Article Review #1

Article review assignment: This article is one concerning innovation/creativity in leadership.

Name of article: The title of the article that I looked up is "Managing for Creativity."

Name of the Journal: The journal that I obtained this article from is Harvard Business Review.

Name of the authors: "Managing for Creativity" is written by Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight.

When and how did you locate this article?
I located this article on February 23rd, 2012 during the early afternoon hours. I found it in the archives of Murphy Library. I was able to pull it from the internet and get it in a PDF article after searching through EBSCOhost. I had typed in the words creativity and leadership in separate boxes and came up with a few good articles.

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:
This article was very beneficial in helping me see what creativity can look like in a business. The article looked at SAS Institute, which is the largest private software company in the world. Florida and Goodnight talked about the fact that most people who are creative are intrinsically motivated, so they won't be pushed to excel by a bonus or money. They like the challenge, so a good motivation is a hard project that will encourage them to learn and work effectively and efficiently. Another thing that was noted was that creativity is a "product of interaction." SAS Institute wants to have the heart of "absorbing" what they learn from each other within the company and also from consumers and users. Creativity is not just a product of one individual's doing. Ideas are melted together and arise from close interaction and working with others.

A few things that the company tries to do (as they shoot for their goal of "Help workers be great"), include trying to "stimulate minds" and "take away distractions." SAS likes to challenge their workers because they know that leaders will be created when their limits are pushed and when they are forced to step out on a limb with a task. One way they take away distractions is by really serving the needs of their workers, whether it be having a gym on the campus so they can work out, or having a place where employees can eat with their families. SAS really wants their employees to be able to have the environment where their work can be focused, while knowing that other aspects of their life are being taken care of. They also realize that creativity doesn't just happen and that there needs to be flexibility with hours and work schedules. While some people have certain hours, many are allowed to make a framework for their own hours. In addition, everyone works together to enhance the creativeness in this company: managers, supervisors, employees, CEOs. They interact, spur one another on, and exchange ideas. While one person may have more "creative juices" than others, it really is a group process.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?
Something that I will take away from this article is the knowledge that creativity is a collaboration of ideas and thoughts from more than one person. This makes me all the more excited to use the gifts that I've been given, but allow my interactions with other people to mold those gifts. I can't wait to learn from the people that I will work with. I want to be humble enough to take advice from others so that my "creative juices" can live up to their abilities!

Would you recommend this article for other TR students? Why or why not?
Even though this article is very business-minded, I think it would be beneficial for other TR students to read. I love how it isn't so individual focused, even though we uniquely have separate gifts. I think it's good for TR students to see that the group of people we are in greatly affects our creativity and leadership. Within that group, there are different levels of leadership and innovation, but it is formed by those who influence us.