NC State University Institute for Emerging Issues: Collaboration Platform

Let's first consider our region's creative nutrition as it informs an individual's comfort with risk. New ideas are fluid. Their very nature defies convention. A community with high creative nutrition, flexes with change and moves with grace toward adaptation.

Conversely,communities with poor creative nutrition are less skillful at anticpating change. Thus, they are destined to reactive strategies and are less effective at adaptation.

When you fuel your constituents'creative nutrition first, a culture of risk taking takes root and, silently, shapes the space for "new". Habits form to welcome new ideas that conspire to innovate in the face of change.

Our "culture climate" is at a pivotal point in the region. We must re-dedicate ourselves and support high creative nutrition to both attract AND retain the finest minds in the nation. We are well on our way in preserving our high creative nutrition thanks to the minds at play in the Triangle.

Its being supportive of your workers whatever doubts you may have and lifting each other up when we are down. Support also comes in form of open discussions in meeting again the idea of time being open ended needs to be addressed. We must value all experiences.

The risks we take and the many mistakes that I have made are result of some of these risks. I take risks everyday in my classes and I also fail miserable but I also have amazing success. What do I need to be a risk taker? Support from my collaborators even if they aren't sure of my work, but believe in my passion.

Yes, see exactly that’s exactly what it is Phillip. At first I was beginning to think I was the only one who saw it. But I digress. There is a tremendous risk in business. Its that risk that if all the right thing happen at all the right times, you can become like Trump. It’s also that thing where you can end up like Milton Hershel. Yes failing before we succeed. That one time that turns into many times, and numerous times before making it that 16th time. That 16th time, where everything goes right and you end up in a world where everyone is eating you delicious chocolate candy bars. It’s when we don’t give up and work hard where we are successful. Not giving in when there are all signs point that it can’t work. It’s finding that one time. It’s that one time, that one time where it becomes an idea in your head and a reality. Don’t give up, never give up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hqbNPb_JEo

See that right there? That’s creativity. The Hersey company used music and a very poplar movie the Night at the Museum to increase their brand market. Hershel did many marketing schemes just like this to hit his target audience or new audience’s years ago. Look at the company now. It has its own theme park. What other candy company can say that? Not that many that’s for sure. It’s quite ironic that he became big and famous. Hershel and his family were paid and ready to go on the Titanic. It’s interesting that what if he did board that voyage. Today we may not have Hershey chocolate candy. As a camper myself, it’s scary to think of a world where the chocolate in smores might not have been Hersey.

So in retrospect, it’s simple an easy, the greater the creative risks there are, the greater the rewards are. Sounds pretty sweet to me, how about you?

Starting your own business is, especially in the current economic climate, akin to buying $250, 000 worth of lottery tickets and hoping that one of those is the winner. Sadly, most new business owners end up losing their shirts. Taking risks and being bold with your marketing strategies is a must, but you must also try to tap into what services and goods will be “recession-proof". That seems to be what contributes to many new business owners’ downfalls. We all know what works—tobacco and liquor stores, beauty salons, auto repair shops (yadda, yadda, yadda), but why do so many people seem heck-bent (this is supposed to be a professional website, so I will refrain from profanity) on opening stores that don’t appeal to wants, needs or anything that is even remotely wanted or needed? Comic book stores? Vegan restaurants? High priced boutiques? The list of bad business ventures goes on…and on…and on… Feel free to start your own business. However, do your research first, and assess the market, or be prepared to lose your shirt.

Money isn’t everything. I mean sure, it can get you a fancy car, temporary respect, big houses. But it can’t buy one thing. Money can’t buy happiness, when chasing for money and finally getting it there still is an empty void inside.
I personally am dealing with this. I have all these creative ideas and thoughts. My own mother has cautioned me that my ideas might not work. But what I told her that caught her attention is “If I don’t do it, will I be happy? If taking a risk is what will make me happy, that’s what I’m going to do." It courage to be different with risks of being creative; it’s a risk that some put aside their fears and tackle on head first. The only way I can see the government encouraging certain levels of risk is by they themselves take a certain level of risk. For example when I went to Chicago last Easter, I was captivated by the beautiful designs and odd looking shapes in Millennium Park. Many came to see these giant figures such as the cloud gate aka the bean. When I came back and shared pictures with some of my friends, one of them told me something. Anish Kapoor the guy who created some of those amazing figures was asked to possibly do some figures in North Carolina but deals fell though and it won’t happen. Look at Chicago. Daily hundreds to thousands daily go to see these figures. On top of that there are musicians that come out and perform. Millennium Park is living proof that if you will build it they will come. Over the years where the more the added….ironically, more people come. Weird isn’t it? Millenium Park It’s simple and quite easy really. There is something the government or an employer can do to encourage others to take a risk, they themselves have to take a risk as well. The question should be how big of a risk is the government and employers willing to take?

