MESSAGE FOR WEEK BEGINNING 28th May 2001

..a need for change and new thinking

Many, many years ago I was asked to give a talk on creativity to the seventy top management at Nokia in Finland. Nokia has emerged as the world leader in mobile phones and is making profits while several others are losing money. I have no way of claiming that my talk set the baseline for innovative thinking. I would rather claim that inviting me to give the talk was a 'symptom' of a management that knew the importance of change and creativity.

A few years ago I started doing some work with Siemens which is, of course, the largest corporation in Europe. Since then the share price has doubled. Once again, I could hardly claim credit for that - even if there is some contribution. Once again, I think that I was a symptom of a management that was looking for new thinking. There are not many ways in which management can signal to executives that there is a need for change and new thinking.

Complacency is comfortable and apparently risk free.

Edward de Bono nmt
27th May 2001
London