Creativity and Innovation in Business Strategy and Design Thinking

Creativity

Generating novel and useful ideas

Innovation

Applying creative ideas to create real-world value

Value Innovation

Creating greater value for customers at lower cost

Blue Ocean Strategy

Creating new market space where competition is irrelevant

Red Ocean Strategy

Competing in existing markets through rivalry

Creative Economy

Economy driven by ideas, creativity, and intellectual capital

Product Innovation

Developing new or improved goods or services

Process Innovation

Changing how something is made or delivered

Business Model Innovation

Redefining how value is created, delivered, or captured

Divergent Thinking

Generating many ideas without judgment

Convergent Thinking

Narrowing ideas to select the best solution

Left-Brain Thinking

Logical, analytical, structured thought

Right-Brain Thinking

Imaginative, visual, and associative thinking

Systemic Creativity

Embedding creativity at all levels of an organization

Curiosity vs Fear

Balancing exploration with uncertainty to enable creativity

Blue Ocean Mindset

Leading with imagination—asking "what should be" not "what is"

Creative Insight

Sudden "Aha!" moment connecting ideas in new ways

Frustration Effect

Emotional tension that sparks creative insight

Problem-Finding

Identifying and framing the right problem to solve

Problem-Solving

Generating solutions after the problem is defined

Synthesis

Connecting information into deeper meaning and insight

Summary

Listing facts or surface observations

Systemic Creativity Dynamics

Motivation, Curiosity, Connection-Making, Evaluation

Organizational Culture

Deep shared values and assumptions guiding behavior

Organizational Climate

Day-to-day atmosphere shaping how safe people feel to take risks

Bureaucratic Structure

Hierarchical, rule-based system focused on control and efficiency

Organic Structure

Flexible, cross-functional, adaptive organization supporting creativity

Motivation Theory

Creativity is driven by purpose, autonomy, and mastery

Gary Hamel Model

Modern management focused on openness, collaboration, and passion

Aligned Autonomy

Teams have freedom to act within shared goals and purpose

Psychological Safety

Feeling safe to speak up and fail without fear of punishment

Generative Climate

Trusting, curious, and experimental environment for learning

Group Flow

Shared creative state of deep focus and collaboration

Groupthink

Pressure for harmony that suppresses dissent and creativity

Desirable Difficulty

Small obstacles or friction that improve creative thinking

Design Thinking

Human-centered, iterative process balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability

Empathy

Understanding people's emotions, motivations, and needs to guide design

Innovation Arc

Iterative loop from empathy to insight to prototyping and testing

Reframing Problems

Looking at challenges from new perspectives to uncover real needs

Solution-First Thinking

Jumping to ideas without understanding users

Customer Discovery

Interviewing and observing users to test assumptions

Personas

Research-based profiles representing target users

Segmentation

Dividing users by shared needs, behaviors, or motivations

Customer Journey Mapping

Visualizing user actions, thoughts, and emotions across touchpoints

Extreme Users

Users at the edges who reveal hidden insights

Implicit Assumptions

Unspoken beliefs that shape design decisions

Tech Adoption Curve

Model showing innovation spread: innovators to laggards

Product-Market Fit

When a product effectively satisfies a strong market need

Prototyping

Building quick, low-cost models to learn from user feedback

Talking to Humans

Customer research method emphasizing real stories over opinions

Creative Confidence

Belief that everyone has creative potential if fear of judgment is removed