Importance of Creativity & Innovation in Entrepreneurship 2023

Role Of Creativity and Innovation In Entrepreneurship

According to Atlantis Press, creativity and innovation helps develop new ways of improving an existing product or service to optimize the business. Innovation is the driving force that allows entrepreneurs to think outside the box and beyond the traditional solutions. Through this opportunity new, interesting, potential yet versatile ideas come up.

People often get confused about the difference between creativity and innovation and use the terms synonymously. Creativity and a creative process can be defined as the ability to develop original concepts and ideas. Aesthetic flair is an important factor when it comes to creativity. Continuous innovation is the ability to create offshoots, create changes to, or build on already existing ideas, services, and products.

Entrepreneurs and creativity

Creativity helps entrepreneurs with one of the most important steps in their business journey: being creative and innovative and as a result, coming up with a business idea. Entrepreneurs with high levels of creativity are often able to come up with exceptionally creative business ideas that fill a niche gap in the market.

But creativity does not only assist entrepreneurs in the initial stages of coming up with a business idea. Creativity will also be a driving force and also highly valuable in terms of:

• Coming up with branding and marketing ideas

• Ideas for blogs, other SEO-related content

• Finding creative solutions to everyday business problems

• Fun and exciting social media strategies

• A good balance of linear and lateral thinking

Entrepreneurs and Innovation

Innovation is a change that adds value to an existing idea, product, service or concept. Many business ideas are innovations of things that already exist. There should be a focus on the ‘adding value’ of innovation because just because you change up an existing product or business model slightly does not mean that you are creating a better version of it in order for innovations to be successful.

Having a good hold on innovation and as a net result, innovative ideas, is very important for entrepreneurs. Not only will an innovative mindset be advantageous in coming up with products, services, and business ideas, it will also be exceptionally helpful when it comes to adapting to change and finding new and improved ways of doing things in your business structure.

Benefits of using creativity for innovation

For decades, advertising and marketing companies have used creativity to differentiate innovative products and services being advertised against other like products in the marketplace. Using creativity for innovation can lead you to be a better entrepreneur and infusing creativity into your business makes you an innovative leader within your industry. Without creativity, businesses run the risk of slipping into the clutter that may exist in an industry.

To improve your chances of successful entrepreneurship, here are some of the benefits of being a creative and innovative entrepreneur:

• You will be able to create new products or services that solve problems for people

• You will be able to improve processes and make them more efficient

• You will be able to find new markets for existing products or services

• You will be able to create new jobs

• You will be able to make a positive impact on society

• You will be able to have a lot of fun and satisfaction in what you do

Thinking about Improving your Skills as an Entrepreneur?

Discover how you can acquire the most important skills for creating a widely successful business.

Download the free report now and find out how you can do this and stay ahead of the competition!

Also, why not consider our excellent selection of BBA and MBA degrees, including our specializations in BBA in building a tech startup, and potentially even our MBA in ecommerce.

Examples of Entrepreneurial Creativity and Innovation

Apple (Steve Jobs)

He may have passed away on the 5th of October 2011, but the creative entrepreneurial legacy that Steve Jobs left behind will have a marked impact on all other intrepid tech entrepreneurs that come after him. 

Steve Jobs had a never say die attitude and an incredible flair when it came to producing products that were leagues ahead of the competition and so creative that they stood head and shoulders above the competition. 

Apple Computer, Inc. was founded on April 1, 1976, by college dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who brought to the new company a vision of changing the way people viewed computers. Jobs and Wozniak wanted to make computers small enough for people to have them in their homes or offices. And they succeeded beyond their wildest imagination.

Entrepreneur magazine says that Steve Jobs systematically cultivated his creativity and so can others. While there's no doubt that Jobs had a naturally creative brain, thanks to modern research, we can see that Jobs' artistry was also due to practices every entrepreneur can adopt to enhance creative thinking.

Jobs' meditation practice helped him develop creativity. Meditative practices, such as "open-monitoring training," encourage divergent thinking, a process of allowing the generation of many new ideas, which is a key part of creative innovation.

Other forces of creative entrepreneurial thinking

Steve Jobs most certainly did not have the monopoly when it came to creative entrepreneurial thinking. Far from it. Many other top creative entrepreneurs came before him, and right now the next wave of creative entrepreneurs are starting to make their mark. Household names such as Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk have set the bar very high when it comes to creative thinking, allowing them to build multi-billion dollar empires.

Now whilst they may have had one thing in common which was having a knack for creative thinking, the one thing that leading entrepreneurs and innovators like Bill Gates and J.K. Rowling all have one thing in common and that is that they were all domain experts before launching their businesses. Bill Gates, spent nearly 10 years in school programming in different computer systems before starting Microsoft, whilst J.K. Rowling began writing at the age of six, and spent over seven years refining and perfecting her idea before it became a global sensation and boosted her net worth to over $1 billion.

FAQs

Is innovation and creativity key to entrepreneurial success?

