What Is Business Creativity?We tend to associate creativity with the arts and to think of it as the expression of highly original ideas. Think of how Pablo Picasso reinvented the conventions of painting or how William Faulkner redefined fiction. In business, originality isn't enough. To be creative, an idea must also be appropriate useful and actionable. It must somehow influence the way business gets done-by improving a product, for instance, or by opening up a new way to approach a process.The associations made between creativity and artistic originality often lead to confusion about the appropriate place of creativity in business organizations. In seminars, I've asked managers if there is any place they don't want creativity in their companies. About 80% of the time, they answer, "Accounting." Creativity, they seem to believe, belongs just in marketing and R&JD. But creativity can benefit every function of an organization. Think of activity-based accounting. It was an invention-an accounting invention-and its impact on business has been positive and profound.