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Organizations talk about wanting innovation, but most aren’t willing to create the right conditions for it. We celebrate disruptors, bold thinkers, and game-changing ideasbut the way most organizations actually run makes creativity nearly impossible. Leaders ask, How do we encourage creativity? But the real question is: “How do we keep it alive in a world that values efficiency over exploration?” Efficiency kills creativity, but not how you think Most discussions around creativity killers focus on rigid hierarchies, tight deadlines, and risk-averse cultures. While these are barriers, the deeper, more insidious problem is the cult of efficiency. Organizations optimize for productivity, predictability, and speedoften at the expense of curiosity and imagination. Creativity, by its very nature, is inefficient. It requires space for ambiguity, exploration, and even failure. Yet, in many workplaces, the pressure to deliver immediate results leaves no room for the wandering that leads to breakthrough ideas. I have seen this firsthand in my work as a leadership advisor. In my early career in finance and strategy, I was conditioned to optimize every process for efficiency. However, I also saw that some of the most groundbreaking solutions came not from speed but from leaders and teams who embraced deep exploration. When I transitioned to coaching executives, I noticed a pattern: Those who created intentional space for creative thinkingwhether through unstructured brainstorming, cross-disciplinary conversations, or reflectionwere the ones who consistently led innovation. Yet, too often, creativity was treated as an afterthought, which happened only in scheduled “innovation sessions” rather than an ongoing practice. Toyota revolutionized manufacturing with Lean principles, but their greatest innovationthe hybrid carwasnt the result of efficiency. It was born from experimentation and long-term thinking. Similarly, Steve Jobss most groundbreaking ideas didnt emerge from staring at spreadsheets but from deep, unstructured contemplationsomething many leaders today would dismiss as unproductive. The paradox is clear: efficiency is necessary for execution, but it is the enemy of exploration. When efficiency becomes the dominant priority, creativity suffocates. Creativity thrives under purposeful inefficiency To sustain creativity, leaders must resist the impulse to manage it like a process and instead design for it like an ecosystem. Creativity flourishes in environments where friction existsnot in the form of bureaucratic red tape but in the form of intellectual collisions, differing perspectives, and permission to explore the unknown. This is what I call deliberate inefficiencyan approach where slowing down actually accelerates long-term innovation. Organizations that optimize solely for speed often end up producing predictable, incremental solutions rather than true breakthroughs. Throughout my career, I have worked with executives who struggled to break out of the cycle of busyness. One executive I coached, a brilliant strategist at a global biotech company, was feeling stagnant. His days were packed with back-to-back meetings, leaving no time for the deep thinking required for innovation. We worked together to redesign his schedule, blocking time for curiosity-driven exploration and structured white space for creative thinking. Within months, his team started generating novel ideas that reshaped their approach to R&D. What changed wasnt their ability to be creativeit was their permission to be creative. The leaders who truly champion creativity do not see themselves as managers of ideas but as orchestrators of creative conditions. They assume three essential roles: the Curator, the Gardener, and the Alchemist. The Curator gathers diverse perspectives and fosters creative collisions, much like Pixars Braintrust, where raw, unpolished ideas are challenged in an environment of candid yet constructive feedback. The Gardener protects ideas when they are still fragile, allowing them to take root before they are subjected to scrutiny. Great ideas are often killed too early simply because they dont look fully formed. The Alchemist combines seemingly unrelated elements to create unexpected breakthroughsthink of how Apple blended technology and design to reinvent entire industries. When leaders embrace these roles, they shift from controlling output to facilitating creative breakthroughs. How to design for creativity Creativity can’t be sustained through one-off initiatives like brainstorming sessions or innovation sprints. The most creative organizations embed creativity into their structural DNA. They don’t wait for inspiration to strike; they engineer the conditions where it can thrive consistently. I have helped organizations shift from ad-hoc creative efforts to more structured creativity ecosystems. One company I worked with struggled with stagnation because they relied too much on periodic brainstorming sessions. We introduced mechanisms that embedded creativity into their daily workflowsthings like interdisciplinary collaboration spaces, regular storytelling forums where employees could share unconventional ideas, and scheduled “curiosity breaks” where teams could step away from execution to reflect and explore. The impact was profound: teams started developing ideas that had been dormant for years, and the organization saw a measurable increase in both engagement and breakthrough thinking. The best creative cultures recognize that innovation isnt about having more ideas; its about creating the right conditions for meaningful ideas to emerge. This requires shifting from a culture of efficiency-driven execution to one that prioritizes exploration. It means rewarding curiosity, not just executionencouraging questions, not just answers. It means fostering a culture where failure is viewed as a necessary part of the learning process, not a career-ending mistake. And it requires carving out white space for deep work and reflection, because creativity does not happen in relentless busynessit happens in the pauses between intense periods of focus. The leaders who will thrive in the future wont just be efficiency expertstheyll be the ones who know how to protect and nurture creativity. They will recognize that innovation isnt about simply having more ideas but about fostering the right conditions for meaningful ideas to emerge. This means prioritizing exploration as much as execution, rewarding curiosity as much as results, and carving out space for deep thinking amid the daily grind. The most innovative organizations wont wait for creativity to strike; theyll build the ecosystems that allow it to flourish.
