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Here's a fascinating interview with fashion design guru Paul Smith, who talks about many aspects of growing a business in the creative industries, including:
- How he succeeds as a creative entrepreneur by saying no to many potential clients, choosing only those projects which fit his brand and excite his creativity. He has (politely) rejected the opportunity to design 3 hotels, 5 mobile phones and 2 cars - and that's just in the last year!
- How he manages his company's finances and business growth in such a way that he can be selective. He avoids the pressure to constantly grow his creative business. Crucially, he manages cash flow carefully so that he has never needed to borrow money from a bank.
- How he became 'big in Japan' by being respectful of Japanese people and culture (when others were being brash), and took his time to build solid business relationships.
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Designer fashion icon Paul Smith was interviewed on the London Eye by Francine Lacqua for Bloomsberg TV's 'Eye to Eye' programme.
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Discuss the points made by Paul Smith with other creative entrepreneurs on the T-Shirts and Suits Creative Enterprise Network.
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Business doesn't have to be about being the biggest, fastest or strongest.
Entrepreneurs don't have to be short-sighted, aggressive and unfair.
"Entrepreneurialism has nothing to do with hardwired personality traits."
This is what Robert Kelsey says in this article in the journal of the Royal Society of Arts.
I agree totally.
Unfortunately, the popular image of the 'successful entrepreneur' is someone who is arrogant, ruthless and entirely motivated by money.
Robert Kelsey argues that this skewed image of what a successful entrepreneur needs to be is deterring many talented people from setting up their own business. In the same article, Rajeeb Dey says that "The media overplays the image of the nasty entrepreneur. It's easy to forget that business is primarily relationship-driven."
In my view, TV series such as The Apprentice and Dragon's Den, entertaining though they are, portray business in such a way that they probably do more to deter rather than encourage people to become entrepreneurs.
Many creative people don't fit the 'maverick entrepreneur' stereotype - yet they can be highly successful in business. They choose to do business in their own way, being clear about their objectives and sticking to their values.
There are many different ways of growing a creative or digital business and all kinds of people can succeed by doing things unconventionally. My book, blog and the Creative Enterprise Network illustrate how people have combined their creativity and with imaginative business thinking to achieve success on their own terms. Indeed T-Shirts and Suits® is all about empowering creative people with the best business techniques so they can grow their creative enterprise in the way that's best for them.
Successful creative entrepreneurs focus on their own Business Formula, which brings together creative passion, personal and business goals, business feasibility, competitive advantage, financial realities and strategic marketing.
So, be creative in your work - and also be creative about the way you do business and develop as a successful entrepreneur.
You don't have to be like the stereotypical businesspeople portrayed in the media.
Be true to yourself, your goals and your values.
Be your own kind of entrepreneur!
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The article 'Create your own Business Formula' and the eBook 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity' are both available free online and can be copied, printed and re-distributed (provided you don't change them or sell them).
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Robert Kelsey's book 'What's Stopping You?: Why Smart People Don't Always Reach Their Potential and How You Can' is available from Amazon.
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David Parrish, Robert Kelsey and Rajeeb Dey are Fellows of the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce).
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Discuss this article and share your own experiences of being a creative entrepreneur on the T-Shirts and Suits Creative Enterprise Network.
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The Creative Business is a series of 12 modules of information about developing creative enterprises, written especially for people running businesses in the creative industries.
The information is particularly relevant to creative businesses and cultural enterprises in the fields of Advertising, Literature and Publishing, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music, Design, Cultural Heritage, and Crafts.
Published on the Creative Choices website, this series of 12 articles covers a range of business issues facing creative entrepreneurs:
1. It's Creative but is it a Business? Business Feasibility - deciding whether or not to make a business from your creativity.
2. You're Creative - but so are they! Dealing with competition - understanding your competitive advantage in relation to rivals in the marketplace.
3. Not All Customers are Good Customers. Choosing Customers - finding the right customers to fit with your creativity, ambitions and values.
