The Dream Cafe: Lessons in the Art of Radical Innovation

GGUT REACTION

Business appears to be dominated by two distinct personas: risky and risk averse. The dominant stereotype created by business commentators and creative souls who find their concepts blocked by tiers of risk-averse bureaucrats and middle managers proposes that, the bigger the business the more risk averse it is. While there is enough research and empirical experience to reinforce a self-­fulfilling prophecy that BIG = CAUTIOUS, it is important to note that there is a lot of caution in the sphere of small to medium enterprise zone as entrepreneurs try to avoid failure by limiting their risk exposure.

We look to creative hearts and minds as sources of inspiration, because creatively inclined people have a very different way of working. It is a process that involves making instinctive judgements, which are either informed and/or evolved by a process of reflection. The classic stereotype involves the artist who makes a mark on canvas and them stands back to ponder the implications of his or her gesture on their ambition. This reflective process is very different from the more systematic approach employed by the scientifically inclined. It relies on intuitive insight, which is likely to include consideration of a relatively wide range of thoughts that are just as likely to extend beyond the next step to embrace decisions about purpose and alternative possibilities. So ...