tell everyone, ‘Here toward controls; but the culture is allergic to is how to do it,’ then all you are really measur- couch potatoes. ing is their typing skills.” There’s absolutely no penalty for making The managers also bring groups of people honest mistakes in the pursuit of better prod- together to facilitate the exchange of ideas and ucts, though. Experimentation is crucial for to spur innovation. For example, a number of breakthroughs, and some paths are bound to years ago, the CEO believed so strongly in the be dead ends. In fact, senior research and de- importance of creating Enterprise Guide—a velopment director Deva Kumar gets upset Windows-based forecasting application for only when people don’t do something, because business analysts—that he moved developers stasis can’t lead to new insights. A few years from various units down to the basement of back, SAS announced a new video game di- one building so they could collaborate on the vision, and managers let developers migrate project full-time. To help shepherd it along, there. When the department ended up failing, the CEO kept a satellite office in this Skunk the developers were welcomed back where Works area. Having him there not only moti- they came from. Even though the initiative vated the team but also broadcast the com- didn’t succeed, it taught management some pany’s commitment to the effort. valuable lessons and reminded employees Finally, the managers clear away obstacles that their company supported them, earning for employees by procuring whatever materi- their loyalty. als they need. Larnell Lennon, who leads the software-testing team, describes his job as “Go Keep the Customer Satisfied get it, go get it, go get it.” When his people So far, we’ve shown how SAS keeps workers come to him asking for a software package or stimulated and provides perks that make em- financial support, he doesn’t pepper them with ployees at most other companies green with questions. If it’s a reasonable request, he takes envy. We’ve described a management system care of it. He knows he doesn’t have time for that builds collegiality and trust. In the busi- anything less than complete trust in his em- ness world, though, it all boils down to deliver- ployees, and vice versa. If the outcomes aren’t ables. There are plenty of companies whose

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supposedly enlightened, “new age” manage- challenge each other to improve and innovate. ment policies led them straight to financial Imagine for a moment the vast creative po- ruin—and where new management came in tential of millions of users—highly intelligent and imposed neo-Taylorist controls in an at- professionals hailing from diverse disciplines tempt to undo the damage. Ultimately, if you and 110 countries. (SAS provides software to 96 don’t build a product that people want (or, of the top 100 companies on the Fortune Glo- better yet, need), you won’t be around for bal 500, and to 90% of all 500.) This is the big- long. Engaging customers—the final piece of gest and best focus group that loyalty can buy. the management framework—is what keeps Since these customers have access to all the lat- SAS from turning into a country club for tal- est software on the market, they’re in a unique ented techies. position to think comparatively about what Every company needs a constituency that the product they need should do, as well as holds its feet to the fire. For publicly held com- what it shouldn’t do. According to SAS’s mar- panies, it’s Wall Street. Sure, they have custom- keting creative director, Steve Benfield, it’s ers, too, but Wall Street is so quick and ruthless difficult to develop software “when you don’t that, in practice, it’s hard to do the right thing have some external validation of one particu- by customers if the Street wants something lar set of ideas over another…. But finding out else. SAS needs discipline as much as any com- what resonates with those beyond the office pany, but being private, it gets that from cus- walls—that’s gold!” tomers. That has big advantages, the greatest Creative capital is generated every time of which is this: While the stock price just tells SAS’s employees and customers interact. Con- you thumbs-up or thumbs-down, a customer sultants and technical support staff don’t just tells you why, and how to get better, and will troubleshoot; they collaborate with users to in- It’s important to make work with you to improve. But because the vent new solutions. Salespeople don’t just sell message from customers is more nuanced, it software; they build long-term relationships sure people throughout can also be more ambiguous. It’s important, and, in the process, learn surprising things the organization hear therefore, for management to make sure peo- about their clients’ needs. SAS might be the ple throughout the organization hear custom- only company that prints the names of its soft- customers’ voices loud, ers’ voices loud, clear, and unfiltered—so ware developers in product manuals. Custom- they’re as unambiguous as a stock quote. ers can—and do—call them up. And because clear, and unfiltered—so Day in and day out, SAS gathers—and acts employee loyalty is so high, the developers ac- they’re as unambiguous on—customer complaints and suggestions tually answer the phone: They haven’t moved through its Web site and over the phone. The down the road to start-up number seven. as a stock quote. company also solicits feedback once a year In large part, SAS can thank its subscription- through its Web-based SASware Ballot, which plan business model for these regular interac- asks users about additional features they would tions between employees and customers, and like. SAS prioritizes complaints and comments for its relatively stable revenue flows in a vola- and routes them to the appropriate experts. tile industry. Customer loyalty is so high that Problems and suggestions are tracked in a da- the company saves money on advertising and tabase. When it’s time to develop the next ver- other sales efforts. As a result, fully 26% of sion of software, SAS resolves all recorded SAS’s budget gets channeled directly into re- glitches and incorporates as many suggestions search and development. The average for high- as feasible. For most of the company’s 29 years, tech companies is 10%. A well-funded R&D it has implemented the top ten customer re- department leads to better products, which quests. It has taken action on approximately leads to happier customers, which leads to— 80% of all requests fielded. you can see where this is going. Additionally, SAS collects feedback at an an- Another factor in customer allegiance is nual users’ conference, which is quite unlike SAS’s devotion to creating bug-free products. the usual sales-pitch-in-disguise event. Jeffrey Users of most software products have been Pfeffer described it as more like a Grateful conditioned to accept glitches as inevitable in Dead show than a standard software-industry new releases; imagine their surprise (and grati- hole-mending session. What it is, really, is a tude) when that isn’t the case. Twenty years hotbed of creative energy. It’s a forum for two ago, a particularly costly coding mistake was groups of mutually respectful stakeholders to made at SAS. The product was sent to market,