4. Precision Marketing. Advertising and Publicity - communicating your key messages to customers.
5. Structuring Your Enterprise. Setting up a Business - choosing the best structure: self-employed, not-for-profit company, or commercial enterprise?
6. Make Money While You Sleep! Protecting your Ideas - using intellectual property rights to protect your creativity and make money while you sleep.
7. Creative Collaborations and other essential C-words. Working in partnership with other individuals and businesses in the creative or other sectors.
8. Raising and Managing Money. Financial Management - getting the right financial result by managing your income and expenditure.
9. Customers as Partners. Keeping Customers - listening to customers and building closer relationships with your best customers.
10. Reassuringly Expensive. Pricing - deciding how much to charge by looking at pricing and value from the customers' point of view.
11. Focusing your Enterprise - selecting priorities for development as new opportunities arise.
12. Growing your Business - key issues ahead as your business grows.
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Read and comment on these articles by David Parrish at The Creative Business blog on the Creative Choices website.
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A useful and readable 'Creative, Cultural and Digital Industries Guide' has been published by Business Link West Midlands
It is available in hardcopy from Business Link West Midlands and downloadable as a free eBook in PDF format below.
This creative business guide was written by David Parrish, author of the book 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity'.
The 48 page publication covers a range of issues relevant to enterprises in the creative, cultural and digital sectors.
Sections include:
- Strategic Planning
- Understanding your Customers
- Profiting from your Ideas
- Organisational Structures
- People and Skills
- Promoting your Products / Services
- Financial Management
- Legal and other issues
- Links to useful organisations and resources for creative enterprises
There are also four case studies featuring creative enterprises from the West Midlands region: 383 Project, Stan's Cafe, Gas Street Works, and Capsule.
Download PDF:
Creative, Cultural and Digital Industries Guide (PDF) [3.2 MB]
Businesses in the West Midlands region of England can obtain a hard copy of the Guide.
Contact Business Link West Midlands on 0845 113 1234.
The creative industries guide was designed by iDM Design, Wolverhampton This creative business guide was written by David Parish of TShirts and Suits.
David Parish retains copyright in this material and other writing about the business of creativity, as published in the book 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity', the publication 'Designing Your Creative Business' and a series of other articles, blogs and 'Ideas in Action' features.
Similar creative business guides can be written for other organisations in the creative, cultural and digital sectors.
Contact David Parrish to discuss options and possibilities for your own version of this creative industries guide.
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The most focusedcreative enterprises are clear about where they want to go and have a clear vision of the future and exactly what 'Success' means.
In a 'Designing Your Creative Business' workshop for creative entrepreneurs in Taipei, sponsored by the British Council in Taiwan and the Taiwan Design Centre, I suggested a technique to help develop a business strategy.
1. Firstly, imagine you are already in that successful place in the future. Maybe you are being interviewed by a journalist about your journey to success.
2. Then look back on the most important things you did to get to that point. These are the things that really made a difference - the things you are most proud of when you look back.
3. Now return to the present, and those key things you were looking back on are now still in front of you. They are the main elements in your business strategy.
In my book T-Shirts and Suits I recommend that sometimes we need to Say No in order to focus on the right things to do. This came up again in a conversation after the workshop.
So we also need to reflect on what we deliberately didn't do, which helped us achieve success.
And these 'Things Not to Do' in your business strategy are just as important as the things you must do.
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At the launch party for Creative Times Online, which was full of 'creative industries' people clustering together, I met a civil engineer.
Civil/structural engineers don't normally attend these gatherings of 'creatives' (fashion designers, musicians, writers, film-makers, advertisers, artists, website designers, broadcasters and publishers, graphic designers, performers, computer games programmers, designer-makers, etc.)
So I was intrigued. This engineer was looking for new ideas from outside the world of engineering, by learning from people in other sectors.
I consider that kind of lateral-thinking to be creative.
It reminded me of Peter Drucker's criticism of how people tend to stay within their comfort zones:
"Most [executives] think they are in touch with the outside world if they play golf with the vice-president of another company in the same industry."
