Sutton’s Ideas on Creativity Each isn't necessarily true, but each is based on sound reasoning or data.

Assumption 1: The focus is on increasing organizational creativity, not implementation of creative ideas, not performance. Note: More creativity does not always indicate better performance. March's Distinction Exploitation of old certainties vs. Exploration of new possibilities

Assumption 2 A key to organizational creativity is introducing and maintaining as much variation as possible. Why? The more variation, the more “outliers” or “mutations,” the more new possibilities to explore.

1. Hire people who are wrong most of the time Why? Most new ideas are bad Most old ideas are good The more new ideas a person has, the more often he or she is likely to be wrong

2. Hire people who won’ t do what you tell them Why? If everyone did what the boss said, there would be fewer ideas developed and tested. Example: Atari software designers lie to their new bosses from Warner

3. Hire "slow learners" Jim March: More exploration occurs when more people don't know the "organizational code.” Why? When people don't know the code, they draw on past individual experience or invent new methods.

March's punch line Hiring more people who are slow to learn the "code" will increase exploration.

What kind of people are "slow learners?" of "organizational code?" Low "self-monitors," who seem oblivious to social cues. People who withdraw from social interaction. People who have very high self-esteem.

4. Use interviews to learn new ideas, not to select employees Interviews are nearly useless for selecting new employees. BUT applicants often have new ideas. CEO of a successful high-tech firm: “I learn a lot from those kids -- they tell me what they are learning about technology in their engineering classes and they have their own crazy ideas I never would have thought of.”

Warning! Avoid the “blabber mouth” problem. Don’t talk, listen to candidates.

5. Hire feisty optimists Conflict signals more variation of ideas and more critical evaluation of ideas. Head of a Hollywood studio "When two people always agree, one of them is unnecessary."

Why optimists? Upbeat people are more persistent. Upbeat people are more creative. Upbeat people take more risks. Even a few unhappy people can spoil the positive mood of the whole group.

6. Hire people you don't like, or at least who make you uncomfortable Persistent finding: We are most attracted to similar others. People who are different -- including those with different ideas -- will make us uncomfortable.

7. Use few socialization practices on newcomers "Strong cultures" and "shared world views" are great if you know the "one best way.” Warren Bennis on becoming a HBS professor: "The best that you can be is a perfect imitation of those who have come before you."

If you want lots of exploration" 1. Don't teach people the "code." 2. Or make the "code" be: "Be yourself" "Ignore organizational history and procedures."

Taking it a step further: Use "reverse socialization.” Newcomers teach insiders new ideas that clash with or are unrelated to the "organizational code."

8. Reward success and failure equally, but punish inaction Organizations typically reward success, not failure. Fine if you know the "correct" way of doings.

A high failure rate is essential for innovation Many bad ideas need to be generated to get a few good ones. Failure leads to more new ideas than success, questioning of status quo, search for new ideas, experimentation.

Soichiro Honda: "Many people dream of success. To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents the 1 percent of your work which results from the 99 percent that is called failure."

9. Design the organization to have no memory or a poor memory A new organization is best: Source of a disproportionate number of radical innovations. In existing organizations, it is easier to develop radical new ideas in new plants than to change existing plants.

If you can't start a new organization Use temporary structures (e.g., project teams) to do tasks requiring creativity. Encourage turnover, especially of those who practice and teach the code. Throw away and lose as much information about history and procedures as possible. Hire slow learners.

Two really strange ideas from Karl Weick Hire forgetful people. Avoid reliance on past knowledge by selecting decision outcomes randomly rather than rationally. "My favorite example of wisdom in groups is the use of Caribou shoulder bones, by the Naskapi Indians, to locate game. They hold bones over the fire until they crack and then they hunt in the directions to which the cracks point. This ritual is effective because the outcome is not influenced by the outcomes of past hunts. "

10. Disband standing work groups regularly, especially when members like one other. Katz's research on long-standing R&D teams. As teams age: Members fight less, like each other more, spend less time talking about work, and produce fewer new ideas.

11. Hide from and ignore people who might evaluate your work. Zajonc and "audience" effects: Learning and innovation are impaired in the presence of evaluative others Why? Distraction, performance anxiety, premature commitment

12. If you must talk with evaluative others, be vague and boring. Being vague avoids premature evaluation of incomplete ideas. Be boring convinces "inquiring minds" to look elsewhere.

13. Efficiency indicates the absence of creativity Developing and testing a wide range of new ideas takes more time and money than a narrow range. Innovative organizations have many failures, and failures waste time and money.

The next step What can be done to enhance the incremental development and implementation of selected ideas? The opposite of most steps for generating of new ideas. Parting Thought "Exploitation" of existing knowledge is where the money is.