Issue 39: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

Take your seats

It’s just one week to go until the next cohort of The Business of Creativity masterclass assembles. The first lesson of our eight-week flagship course drops on the 21st October. Group bookings are available at a discounted price. Take a look here to find out more.

OPINION/ ECONOMY

On the house: we’re enrolling the UK government in The Business of Creativity

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Ministers and investors assembled yesterday for the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit. The brief for our leaders? Ahead of a painful Autumn Budget, position Britain as an attractive place to deploy capital and do business. This ought to be an easy sell. There are myriad reasons why operating and trading here is a good idea.

For instance, we could talk up our capacity to innovate: the UK is fourth in the Global Innovation Index. Or our great academic and research institutions: of the top ten ranked universities, three of them are here. Then there’s the country’s fathomless talent pool, its sensible IP laws, and its thrumming technology ecosystem. These attributes were articulated well by Michael Bloomberg last Friday in The Times. The entrepreneur has never been “more bullish on the UK’s future.” There is no shortage of great angles. But the Government appears to be taking a tack so sensible, so sober, that it’s at risk of sounding silly. The key thrust of statements ahead of the event is this: “Britain is a stable place to do business”.

This emphasis is a mistake. When leaders crow on about how stable things are, we tend to believe the opposite. Beleaguered former prime minister Theresa May claimed to be ‘Strong and Stable’. The amber-faced former US president Donald Trump professed to be a very ‘stable genius’ (he is neither). If you boarded an aeroplane and the attendant said: “good news, the pilot is feeling very stable today,” would you feel at ease?

Investments in culture, creativity and soft power reap the benefits of growth and prosperity

Words matter. Stability should be a given. The greatest lure for investors is a quality that is unnervingly absent from those who occupy the highest offices of state. I’m talking about creativity. The most profitable companies in the world are those that understand how to turn imagination into commercial advantage. A glance at the shifting order of the top ten most valuable businesses proves the point. In 2012, brands like Shell, IBM, Chevron and ExxonMobil dominated the list. Today, those names have vanished, and been replaced by the likes of Tesla, Tencent, Alphabet and Amazon. Only Apple and Microsoft – two constant innovators – have endured.

The same applies to nations. In recent decades we have witnessed countries punch above their economic weight through creative exports. Consider the wave of South Korean culture, the flourishing of innovation from the Nordics, or the start-up boom in progress in Latin America. Places that invest in culture, creativity and soft power reap the benefits of growth and prosperity.

It’s my belief that the UK government needs reminding of this. Our leaders should start talking the country up, rather than down. And furthermore, those in charge of state departments could sharpen their own thinking where creativity is concerned. In the wake of the last fourteen years, the country needs competent administrators, but it needs fresh ideas in equal measure. And leaders that employ creativity are significantly more effective than those who don’t. A landmark study by IBM, which polled over 1500 CEOs globally, was conclusive: around 60% cited creativity as the most important leadership quality. In straightened times – like now, as we steel ourselves for the budget – this matters all the more.

That’s why I am offering free places on the upcoming cohort of The Business of Creativity course to members of the Prime Minister, and members of his cabinet. We realise that the subject of freebies is a delicate one, but our hope is that this can fall under the bracket of training and education, rather than entertainment or hospitality. Cabinet ministers will at midday today receive an invite to the course into their inboxes. All they have to do is hit reply and accept the invitation and we’ll enrol them onto our Autumn cohort which launches next week.

In over fifty years of helping drive revenue for the greatest businesses in the world, my work has been powered by a single belief: that creativity is oxygen for business growth.

It’s time the UK came up for air.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
Black Poetry Day marks the birth of Jupiter Hammon, the first Black poet to be published in the United States in 1760. The occasion honours the often overlooked contributions of Black poets throughout history.
17th October

2.
Since 1991, the annual UK Theatre Awards have celebrated creative excellence and outstanding work on and off stage. It’s a chance to celebrate smaller playhouses across the country, beyond the glitz of London’s West End.
20th October

3.
The Chicago International Film Festival will be kicking off in the Windy City tomorrow with a retrospective on acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda.
16th – 27th October

4.
Frankfurt Book Fair is expected to draw in some 125,000 visitors this year — making it the largest trade fair of its kind worldwide. Expect panel discussions on everything from the young adult literature boom to the rise of AI.
16th – 20th October

5.
National Album Day is a chance to reflect on the power of listening to a whole record from start to finish, and the potential of this simple act to inspire our creative minds.
19th October

LONDON / ARCHITECTURE

Tropical Roof Garden at the Canary Wharf Crossrail Station, Docklands, London
Contributor: John Gaffen 2 / Alamy Stock Photo

British architecture is stirling

Tomorrow sees the announcement of the winner of the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling Prize. On the shortlist are an array of different projects of varying scale, ranging from London’s new underground rail The Elizabeth Line to the regeneration of a Brutalist housing estate in Yorkshire. Whether raising the bar for council housing, upgrading public transport or breathing new life into abandoned buildings, each project has been picked for its ingenuity and resourcefulness. While some architecture awards might celebrate the flashier side of the industry, the RIBA Stirling Prize underlines the power of architecture to elevate everyday life. Our built environments can have such a profound impact on our creativity and general mental state it’s important to recognise and celebrate excellence in every context.

ON CREATIVITY /

Credit: Sir John Hegarty

WASHINGTON DC / TECHNOLOGY

Fintech freebie in US capital

Fintech might not usually be recognised as a particularly creative vertical, and yet some of the most effective innovations seem to keep appearing at the intersection of finance and digital. It’s these advancements that are being explored at this year’s DC Fintech Week, which brings leading figures from non-profits, government bodies and business to the US capital next week to take part in in-depth discussions about the future of finance. This year’s programme includes talks on everything from The Geopolitics of AI to Data Driven Solutions to Advance the American Dream. What really makes the event stand out is how all events are free and publicly available, a means, perhaps, to reach creative minds who might not usually shell out for an expensive conference ticket but might find themselves inspired by the sector.

NEW YORK / CULTURE

Unhealthy obsession?
Contributor: Gordon Donovan / Alamy Stock Photo

Marvel fans – assemble!

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the world of comic book-inspired entertainment is big business. Earlier this year the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise in history to cross $30 billion at the global box office. But it’s not just in theatres where the profits are being raked in. Fan conventions are also multi-million dollar affairs, with thousands of loyal followers desperate to meet their heroes and splash some cash. It’s estimated that the annual New York Comic Con, which kicks off on Thursday, brings more than $100 million to the local economy. But these events are more than just cynical money-spinners, they’re a chance for communities to congregate and share their passion, with many showing off their creativity with meticulously hand-crafted costumes.

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

/Kurt Vonnegut