“The traditional model for a company like Coca-Cola is to hire one big advertising agency and essentially outsource all of its creativity in that area. But Coca-Cola does not do it that way. It knows how to manage creative people and creative teams and it has been quite adept at building a network that includes the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood, which is a talent agency.” PeopleKnowsWayDoeHas BeensBigsArtistCompanyCreativityKnow HowCreativeTeamTalentBuildingModelsAreasHollywoodTraditionalAdvertisingManageAgencyCreative PeopleCreative ArtAdvertising AgenciesAdeptCreative ArtistsCoca ColaCreative Team Author:John Kao
“Coca-Cola can get really fresh output because it is getting people who are outside the traditional model and they are combining ideas in very novel ways.” PeopleWayIdeasNovelModelsTraditionalGet RealOutputCombiningCoca Cola Author:John Kao
“The mark of the developed intellect is that it could accommodate two contradictory ideas at the same time.” TwoIdeasMarkIntellectContradictoryAccommodate Author:John Kao
“It takes creativity at every stage to make the discontinuous leap from one level of knowledge to the next. These discontinuous leaps of understanding lead to insights that in turn lead to value creation.” ValuesTurnsNextUnderstandingLevelsCreativityStageCreationInsightLeap Author:John Kao
“In a corporate context, companies have to try very hard to oppose the enticements of conventional wisdom. They must aim for the leaps, which means that companies have to do more than simply manage their knowledge, which is composed of the insights and understandings they already know. They also have to manage the knowledge-generation process. It's not just about, "Oh, we're going to create a data warehouse and we are going to invent a computerized filing system to get at all the stuff we know."” KnowsTryingMeanHardStuffProcessUnderstandingCompanyGenerationsAimInsightManageDataCorporateLeapConventionalConventional WisdomFilingWarehouseEnticement Author:John Kao
“Companies have to take risks to get new knowledge, in a manner similar to how jazz musicians take risks when they go after a new approach to a tune or a performance.” CompanyRiskApproachMusicianPerformancesJazzTunesJazz MusicJazz MusicianNew KnowledgeNew Approach Author:John Kao
“In a large pharmaceutical company, where it's a big bet, you're going to need finance people to be involved in the decision-making because the investment can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. You're going to have to run scenarios. You might even need agreement from the C.E.O. to make that type of decision. If it's an incremental, low-cost decision in a marketing-oriented company, it may be a very different set of stakeholders a lot further down in the organization.” PeopleIfsNeedsMayDifferentBigsMightRunningDecisionCompanyMillionsTypeInvolvedCostLowsOrganizationDollarsInvestmentMarketingFinanceAgreementDecision MakingScenariosPharmaceuticalStakeholderPharmaceutical Companies Author:John Kao
“The larger the price tag, the more you have to adopt what I call the postmodern management approach. What I mean by that is that you have to use everything when you make a decision.” MeanUseDecisionApproachManagementTagPostmodernPrice Tag Author:John Kao
“You need judgment, you need to utilize conventional resource-allocation analysis, you have to work backward from estimations of the market to the current investments and you have to do some benchmarking of your product and its potential against your competition.” NeedsProductsJudgmentResourcesCompetitionInvestmentCurrentsAnalysisConventionalEstimationAllocation Author:John Kao
“The conventional asset-allocation method is like sheet music. It is prescribed, it has right answers and wrong answers and it sounds about the same every time. But jamming is different. Jamming is when you make the music. When you improvise and adapt to conditions. When you are creative.” DifferentSoundAnswersCreativeConditionsMethodAssetsConventionalSheetsRight AnswersAllocationWrong AnswersAsset AllocationSheet Music Author:John Kao
