ePrize Exec Says Creativity Key to Detroit's Future
date: February 18, 2011
SOURCE:The Detroit News
Tim Devaney / The Detroit News
The key for Metro Detroit to regain prosperity is to foster
innovation and creativity — something many companies tend to water down,
a local digital marketing executive told the Detroit Economic Club on
Thursday.
"This is our moment to get creative, and this is our
chance to change the world," said Josh Linkner, the founder and chairman
of ePrize LLC, who has founded other start-ups including Detroit
Venture Partners with Quicken Loans Inc. Chairman Dan Gilbert.
"The big problem is that creativity is on
the decline," said Linkner, whose interactive promotions company is
based in Pleasant Ridge. Group think — seeking consensus at the cost of
considering alternatives — discourages innovation, he said.
Many companies have the same problem, Linkner said. An employee
suggests a brilliant idea, but by the time it gets through the legal
department and logisitics team, it's not the same, he said.
"In most companies, we water down ideas," he said. "We have all these imaginary barriers that hold us back."
Linkner
has a point, but the United States still maintains an innovation edge
over other countries, said Scott Watkins, a senior consultant with the
Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing.
American workers remain
far more creative than others, which explains why America remains a
center for design and innovation, while a lot of manufacturing has moved
overseas, he said.
"Our workforce remains creative," Watkins
said. "But there is a question whether our education system is failing
to develop the creative minds of young students."
Linkner seems
to agree on education, citing a study that shows 98 percent of students
go into school believing they are creative, but only 2 percent graduate
with the same sentiment.
Linkner admitted that even ePrize, with an average employee age of 28, can make mistakes. When ePrize won an account with UPS, the Pleasant Ridge firm sent marketing materials to the mail delivery company through rival FedEx.
"That was someone failing to be creative," he said.
But
Linkner cautioned that people learn more from their mistakes than
successes. "Sometimes failure is an amazing teacher," he added.
He
highlighted a software company that encourages innovation by giving its
employees two get-out-of-jail-free cards that can be used when their
ideas don't pan out.
"You think that company comes up with great ideas?" he asked. "You bet they do."
A key is for companies and employees to learn to take risks, Linkner said.
A
2008 study from Harvard University shows that 85 percent of creativity
is learned behavior, Linkner noted, so there is still hope to turn the
workplace culture around.
"To me, playing it safe is the riskiest thing you can do," he said. "Creativity and innovation are forcing us all to rethink how we do business."