Why You Need a Work Ethic Like Belichick and Saban

If you’re a football fan like me, than you’re living in maybe the most remarkable time in our sport’s history. With apologies to icons of past eras like Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown, and Bear Bryant, we are witnessing the greatest football coaches of all time in both the NFL and college football. Bill Belichick and…

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What About Business Schools and Creativity?

I’m generally an advocate of education over ignorance, but there is the issue of business schools and creativity. A business professor’s wisdom The best class I took at the Stanford Business School during my MBA years (1979-81) was taught by Professor James March, co-author of the book An Introduction to Models in the Social Science. It…

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8 Inspiring Guerrilla Marketing Examples

Guerrilla marketing, true to its name, is one of the sneakiest little strategy toolkits that small businesses can pack into their marketing arsenal. And in terms of return on investment (or put more plainly, bang for buck), you would have to look hard to find a more effective approach. Still a little in the dark…

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Small Biz Interviews: Build It and They Will Come

Architecture is a unique field that combines artistry with mathematical precision; it requires long days of bouncing between loosened up creativity and buttoned up exactness. Design too requires a similar blend of left and right brain skills—on the one hand, you need to find the right solution for your client at the right price, and…

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What Designers and Marketers Can Learn from Pixar

Pixar is a renowned computer animation film studio that has captured hearts around the world ever since they released their first feature, Toy Story in 1995. How do they do it? Recently, Seer’s Creative Team went on a little field trip to investigate. Where, you may ask? The Franklin Institute, where The Science Behind Pixar exhibit was in full…

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How to Foster a Company Culture That Values Creativity and Innovation

As a startup founder and investor, it’s not enough for me to merely value innovation and creativity: I must also manage the hazards associated with new ideas. After all, employees who routinely bring novel ideas to their colleagues are likely to experience more rejection, failure, and even embarrassment than others in their career. The question is, how do you…

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Does Business Education Stifle Creativity?

Does business education stifle innovation and creativity? You probably already know Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, from 2006, Do Schools Kill Creativity? It’s one of the five or so most viewed and most discussed TED talks. His basic idea is that schools focus too much on the academic, not enough on other kinds of intelligence. He was…

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How One Mompreneur Used Creativity to Fuel Success

People often ask me what it’s like to run a business while being a mom to two young children. I started my company, The Jones Market, as a new mom, and the company has grown as my family has. People are often surprised when I tell them that there is a single principle that guides…

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5 Tips for Hiring Top-Notch Creative Freelancers on a Budget

Why outsource? Well, just as you wouldn’t attempt to perform root canal surgery on yourself, you shouldn’t attempt to tackle certain specialist areas in your own business. Sometimes you’re simply much better off calling in the professionals—particularly with creative tasks such as graphic design (logos, business cards, flyers, and more), web design and development and…

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