Thoughts on Corporate Creativity from J.Crew's CEO Mickey Drexler

Recently my blogs have focused on creativity, and then I read Drexler's thoughts on corporate creativity today. Perfect timing.

J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler said in this May's issue of Fast Company:

“America’s companies are built to destroy creativity. If you become the head of a big company today, you’re not the youngest person in the world. You have a contract. You get a jet. You have a huge overpaid salary. You get bonuses. Do you think that CEO is going to screw around with fast, creative change? No. And the board of directors, the last thing they want is someone who’s going to change things. Steve Jobs—he would bet the company, he wouldn’t care. But there are very few people who run companies that way.”

How does Drexler’s opinion jibe with your experience?

Does this describe your company? Is your company creative despite management? Or, quite the contrary, does your company nurture creativity to stay alive--or ahead?

Manufacturers of custom and new products, for example, can’t survive without creativity—regardless of their size and/or age.

How do corporations promote and sustain creativity despite Drexler’s observations?

(Margie’s firm, Simon & Associates Public Relations www.simonspr.com specializes in award-winning writing, media relations and case studies. Simon’s case studies and successful media placements have become the focal point for many a client’s marketing campaign and have helped clients achieve double-digit sales growth.)

20 Tips on Igniting Your Creativity

20 Tips on Igniting Your Creativity

Creativity. It’s the lifeblood of public relations. Yet often that” golden idea” eludes us. What do you do to transform dull into delightful—predictable into a panacea? Below are a few suggestions--some you likely know well. Either way, these tips should help move your creative thinking from mundane to marvelous, or ho-hum to "ah-ha."

How to spark creativity (especially in the brainstorming and pre-brainstorming phases):

1.       Banish “wrong” from your mind.
2.       Think creatively—not critically.
3.       Be curious—ask questions.
4.       Be observant.
5.       Be open and flexible.
6.       Look for many answers to a problem—not just one.
7.       Defy logic.
8.       Defy rules.
9.       Be impractical.
10.   Switch out daily habits.
11.   Embrace ambiguity.
12.   Develop new interests.
13.   Visit an art gallery you haven’t seen before,
14.   Attend a play.
15.   Attend a concert.
16.   Challenge your tastes: switch out your classical music time for rock or country, or vice versa.
17.   Be impractical.
18.   Be playful.
19.   Visit a local place you haven’t been to before.
20.   Plan a trip or vacation.

Finally, consider Guy Kawasaki’s advice: 

Don’t worry; be crappy. Lots of things made the first Mac in 1984 a piece of crap—but it was a revolutionary piece of crap.

What will you do to ignite creativity?

(Margie’s firm, Simon & Associates Public Relations www.simonspr.com specializes in award-winning writing, media relations and case studies. Simon’s case studies and successful media placements have become the focal point for many a client’s marketing campaign and have helped clients achieve double-digit sales growth.)

Creativity According to Albert Einstein

Who would deny that creativity helps fuel success? Exceptional PR people exude it. Most people want more of it. So, what is “it?” Definitions of creativity abound and could keep a blogger writing indefinitely, but Albert Einstein’s comments on creativity are both revealing and rousing. Here are nine of his many observations:

“Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought.”

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

“Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

“To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.”

When asked how he’d solve a problem if he had only 60 minutes to do so, Einstein said: “I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes solving it.”

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

There are many books on creativity. My favorite classic is, A Whack on the Side of the Head, by Roger von Oech. (No, I don’t represent him.) The book’s a great way to stir your--or your team's--creativity.

Stay tuned to my next blog which will focus on nurturing creativity.

For more quotes from Einstein, visit: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins148802.html#OaOzyfG6esrK5u8o.99 

(Margie’s firm, Simon & Associates Public Relations www.simonspr.com specializes in award-winning writing, media relations and case studies. Simon’s case studies and successful media placements have become the focal point for many a client’s marketing campaign and have helped clients achieve double-digit sales growth.)

12 Editors’ Tips on How to Generate Media Coverage in Weekly Newspapers

PR people and those wanting to place stories in weekly newspapers: do you find it challenging? Here’s what editors and reporters from weeklies recommend:

     1.  First and foremost, your release/story must be based in the paper’s coverage area. As one editor said, “If your story doesn’t directly relate to our area, please don’t send us the release.”  

2.    Send a well-written release in AP style. Weeklies also value well-written releases. (Some run news releases—or parts of them—verbatim if the release is well written.)

3.    For event coverage, call well in advance—a week or two. Reporters’ assignments fill up quickly. 

4.  “Don’t be too pushy.” “Do be polite.”

5.   Timing. Make sure you know their deadline. Check their website or call. 

6.  Newsworthy. Just because it's local doesn’t mean it’s newsworthy.

      7.  “We write about new local businesses. If an existing business has an event or promotion, we direct them to our advertising department.”

      8. Feature stories should entertain and educate. "The best stories include human drama. It doesn't have to be dreary. It could be somebody overcoming person trials in their life."

9.  Weeklies (like dailies) have limited editorial space and reduced staffs. They're very selective about what's covered, and careful not to give away a lot of free publicity to businesses.

10. “Some will call or email with a pitch saying it's a great opportunity for the paper, when, in fact, it's the other way around.”

11.  Keep requests short.

12. With press releases, include a quote or two from an appropriate subject.

Questions or comments? Contact Margie Simon, Simon & Associates Public Relations, margie@simonspr.com 

(Margie’s firm, Simon & Associates Public Relations www.simonspr.com specializes in award-winning media relations and case studies. Simon’s case studies and successful media placements have become the focal point for many a client’s marketing campaign and have helped clients achieve double-digit sales growth.)