As an entrepreneur, one of the keys to business success is coming up with new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh. Innovation is the process of bringing those ideas to fruition. One of the keys to business success is coming up with new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh. Innovation is the process of bringing those ideas to fruition. 

Now whilst there have been many business ideas that were a stroke of genius, or people being in the right place at the right time, it is undeniable that the difference between business success and abject failure is the use of creativity in coming up with a concept and getting it noticed. Not always is it a case of 'if you build it they will come.' It's all about being innovative and never taking no for an answer.

Applied to business, innovation comprises several key elements, including a challenge (to provoke it), creativity (to spark it), contemplation (to come up with an idea), focus on the customers (to sharpen the idea), and communication and cooperation to facilitate the whole process.

How does creativity and innovation work together? 

Harvard Business School states that for something to be innovative, there are two requirements: It must be novel and useful. While creativity is crucial to generate ideas that are both unique and original, they're not always inherently useful. Innovative solutions can't exist, however, without a component of creativity. Creativity and innovation can work side-by-side in many ways.

Whilst experts say that you are born with an innate sense of creativity and innovation, many others say that there are ways to encourage creativity and innovation. Don't be afraid to take risks and always maintain an open mind.

What is the purpose of innovation in business? 

Innovation is often necessary for companies to adapt and overcome the challenges of change. It fosters growth: Stagnation can be extremely detrimental to your business. Achieving organizational and economic growth through innovation is key to staying afloat in today's highly competitive world.

Creativity and innovation in organizations allows for adaptability, separates a business from its competitors, and fosters growth.  

How can you encourage innovation and creativity in the workplace?

Innovation is often associated with creating new products or services in your business. But it can also be about changing the way you do business. Your employees are one of your most productive assets. You can help them become more productive by fostering a culture that encourages creative thinking and action in the workplace. This can inspire your employees to share their knowledge, experience, skills, suggestions and recommendations.

Here are some ways you can promote an innovative environment in your business with a proven methodology that combines theory and practice:

1. Make innovation a core value

2. Hire people with different perspectives

3. Give employees time and space to innovate

4. Encourage collaboration

5. Have a feedback process

6. Reward employees for great ideas

What strategies can leadership use to enhance creativity and innovation for employees

The importance of creativity and innovation can't be stressed enough and both play a major role in entrepreneurship. The link between creativity and successful businesses is proven. Kelly Personnel maintains that there are four strategies to enhance your team's creativity and improve organizational productivity.

1. Cultivate open communication 

Encourage people to voice their ideas and opinions. Your employees need to know it’s not only okay to speak up if they have an idea, it’s actually valued. When they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, it’s more likely to foster the kinds of discussions required to generate creative solutions.

2. Facilitate diverse ways of working

People have their own ways of doing things. Some people like to work in teams; others prefer to work alone. Some enjoy using a pencil and notepad to jot down their thoughts, while others always make notes on their tablets or make voice recordings on their phones. When you allow people to choose how they work – as long as they do their jobs and do them well – they’re happier, and that can prompt more creativity.

3. Intentionally change things up

Expose people to different work practices to help them see things differently. Simply by changing one or two factors for a limited period of time, employees can start to see things from a different perspective, and that can help them come up with totally new ideas.

4. Hold guided brainstorm sessions

The key to an effective guided brainstorming session is to follow viable ideas through to a point where they can be fully visualized. Here’s one approach: After an initial round of suggestions and ideas, discuss each one with your team to determine which ones are exploring further. Select the three best ideas; then work with your team to see how you could develop them to create effective, exciting solutions or products. 

Looking to Improve your Skills as an Entrepreneur?

Discover how you can acquire the most important skills for creating a widely successful business.

Download the free report now and find out how you can do this and stay ahead of the competition!

Also, why not consider our excellent selection of BBA and MBA degrees, including our specializations in BBA in building a tech startup and potentially even our Ecommerce MBA.

Conclusion  

Whilst people maintain that you are born with creativity and an entrepreneurial flair, others maintain that it can be taught. You may have a great idea, but you’ll need business acumen to turn your idea into a successful, sustainable enterprise. Business degrees give you the space and time to hone these critical skills in a safe environment. A good one will give you opportunities to work on real-life projects or go on placements with industry leaders before launching out on your own. And once you're ready to go solo, you'll have already built an important network of connections and highly creative ways of thinking in an effective way.

If you are looking to up your understanding of business, improve your levels of creativity and promote entrepreneurship when it comes to the branding and running of a business, you might want to consider a university that offers business degrees that involve learning how to be creative and effective in business using real life case studies. 

Nexford is just such a university. Expand your entrepreneurial skill set with an online MBA, BBA, or gain a better understanding of the role of creativity in entrepreneurship by undertaking a branding and creative direction course. To learn the skills required to become a more successful entrepreneur you can also consider doing an MBA in ecommerce, or a BBA in ecommerce.

For a more in-depth analysis download our free report.