I have always been surprised by the amount of risk-taking and innovation I have found in North Carolina, particularly in the Triangle area and the nearby universities. In fact, you could say the very existence of IEI itself demonstrates that a certain kind of creativity is alive and well in the State. I grew up in Maine and Connecticut and never got the same kind of feeling there, even in comparable university towns where one would expect innovation and creativity in great doses.

Florida's work on the creative class might inform this discussion. Urban areas do not, however, have a lock on fostering creativity and innovation. I note that there are those in rural areas who engage in managed risk with regularity: farmers. The good ones are often on the cutting edge in technology adoption (no-till, gps guided distribution of seeding/fertilizer, etc). To survive, these small, [often] family-owned businesses must innovate. Consistently innovative [family business] environments can effectively foster habits of creativity. In my generation of my farming family, we have an innovative educator, scientist, non-profit administrator, and community activist. We were raised to engage risk quite comfortably.

Creativity often flourishes in spite of place. Neither the deafening weight of high density urban life nor the conservatism of a country town can stop a creative person on a mission. However, creative collaboration involving many people and leading to innovation requires more fertile soil. If local governments and planning commissions in places like Charlotte and Raleigh would learn to allow creative places to develop - places where creative people meet and grow without risk of over-development or outside interests - then creativity in NC would prosper. Individuals would be more likely to find the resources to achieve their mission. I like the article by Chris Hitchens about how every city needs its Bohemian spots. See it here...

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/07/hitchens200807

In order to encourage greater risk taking, then we must also encourage a greater share of the rewards for those who take a risk. On a firm level, we can't expect employees to take risks and be creative if they are not encouraged to do so and are supported by management but also if they will not see greater reward for taking a risk and succeed. Both of these can be addressed within a structure of the firm. This means allowing for greater input on essential operation decisions and letting them reap the fruits of their labor. If that means encouraging profit sharing, true team-based processes, and losing some control at the top, then so be it. You cannot mandate creativity without support or reward.

I grew up in a New York City borough, lived in Manhattan for ten years, Boston for six, Tucson for three and now have been in Wilmington for 13 years, I have experienced a good cross-section of culture, city philosophy, and political landscapes. The setting where I had the strongest shared “sense of place” was Manhattan, so I would find it hard to argue that diversity or city size would be detrimental to the development of a shared sense of place. Planners may attempt to “build” a sense of place within a small neighborhood or downtown area, but it is largely the residents of a place that define its character.

North Carolina is conservative, and not just in its business ventures. Aversion to risk taking, acceptance of new angles or perspectives (even if successfully implemented in other places), and intolerance toward the unfamiliar are widespread in local and state agencies down to the simplest procedural or technological requests for change. Larger decisions continue to be routinely made behind closed doors, without any thought of resident input. Perhaps that’s what keeps me in North Carolina – its need for individuals who can utter something beyond the words yes sir. The dialogue is slowly changing, but creative thought continues to raise eyebrows more often than not.

I agree with Roland that a more diverse population will lead to a less risk-averse mindset. But what does a large, diverse population mean for building a strong sense of place? It seems to me that, in this case, the very thing that will support risk-taking may be a barrier to pushing the importance of place. Are there examples out there of big (and diverse) cities or regions that have a very grounded sense of place?

A certain level of passion seems to exist in all creative endeavors, but practically gets in the way of risk, which could have infinite rewards. Is there a way to mitigate this risk, so that those with a creative passion can try their hand at new business opportunities or dare to challenge the norm?

I think this is a real challenge for NC. The southeast, arguably, has a much more conservative (with a small "c") business culture where entrepreneurship is viewed with skepticism and failure is punished. However, in-migration in the urban areas that yields a much more diverse and, to be honest, a more cosmopolitan culture will help with this. The challenge for rural areas will remain acute..