The imagination is like a muscle: it strengthens through use. — John Kao Imagination Copy Share Image
The C.E.O.'s job in a creativity-driven company is to be an impresario, not a manager. — John Kao Business Copy Share Image
Creativity is the crucial variable in the process of turning knowledge into value — John Kao Creativity Copy Share Image
Creativity, my students learn, is as natural a function of the mind as breathing or digestion are natural functions of the body. — John Kao Body Copy Share Image
The challenge is to manage creative people so that the output is fruitful. The challenge is not to have an open environment… — John Kao Challenge Copy Share Image
If you come up with a new product, you can very easily track its contribution to the bottom line. But often the… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Conducting a creativity audit can be very illuminating because it can tell you how the process is working internally and against the… — John Kao Audit Copy Share Image
Tunes have notes and tempos and rules. If the tune is "All the Things You Are," you have to adhere to its… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Improvisation in the jazz sense - like the business sense - is not formless. It is built on a skill set. Jazz,… — John Kao Copy Share Image
If you are at Coca-Cola, the creative challenge is one of maintaining - rather than creating - a tremendous level of consumption… — John Kao Challenges Copy Share Image
The creative process is different from the traditional production and work-flow process. It is not so linear. — John Kao Creative Copy Share Image
A large part of the impresario's job has to do with maintaining and communicating standards of performance. Knowing how to set those… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Jamming - which follows rules but not individual notes - gives you a different result each time, depending upon the players and… — John Kao Adaptable Copy Share Image
The head of a record label sets up structures, but he also defines the sound of the label, which is to describe… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Rather than managing by clarifying events, the creative process may require raising the level of uncertainty. Sometimes this can be done by… — John Kao Copy Share Image
I would argue that the management of creativity requires a skill set that's relatively different from the traditional management skill set that… — John Kao Copy Share Image
The impresario functions as a bridge and a translator. He or she is a bridge between the creative point of view -… — John Kao Copy Share Image
The larger the price tag, the more you have to adopt what I call the postmodern management approach. What I mean by… — John Kao Approach Copy Share Image
Jazz is not about getting and playing whatever notes you want. It is about reworking themes in a manner that sounds good,… — John Kao Audience Copy Share Image
The impresario function is about intervening with the company's more administrative management structure. It is about trying to establish a sense of… — John Kao Copy Share Image
In a large pharmaceutical company, where it's a big bet, you're going to need finance people to be involved in the decision-making… — John Kao Agreement Copy Share Image
There's real "right brain" creativity that goes into all of the organizational processes that a company utilizes and must continually reinvent in… — John Kao Copy Share Image
In a corporate context, companies have to try very hard to oppose the enticements of conventional wisdom. They must aim for the… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Every day, there are 770 million Cokes consumed, which means that there are 770 million purchasing decisions made each day regarding the… — John Kao Advertising Copy Share Image
There are some pretty obvious ways of benchmarking creativity. One way is to perform what I call a creativity audit, which is… — John Kao Copy Share Image
The management of creativity is more intimate. By that I mean that it deals with an individual's personal, psychological landscape. It deals… — John Kao Copy Share Image
The traditional model for a company like Coca-Cola is to hire one big advertising agency and essentially outsource all of its creativity… — John Kao Copy Share Image
The capacity to creatively improvise is an important factor that differentiates successful companies - or teams - from those that are not… — John Kao Business Copy Share Image
Jazz has to work. It has to play with the audience and with the marketplace. I think that is relevant to business. — John Kao Audience Copy Share Image
The manager's job - the impresario's job - is to preside over the company's efforts to jam so the business runs really… — John Kao Business Copy Share Image
The traditional managerial mind-set is an analytical mind-set. It is about creating accountability and defining responsibilities. — John Kao Accountability Copy Share Image
Creativity is not like the weather: You can do something about it. And you can measure it well enough to determine its… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Coca-Cola can get really fresh output because it is getting people who are outside the traditional model and they are combining ideas… — John Kao Copy Share Image
A pioneering and invaluable work about what it really takes to build innovation capability in society. — John Kao Copy Share Image
You are able to monitor and police your standards of quality once you have defined them. — John Kao Copy Share Image
You are able to create an environment so that the creative process can take place and that you can get people to… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Instead of command and control, managing the creative process is about facilitating and permitting. — John Kao Copy Share Image
Companies have to take risks to get new knowledge, in a manner similar to how jazz musicians take risks when they go… — John Kao Approach Copy Share Image
