AICC Boxscore 2013

“A View from the Floor”

Measuring Creativity By Dean Mitchell

Social media is a beautiful gift to be enjoyed in various forms but its appreciation is very personal. The United States has a rich creative tradition of Business Innovation. However the business world has changed. American innovation and creativity now compete globally and the competition is fierce. So, what does creativity and global innovation have to do with today’s economic environment and the box business? Several years ago the head buyer from Heinz spoke at an AICC meeting and discussed their company’s criteria for evaluating a supplier. He showed the Heinz pyramid that is used to evaluate a supplier and interestingly enough places innovation at the top and the most important of the six Heinz criteria. To survive economic challenges and globalization requires a focus on innovation, creativity, and 21st century solutions for 21st century challenges. A box plant’s design department provides innovation, creativity, and value opportunities for the customer and the box company. It may very well be the key component for meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. In order to manage this valuable component do we need to measure it? I can’t count how many times when discussing the design processes, performance goals and measurement with designers that I have been told, “you can’t measure creativity.” We are like artists; creativity is not measureable and to measure it will stifle it. Processes and performance measurement works on the production floor but not in design.

“The View From the Floor” is that the design department creates something that production now has to produce. Our performance is measured why shouldn’t theirs? Design has no written processes like we have. Why the double standard, one for design and another for production. We should not forget that creativity and innovation requires a team effort. When Victor Hugo wrote his famous novel Les Miserable it took two talented individuals to compose music, people to build sets, musicians to play their instruments and singer/actors to turn it into the longest playing musical in history. It takes a team. Everyone in the box plant plays a role in the creative process. It takes a team! I would challenge the idea that measurement is not part of the creative arts. The performances of the creative arts is measured by the critics, by the number of tickets sold, the price of the ticket, the size and reputation of the venue, the number of days running, and the amount of dollars spent by sponsors or advertisers. I would also challenge the idea that creativity does not include processes. Processes for the creative arts include: a play needs a script, a musical a score, cuisine a recipe and a painting a sketch. Since design is a creative art shouldn’t we add a written process as part of the creative method. Let’s look at ways to review, measure and improve the creative process. Then you decide if measuring creativity in a

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To survive the economic challenges and globalization requires a focus on innovation, creativity, and 21st century solutions for 21st century challenges.

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BOX SCORE