This piece is your reminder that “creativity” in business isn’t artsy fluff – it’s about doing what you already do insanely well and finding smarter ways to create value and stand out.
1. Creativity = Doing what you do well
First angle: stop thinking of creativity as only new ideas. Here, it means:
- Stay locked on your mission – don’t chase shiny objects that dilute why the business exists.
- Find the one leverage point in your process that guarantees things are done right the first time (a key checklist, a gatekeeper step, a sign-off, etc.).
- Make the customer experience the star – delivery, communication, follow-through.
- Re-engineer processes around value-add work, not internal busywork.
- Obsess over details so quality comes from the process, not heroics.
- Measure what matters – use simple but motivating metrics so people care about doing the work right.
This is the “creative discipline” side: using structure, measurement, and design to make excellence repeatable.
2. Creativity = Doing new things or old things in new ways
Second angle: creativity is also how you open up new opportunity:
- Accept that opportunity comes from doing things right and doing the right things.
- Give team leaders explicit responsibility for continuous improvement – it’s not “extra credit,” it’s part of the job.
- Again, re-engineer around value-add, but now with innovation in mind.
- Look outside the box for hidden opportunity – unused capacity, under-served segments, waste you can turn into value.
- Use creativity to serve customers in a way no one else in your market does.
- Aim for both small, compounding improvements and the occasional breakout idea.
- Build a reputation as an innovator that’s always half a step ahead.
This is the “creative offense” side: turning process and imagination into competitive advantage.
3. Where to point your creativity
The last piece is a blunt prompt list: “Think creatively about how to…”
- Increase the value of your business (better margins, recurring revenue, systems that make it sellable).
- Increase prices by adding value, differentiation, and confidence.
- Reduce customer and employee turnover through better experience, fit, and engagement.
- Get referrals from customers and suppliers by making it natural and rewarding to send people your way.
- Offer incentives or loyalty perks that reinforce the behaviors and results you actually want.
- Add revenue with ancillary services that naturally extend what you already do.
- Mitigate risk with guarantees and assurances that make it safer to say yes.
- Always provide a “Plus One” – a small extra that turns satisfied customers into raving fans who talk about you.
As a business owner, the message is simple:
Use creativity to tighten the machine you already have and to spot new ways to make it more valuable – then back it all with processes and metrics so those ideas actually stick.