When IBM says it you have to listen — Creativity is the new management Kool-Aid.

In a study just released they  say that the “creative” management style — which is marked by taking calculated risks and communicating in new ways — will lead to more success as companies struggle to find their way in an increasingly complex world.

The study, titled Capitalizing on Complexity is a synthesis of interviews from 1,500 CEO’s and senior public sector leaders.  This is what these CEO folks now believe — that creativity is more important as a skill, now, than it has ever been before.  Creativity is Now More Important than other qualitites like management discipline, rigor, or operational acumen.

Personally, I think this is a “YES, AND”  not an “EITHER, OR.” That is, I think a CEO needs to balance creativity with traditional managerial skills.

Alex Woodie has written up the study  in a thorough way on the itjungle.com website.

Two points I’d like to make about this study.

First, it’s based on “self-report” which means that it’s a perception of those who participate, feelings, based on what they know, and their personal context(s). This is key for me in interpretation of results because it is more a snapshot of current CEO thinking than it is a “factual” study based on third party observation. Nothing wrong with a snapshot, after all, those feelings are facts as well, but it leads me to point two.

Point two relates to that old chestnut, what is creativity, really?  The study does define what executives think creativity is, and it’s not too bad a definition — the ability to “drive disruptive innovation and continuous re-invention.” I say “not too bad,” because in my view it is a tad flawed, incomplete, reflecting a common misperception about creativity.  The CEO definition is over-biased on new and different creation, and does not include incremental change or the more generic skills of problem solving and decision making. A rigorous definition of creativity would include those attributes. For more on a more rigorous definition of creativity, check out the work of Dr. Michael Kirton.

I think CEO’s who leave out these “other” creative skills are risking an unbalanced approach. Creative products are great and necessary, but, unbridled and untested creative products can also be quite dangerous — as in financial products like derivatives.

The study participants may very well be right with their definition in terms of what’s needed in today’s world to adapt quickly.  That said, Creativity has always been the Kool-Aid required to be an excellent senior manager.  So, if you are drinking the creativity Kool-Aid, make sure it includes the full flavored, broader definition of creativity —  and couple it with the low-fat sweetener of traditional managerial skills.