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Why creativity?
This book is not about luck. It is about how to work systematically with creativity. For the effects are extremely systematic. Creativity is not about taking chances. Creativity is about ensuring success.
Why creativity? Put the question to the state-owned Swedish bank SBAB, which has gone through a radical transformation from the old, established Sveriges Bostadsfinansieringsaktiebolag (Swedish Domicile Financing Ltd) to an aggressive building society with the acronym SBAB. SBAB has totally transformed its business for itself, its competitors and Sweden's population. Since as recently as 2000, by means of pioneering financial products and marketing programs such as ‘canned’ mortgages and mortgage blogs, the company has almost doubled its market share and tripled its customers. Annual sales have tripled, and according to investment bank Goldman Sachs, the value of the company and the SBAB brand have increased by several billions. Financial services in Sweden will never be the same again.
Another organization that has reaped the harvest of its creativity since 2000 is the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Around the millennium shift, they reformulated a blood pressure medicine and marketed it instead as a man's best friend. With this creative twist, Viagra was born. It has since been sold for billions – annually.
Why creativity? Ask 3M that question, who like Pfizer ...
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