Friction Sharpens Creative Ideas

Barry Fiske, for Fast Company, says that big companies have a big creative advantage over smaller companies because the very natures of creative invention, experience design, and product development have changed. Below, he recently explored this topic with several of his colleagues, and here are the advantages that he discussed.

My personal favorite is:

1. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

One thing we talked about is how in big companies, you often get to collaborate with global team members who may bring a very different perspective from your local team. And when you’re working with people from Amsterdam and London and Boston and Bangalore, these varied perspectives can certainly create friction. And friction sharpens creative ideas.

Creating Equity and Sustainability Starts with Deep Work

Lou Elliott-Cysewski, co-founder and CEO of Coolperx, the first climate-neutral brand merchandise company in the world says:

I am not just a founder of a company working to create equity and sustainability in corporate procurement. I am also someone who grew up in a low-income household with a single biracial mom, and I experienced firsthand a harmful level of competition among people in need.

Further:

Legitimate empowerment starts with deep work—the kind that doesn't come with hashtags. Ensure your organization has the courage to do the work and bring truly viable solutions to your community.

Take a Break to Strategize

When Destiny Snow first started her online business SnowGlam Collection with $600 at fifteen years old, she found little success. She was anticipating that her friends and family will rush to buy what she was selling. However, that wasn’t the case. And the lack of support discouraged her at a time.

Two years later she is still running her online company and generating more than a $1 million in revenue.

How did things change?  Instead of giving up, she took a break to strategize. This she did by watching several videos of entrepreneurs and reading business articles.  Had she found WPO, she would have grown faster but nevertheless, she made it to a million.

Read on to discover how she won the hearts and mind of total strangers to grow her business.

Pay Your Employees to Quit?

Sounds counter intuitive to pay your employees to quit yet these founders did just that in a tight labor market.  See what they created but fair warning, it's not cheap.