Business relationships in difficult times
Creative mindset — Executive summary
Today, human creativity drives economies. Drawing on information and knowledge, creativity leads to new business models as well as technological and cultural advancement. Many see creativity as the most valuable economic resource today — one that outperforms land, labour, and capital. Therefore, by being key to businesses and well-being, creativity requires a social and economic environment that nurtures it and gives rise to a new type of social structure — the creative society.1 Traditionally contributing towards efficiency and control, 21st century finance professionals can tap into creativity to build strategic relationships, collaborate, redesign business models, communicate, and help organisations cope with the dynamism and turbulence of our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) reality. Therefore, we enact our value creation ethos, fulfilling the evolving role of trusted business partners. This report addresses the creativity bias — the view that finance professionals are not and do not need to be creative. It also challenges us to rethink approaches to work and find opportunities to balance creativity with our core strengths — being strategic and analytical and making evidence-based decisions.