- Peter Drucker. Management Guru. (Financial Times. London. 16 November 2004.)
In contrast, the most effective (and most creative) people learn from other industries and sectors. (See article on Lateral-Thinking Leadership.)
I then looked around the room and wondered how many of these 'creative' people ever go to gatherings of engineers, hoteliers or bankers in search of new ideas, business methods, or customers.
Probably very few.
We should get out more.
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Successful creative businesses need a combination of creativity and business strategy - what I call 'T-Shirts' and 'Suits'.
Sometimes, one individual has both of these elements in good measure, but more often than not, the harmony of creativity and business is formed by two people, or a larger team.
Frederick Henry Royce met Charles Stewart Rolls in Manchester in 1904. Royce was the engineer and Rolls the businessman, and their partnership formed the world-famous company Rolls-Royce.
Jennifer Harris, writing in Management Today, points out that different skills can combine in a complementary way but different attitudes cannot. I agree.
There must be a shared vision for the enterprise, even if the partners involved are very different characters with different skills. So the shared vision is in many ways the starting point. If people are working hard together but with different goals in mind, conflict - or at least stalemate - is likely to occur.
Matters of risk, growth, financial reward and lifestyle are all issues about which partners might have different views. If these are not in harmony, each person may have a valid, but different, business strategy in mind as their road map to different destinations.
Success means different things to different people, so simply agreeing together that you want the business to be 'successful' is not clear enough. Working towards different definitions of success will inevitably bring problems. That definition of success needs to be clearly defined and agreed.
"Start with the end in mind", says Steven R Covey in his bestselling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Having that clear vision of the future, and then starting with that end in mind, is exactly what successful creative entrepreneurs do.
"We say it's like herding cats!" was a comment about leading and managing creative people when I was a guest speaker at the Munich meeting of MAGNET - the Marketing and Advertising Global Network.
My presentation to the owners of advertising agencies from around the world was on the subject of Leadership. One aspect they were particularly interested in was how to lead 'creative' staff.
My own view is that creativity is not the monopoly of the 'artist' or the people who describe themselves as 'creatives'. Creativity is in us all and in all departments of an enterprise. I use the T-Shirts and Suits metaphor to emphasise that creative businesses must bring together both creativity and business acumen, wherever it comes from, to create successful organisations. Nevertheless, many agencies find themselves employing people who are categorised as 'creatives'. These people pride themselves on their creativity but sometimes also on their disdain for 'business' matters. The big question was: How can we effectively lead these 'creative' types?
Amongst several other things in my presentation (Six Leadership Styles, Level 5 Leadership, etc), I mentioned an article in the Harvard Business Review on 'Leading Clever People' (details below). The researchers make several interesting points about leading creative people (and other clever people including scientists and academics). Before my own presentation I was musing on the conclusions of the article and the analogy of 'herding cats'. I couldn't help thinking of some similarities between the article's conclusions about leading creatives and managing a pet cat.
1. 'Creatives' do not want to be led. Neither do cats. Try putting a lead on a cat.
2. 'Creatives' like to do their own thing. So do cats. Some companies allow their employees to use 20% of their time to pursue personal projects. I call this the '80% loyalty' philosophy. Some cat owners accept that their cats sometimes disappear for days to do their own thing. They probably have another human who also feeds them.
3. 'Creatives' have a low boredom threshold. Cats soon get bored with you.
4. 'Creatives' expect instant access. Even if they want you to keep away from them most of the time, when they want you, they expect to get to see you. Similarly with cats. You can't find them but they can always find you when they want you.
5. 'Creatives' won't thank you and will be unwilling to recognise your leadership. Cats might get friendly when they want something, but after they get fed they just walk away.
6. Even though they don't acknowledge it, 'creatives' need you and the organisation as much as you need them. Despite cats' aloofness, like 'creatives' they do depend on the shelter and food you provide.