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and fixing the error proved to be enormously panies that figure out how to manage for cre- expensive for customers and technical support ativity will have a crucial advantage in the ever- staff alike. Lesson learned. These days, SAS increasing competition for global talent. We performs some of the most robust premarket believe that executives can look to SAS’s man- testing in the business. Testing teams run agement principles for guidance in boosting through a product from a developer’s stand- innovation, productivity, and business perfor- point, a salesperson’s standpoint, and a cus- mance. If you leverage the intrinsic motivation tomer’s standpoint. If the product isn’t painless of creative workers by stimulating their minds to evolve, sell, and use right away, SAS goes and minimizing hassles; if you raze barriers back to the drawing board. between managers and workers by ensuring SAS doesn’t waste time and money patching that your managers are creatives, too; if you up what it could have gotten right from the tap into the creative talents of your customers start. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound instead of looking just to your workers for new of, well, tech support. That doesn’t mean sup- ideas; and if you nurture long-term relation- port people aren’t needed. But those creative ships with users and employees alike, you will professionals should be spending most of their increase your creative capital manifold. time working with users to find ways to make There’s a virtuous cycle in play at SAS. How the products and relationships better, not un- quickly other corporations can readjust the tangling messes that could have been avoided. way they manage their own creative workers By all accounts, that’s exactly what happens. will determine how gracefully we are all able The average wait time on the tech support line to transition into the creative age. is 34 seconds. And more than three-quarters of customer issues are solved within 24 hours. Reprint R0507L These are motivated employees providing first- Harvard Business Review OnPoint 1832 rate solutions to very happy customers. To order, see the next page • • • or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500 The creative economy is here to stay, and com- or go to www.hbr.org

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Further Reading ARTICLE America’s Looming Creativity Crisis by Richard Florida Harvard Business Review October 2004 Product no. R0410H The need to grow creative capital is not simply a competitive issue for individual companies. It’s an economic challenge for the United States as a whole. This earlier article by Florida details the loss of creative capital in the United States and explains how business can inter- vene. As the United States tightens its borders to students and scientists—and subjects fed- eral research funding to ideological and reli- gious litmus tests—other nations are step- ping in to lure that creative capital away. Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Den- mark, and others are spending more on R&D and shoring up their universities in an effort to attract the world’s best—including Ameri- cans. If even a few of those nations draw away just a small percentage of the creative workers from the United States, the negative effect on its economy will be enormous. To defend the U.S. economy, the business community must take the lead in ensuring that global talent can move efficiently across borders into the United States, that education and research are funded at radically higher levels, and that we tap into the creative potential of To Order more and more workers. The reason? Wherever creativity goes, economic growth follows. For reprints, Harvard Business Review OnPoint orders, and subscriptions to Harvard Business Review: Call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500. Go to www.hbr.org

For customized and quantity orders of reprints and Harvard Business Review OnPoint products: Call Rich Gravelin at 617-783-7626, or e-mail him at [email protected]

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