Japanese premier Shinzo Abe’s criticism of innovative behaviour among firms in his own land has thrown a spotlight back on to how companies can best harness and exploit the creative spirit. In their recent book Brick by Brick, authors David C Robertson and Bill Breen explained how toy manufacturer Lego the company pulled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy to become the kind of brand that is to toys what Apple is to technology.
One of the firm’s key strategies was to plug into diversity in all its forms, to energise creativity and make innovation a more natural, organic process – a talent that the company would, in time, stake its reputation on.
