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The head of a record label sets up structures, but he also defines the sound of the label, which is to describe what is desirable, what fits and what is quality for that label and then to create an environment where that sound can thrive.

John Kao

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John Kao
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: January 1
Author
Writer
Head
Sets
Create
Describe
Quality
Labels
Defines
Sound
Fit
Fits
Also
Structure
Structures
Record
Label
Records
Desirable
Environment
Thrive

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The manager's job - the impresario's job - is to preside over the company's efforts to jam so the business runs really well.
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Managing the creative process means selecting the best people and then letting them do their work. That means nurturing. It also means, from time to time, creating drama - even uncertainty - so that the creative environment has an edge to it, a charge, and does not run out of steam.
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Creativity is not like the weather: You can do something about it. And you can measure it well enough to determine its effect on sales and profits.
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The impresario functions as a bridge and a translator. He or she is a bridge between the creative point of view - which is often very focused on the creative task itself - and the resource-allocation process. The impresario has to make certain the funds and people required to get that task completed are available.
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All of these creative ideas and decisions about new ways to reach the consumer can be tracked with regard to how well they are working, whether and how they are building awareness for the product, how well they motivate the consumption of the product, and so on.
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Jamming - which follows rules but not individual notes - gives you a different result each time, depending upon the players and the conditions in which they find themselves. It is adaptable to changing conditions.
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The C.E.O.'s job in a creativity-driven company is to be an impresario, not a manager.
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Companies have to take risks to get new knowledge, in a manner similar to how jazz musicians take risks when they go after a new approach to a tune or a performance.
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The imagination is like a muscle: it strengthens through use.
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Coca-Cola can get really fresh output because it is getting people who are outside the traditional model and they are combining ideas in very novel ways.
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You are able to create an environment so that the creative process can take place and that you can get people to perform at their highest levels.
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If you come up with a new product, you can very easily track its contribution to the bottom line. But often the challenge can be both large and subtle.
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People must get respect for their new ideas.
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Instead of command and control, managing the creative process is about facilitating and permitting.
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In the end it is the musician who actually plays the notes. The impresario - or the project leader - is only there to make sure that happens. That is a very different type of management mind-set.
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The mark of the developed intellect is that it could accommodate two contradictory ideas at the same time.
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Jazz musicians can be great teachers of business. Their creativity is not dependent on their mood, it does not have to be coaxed out of them, it has nothing to do with the phases of the moon or even how they feel that day. They go on stage and start playing. Being creative is their job.
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The creative process is different from the traditional production and work-flow process. It is not so linear.
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Creativity, my students learn, is as natural a function of the mind as breathing or digestion are natural functions of the body.
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A pioneering and invaluable work about what it really takes to build innovation capability in society.
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