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
Jazz has to work. It has to play with the audience and with the marketplace. I think that is relevant to business. — 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 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 Copy Share Image
Obviously businesses do not operate like an artists' commune. Business involves deploying finite resources to achieve goals in a competitive environment to… — John Kao 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
Jazz musicians can be great teachers of business. Their creativity is not dependent on their mood, it does not have to be… — 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 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 Copy Share Image
The C.E.O.'s job in a creativity-driven company is to be an impresario, not a manager. — John Kao 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 boundaries and… — 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 in that… — 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 for your… — 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 leaps, which… — 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 in very… — John Kao Copy Share Image
All of these creative ideas and decisions about new ways to reach the consumer can be tracked with regard to how well they are… — John Kao 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 challenge can… — 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 after a… — John Kao Copy Share Image
Performers may play in the studio, but they need to go out and tour every once in a while to keep their edge, or… — John Kao Copy Share Image
You would not let your kids do whatever they want. So the challenge is to create accountability in a non-mechanistic way. You cannot come… — John Kao 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 order to… — John Kao Copy Share Image
