Thoughts for Managing a Creative Culture

Think of each statement as a starting point, as a prompt to a deeper inquiry, and not as a conclusion.

  • Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or get something better. Get the team right → chances are, they will get the idea right.
  • When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they are capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.
  • Always hire people who are smarter than you. Take a chance even if it seems like a potential threat.
  • If there are people in the organization who don’t feel they are free to give suggestions, you lose. Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can and does come from anywhere.
  • It isn’t enough merely to be open to ideas from others. Engaging the collective brain power of the people is an active, ongoing process. As a manager, you must get ideas from your staff, and ask them to actively contribute.
  • There are many reasons why people are not candid with one another at work; your job as a manager is to figure out what those are and address them. Likewise, if someone disagrees with you, there’s a reason. Our first job is to understand the reason behind their conclusion. Further, if there is fear in the organization, there’s a reason for it; our job is (1) to find what’s causing it, and (2) to understand it, and try to root it out.
  • There is nothing as effective when it comes to shutting down alternative viewpoints as being convinced you are right. In general, people are hesitant to say things that might rock the boat. Braintrust meetings, dailies, and Notes Day are all efforts to reinforce the idea that it’s OK to express yourself. All are mechanisms of self-assessment that seek to uncover what’s real.
  • If there is more truth in the hallways than in meetings, you have a problem.
  • Many managers feel that if they are not notified about problems before others are, or if they are surprised in a meeting, then that’s a sign of disrespect. Get over it.
  • Careful messaging to downplay problems makes you appear to be lying, delusional, or uncaring. Sharing problems is an act of inclusion that makes employees feel invested in the larger enterprise.
  • The first conclusions we draw from our successes and failures are typically wrong.
  • Measuring the outcome without evaluating the process is deceiving.
  • Do not fall for the illusion that by preventing errors, you won’t have errors to fix. The truth is, the cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
  • Change and uncertainty are part of life. Our job is not to resist them, but to build the capability to recover when unexpected events occur. If you don’t always try to uncover what’s unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill-prepared to lead. Similarly, it’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks; it’s the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.
  • Failure is a necessary evil. In fact, it’s not an evil at all. It’s the necessary consequence of doing something new.
  • Trust doesn’t mean you trust someone won’t screw up. It means that you trust them even when they do screw up.
  • The people ultimately responsible for implementing a plan must be empowered to make decisions when things go wrong, even before getting approval. Finding and fixing problems is everybody’s job. Anyone should be able to stop the production line.
  • The desire to run everything smoothly is a false goal. It leads to measuring people by the mistakes they make, rather than their ability to solve problems.
  • Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share with others. Share early and often. It won’t be pretty along the way, but that’s what it should be.
  • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Anybody should be able to talk to anybody.
  • Be wary of making too many rules. Rules can simplify life for managers, but they can be demeaning for the 95% who behave well. Don’t create rules to rein in the 5%. Address abuses using common sense, individually. This is more work, but ultimately healthier.
  • Imposing limits can encourage a creative response. Excellent work can emerge from uncomfortable or seemingly unattainable circumstances. Engaging with exceptionally hard problems forces us to think differently.
  • An organization as a whole is more conservative and resistant to change than the individuals who comprise it. Don’t assume general agreement will lead to change. It takes substantial energy to change a group, even when all are on board.
  • The healthiest organizations are made up of departments whose agendas differ, but whose goals are interdependent. If one agenda wins, we all lose.
  • Our job as managers in a creative environment is to protect new ideas from those who don’t understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness. Protect the future, not the past.
  • New crises are not always lamentable. They test and demonstrate the company’s values. The process of problem solving often bonds people together, and keeps the culture in the present.
  • Excellence, quality, and good should be earned words, attributed by others to us, not proclaimed by us about ourselves.
  • Do not accidentally make stability a goal. Balance is more important than stability.
  • Don’t confuse the process with the goal. Working to make our processes better, easier, and more efficient is an indispensable activity and something we should continually work on, but it is not the goal. Making the product great is the goal.