Issue 27: A bulletin for big ideas and better business.

Time for a reboot? 💾

The world has recovered from its global glitch, but there’s been no break in service at The Business of Creativity. Issue 27 features a monumental Olympic Games, and offers further proof that innovation drives revenue. Plus: why a greater proportion of oldies in your organisation is good for business. First up though, Sir John Hegarty urges you to connect.

We have a winner!

Olympic hopefuls might be preparing for Paris 2024. Closer to home, the champion of our Business of Creativity Autumn Cohort prize draw has been declared victorious. Rachel Roberts of Hawtrey Consulting will be joining us in October after sharing this newsletter to her network. Thanks, Rachel. We’ll see you there!

OPINION/ CREATIVITY 

Creativity is about connection

💬 Sir John Hegarty

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a film featuring a benevolent alien who shuts down all electrical equipment on our planet. Its purpose is to teach our species a lesson about hubris and discourage experiments into atomic energy and such. Last week’s IT outage didn’t re-enact the story to the letter, but it felt familiar.

As global systems supporting travel, payments, logistics, health and media were stricken, it was an unsettling reminder of how much we rely on technology to connect us. But while devices help us navigate the world, speak to each other, and pay for things, they also disconnect and suspend us from real life too.

Creativity is fundamentally an effort to connect with others

Consider TikTok, the fast-paced video sharing app. The brand claims that its mission is to ‘inspire creativity and bring joy’, but I’m concerned that it does neither. Evidence shows that binge-watching hours of bite-sized videos over time reduces focus, gets people hooked on dopamine and shortens attention spans. These are traits that disassociate – and kill creativity.

Creativity is fundamentally an effort to connect with others. The play you write, picture you paint or song you sing has a clear destination. It must fly towards, and take up residence in, the mind of your audience. Meanwhile, working in a creative team forges profound connections too.

Where our reliance on tech is concerned, the noise pollution apps like TikTok produce on public transport erase any promise of joy or creativity. In fact, one can’t help wishing that the Earth would stand still more often.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
The Paris Olympicsopens today. Rather than running events in out of town stadiums, competitions will happen in arenas constructed next to famous landmarks. A monumental effort.
26th July – 11th August  

2.
Medellin’s annual Flower Fair is in full bloom. Silleteros are vendors who carry blossoms on wooden frames strapped to their backs, and take part in a parade. It’s a celebration of commerce too, Colombia exports about $1.35 billion worth of flowers each year.
26th July – 5th August  

3.
Grandmasters will assemble in Monte Carlo for the World Backgammon Championships. The game is equal strategy and luck. A reminder that success is more attributed to chance than most realise (or concede).
27th July – 4th August  

4.
Luring children away from screens is essential. Kids Week (a misnomer, because it’s actually over a month long) encourages youngsters into theatres by allowing them in free of charge. The initiative is organised by the Society of London Theatre.
24th July – 6th September  

5.
Interns never get the credit. But today promises to be different. National Intern Day is celebrated in the US. Perhaps someone else can do the coffee run.
25th July  

GLOBAL / BUSINESS

Boom box: Jensen Huang, head of chip manufacturer Nvidia
Contributor: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

Earnings reinforces importance of creativity

Business titans are releasing their financial results for the second quarter this week. The most hotly anticipated are dubbed the ‘magnificent seven’, comprising of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla. The current moment in history has offered little market stability for corporates. A bumper year for elections, enduring conflicts and a sudden IT outage last week are just some of the things hampering global economic growth. But in straightened times, there’s one tack that delivers progress: creativity. Consider NVIDIA, the chip-maker’s sudden rise has been attributed to a surge in demand for AI hardware. But the real source of success is the company’s ability to stir up new ideas from its teams. In a tough market the choice is simple: create or die.

ON CREATIVITY

Contributor: Sir John Hegarty

PARIS / CULTURE

“Olympic Rings” (1984), by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, at Fondation Louis Vuitton, LVMH
Contributor: Directphoto Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

Track and field

Iconic fashion designs used to stem from either the battlefield or the factory – think trench coats and denim, respectively. The third (and most relevant) today is the arena of sport. This Thursday, luminaries will gather at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris to celebrate the interplay between fashion and competition. Musician-turned designer Pharrell Williams, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and tennis star Serena Williams are expected to be among the guests. The get-together coincides with a new exhibition The Collection: A Sports Meeting, which has gathered famous works that centre on sport, including those by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andreas Gursky. During the Paris Olympics, it’s a reminder that the best creative work happens when two – or more – disciplines collide.

NEW YORK / LEADERSHIP

Railing, then ailing.
Contributor: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

Just a number? 

Joe Biden may have bowed out of the re-election race in the US. But his public decline has prompted a wider question surrounding our perceptions of ageing – specifically to do with careers. Work is where ageism is felt most acutely according to a report from The Centre for Ageing Better. And the proportion of seniors in western countries is increasing, compared to the size of younger cohorts. Companies lose out when they overlook or marginalise the potential of mature talent. For instance, Bain and Company reports that ‘age diverse’ companies (that is, organisations that have a higher proportion of seniors) have higher productivity and lower staff turnover than those that don’t.

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.

/William Shakespeare, (King Lear)