Cost Effectiveness of Creativity

A manager holds up his hand and comments: I’m not sure I want my people to be more creative; they have trouble getting their work done on time and within budget as it is” Many of us are led to believe that creativity is costly. For example, we hear about the costs of some project such as Gillette’s 21 – part razor. It was introduced during the 1989 Super Bowl (one I prefer to forget, since my Denver Bronco team was demolished by the New York Giants). Super Bowl advertising is the most expensive in television, so Gillette spared no expenses to introduce their new product. The company spent more than $100 million in developing the product and over $150 million to advertise it. Nor is the 21 – part razor a very profound invention! The implication is that most products require this kind of investment, causing managers to question the viability of embarking on a creativity improvement program. Yet, a profound invention – the CAT scanner – cost less than $15000 to develop. Creativity need not be expensive. Creativity is highly cost-effective.