I won't try to push the comparisons further but it does seem that there are some amusing similarities!
Let me know what you think - I'd like to hear your views.
The HBR article is 'Leading Clever People' by Rob Goffee from London Business School and Gareth Jones from INSEAD, who have studied leadership for 20 years. Their article was published in March 2007 and is available online from Harvard Business Review.
According to Daniel Goleman, there are six leadership styles which are associated with the various elements of emotional intelligence in different combinations.
The art of leadership is to master all of the styles and use each style appropriately as the circumstances demand, just as a multilingual person would speak in the language appropriate to the country or audience.
Goleman's six styles are as follows - and I have added my own name to describe each style in vivid terms:
The Coercive Style of Leadership: 'The Dictator'
This is the dominant 'macho' leadership style. It is appropriate in emergencies and severe situations, but otherwise will tend to disempower and disillusion subordinates.
The Authoritative Style of Leadership: 'The Visionary'
This style focuses on the goal or vision of the future and inspires others to follow. This is appropriate when a new direction is required or a clarification of the goals to be achieved.
The Affiliative Style of Leadership: 'The People Person'
Here there is a focus on people, teambuilding, bonding and forging alliances. This style is useful in creating teams or for healing dysfunctional relationships.
The Democratic Style of Leadership: 'The Listener'
This is a useful style to adopt when attempting to involve a wide range of people in decision making or building a consensus.
The Pacesetting Style of Leadership: 'The Superman/Superwoman'
Using this style, the leader sets an example by working to extremely high standards of performance. This is useful to raise the stakes when a competent and motivated team is working well.
The Coaching Style of Leadership: 'The Nurturer'
This style focuses on helping to improve people's strengths, and is especially useful in building skills to develop managers and future leaders.
Most people will tend towards one particular style as their 'natural' or 'default' style, but be comfortable and competent in two or three different roles. The complete leader, however, will be 'fluent in all languages', a master of all six, using them skillfully as appropriate, being one minute a 'dictator' and later a 'listener' as events require.
All of these styles are useful at different times, but used at the wrong time they can be disastrous, for example, too much listening when immediate action is required, or only providing a vision when a team needs building or rebuilding.
Four of the styles will consistently improve the 'climate' of an organisation, (ie people's commitment, confidence, creativity and clarity of purpose), whereas two are potentially damaging to this climate and must therefore be used sparingly. The two potentially negative styles are the Coercive (Dictator) and Pacesetting (Superman/woman) styles.
Research has shown that it is the Authoritative [Visionary] Style of leadership which has the greatest consistently positive effect on the 'climate' of an organisation.
"The best leaders don't know just one style of leadership - they are skilled at several, and have the flexibility to switch between styles as the circumstances dictate." - Daniel Goleman.
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Discuss this post and your own leadership of creative enterprises in the discussion forum on the T-Shirts and Suits Creative Enterprise Network
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The best leaders are not always 'charismatic'.
"Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious - but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves."
- Jim Collins. Good to Great. 2001.
Jim Collins researched leadership styles in companies that had performed the best over the long term and found a special kind of leader - a leader that usually nobody had heard of. That is to say, these companies were not led by people who were 'well known' for their leadership, well publicised, and fitting the stereotype of the 'strong visionary leader'. Instead they were hardworking, modest team-workers who didn't conform to the classic leader image.
According to Jim Collins, a Level 5 Leader "builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." Every one of the corporations that Collins identified as transforming itself from 'good' to 'great' had level 5 leaders in the critical transition phase. None of the comparison companies did. Furthermore, the colourful, dominant, celebrity leaders, are effective in the short term but do not achieve 'good to great' status for their companies, according to his research.
He describes Level 5 leaders as being timid and ferocious, shy and fearless and modest, with a fierce, unwavering commitment to high standards. Characteristics common to Level 5 leaders include: humility, will, ferocious resolve, and the tendency to give credit to others while assigning blame to themselves.
Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes.
Galileo: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.
- Bertolt Brecht. The Life of Galileo.
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