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E-Commerce
The Apprentice, the long-running reality TV show that boosted Donald Trump’s profile, will begin streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video, the company announced Monday.The show’s first seven seasons will be available on Amazon’s streaming platform, with the first season premiering Monday and subsequent seasons arriving every week until late April.Debuting in 2004, The Apprentice and a spinoff, Celebrity Apprentice, propelled Trump to national stardom following a string of bankruptcies and bad business deals in the 1990s that had splintered his New York-based real estate empire.The series, meant to showcase Trump’s business acumen, was a major hit, and Trump’s name became a global brand that helped launch his political career. The show featured contestants taking part in various challenges for a $250,000 salary and a job with The Trump Organization.Trump expressed enthusiasm for the news on Truth Social and in a statement included in Amazon’s statement.“I look forward to watching this show myselfsuch great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us!” Trump said in Amazon’s release.Amazon’s decision to stream The Apprentice is the latest indication the company is attempting to strengthen its relationship with Trump, which was testy during his first term.In January, Amazon said it would release a new documentary about first lady Melania Trump, promising an “unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at her life.Weeks before the November election, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that The Washington Post, which he owns, would not endorse a presidential candidate, sparking a wave of resignations and thousands of subscription cancellations.On Monday, a columnist who has worked at the Post for four decades resigned after she said the newspaper’s management decided not to run her commentary critical of Bezos’s new editorial policy. The policy, announced last month, narrows the topics covered by the paper’s opinion section to personal liberties and the free market.In December, Amazon said it would donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. The company also streamed the inauguration on its Prime Video service, a separate in-kind donation worth another $1 million.
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E-Commerce
Japanese automaker Nissan’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, is stepping down after the company reported dismal financial results.Nissan Motor Corp. said in a statement Tuesday that Ivan Espinosa, who is now the company’s chief planning officer, will take Uchida’s place, effective April 1.Espinosa, who joined Nissan in 2003, has spent much of his Nissan career in Mexico and Southeast Asia, overseeing product planning including the drive toward electric vehicles.“I sincerely believe that Nissan has so much more potential than what we’re seeing today,” Espinosa told reporters, while stressing that he needs time to come up with details for a turnaround.He stressed his love for Nissan, noting he has developed a deep understanding of what makes the company unique and valuable.Nissan said the company leadership needed to be “renewed” to achieve long-term growth. Uchida, who remains as a director, expressed confidence in Espinosa as “a real car guy,” and stressed he was handing over the baton of leadership to better unify company ranks.“I am confident that Nissan will definitely make a comeback,” he said, appearing at the hastily called news conference with Espinosa.Speculation about Uchida’s future was rife after he called off talks last month with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co., announced late last year, to set up a joint holding company to integrate its businesses. At the time, he told reporters the focus of the talks had changed to making Nissan into a Honda subsidiary, which he denounced as unacceptable.He also said their strategic partnership to realize synergies on specific projects like electric vehicles and other research will continue.Nissan is projecting a loss of 80 billion yen ($540 million) for the full fiscal year through the end of this month.When asked about talks with Honda and other possible partnerships, Espinosa declined comment, saying he needed more time.During Uchida’s more than five years at Nissan’s helm, sales faltered, including in key markets like the U.S. and China. Uchida also earlier announced the company was slashing 9,000 jobs.It’s a sad turn for the maker of the Z sportscar, loved by auto buffs around the world, and the Leaf electric car, a pioneer in that sector that launched in 2010.Uchida joined Nissan in 2003, job-hopping from major Japanese trading company Nissho Iwai, and worked with Nissan’s alliance partner Renault SA of France before overseeing Nissan’s China operations.Nissan was rescued from near bankruptcy by Renault in 1999. In 2018, Carlos Ghosn, the former superstar executive sent in by Renault, was arrested by Japanese authorities on various financial misconduct charges, including under-reporting his compensation. He later fled Japan for Lebanon.Nissan’s tarnished corporate image after the Ghosn fiasco was a major challenge, Nishida said. So were the COVID-19 pandemic and broader shifts in the auto industry.Apart from Uchida’s departure as chief executive, Nissan announced other sweeping managerial changes, including giving an expanded role to Guillaume Cartier, its chief performance officer, in global marketing and customer experience.Eiichi Akashi, corporate vice president of the Vehicle Planning and Vehicle Component Engineering Division, was named chief technology officer, succeeding Kunio Nakaguro.Teiji Hirata, a corporate vice president, will become chief “monozukuri” officer and executive officer, responsible for manufacturing and supply chain management, replacing Hideyuki Sakamoto.Jeremy Papin, the chief financial officer, was also appointed to be an executive officer. There was no change for Stephen Ma, who serves as chairperson of Nissan’s management committee in China. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
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