1. New power, old power
Revolution, Evolution, or Extinction?
Anthony Painter, Director, Policy and Strategy, RSA

2. We had one conviction and one hypothesis:
-That creativity and the power the create were
fundamentally important to the future of
society.
-That creativity is stifled in our society, in its
institutions, organisations and culture.

3. So we did a survey on creativity and
segmented the responses into ‘tribes’…..
• The ‘confident creators’ who are adept at developing their knowledge, creativity and
social capital. 11 per cent of the population.
• The ‘held back’ are ambitious but feel that they need more support, a greater level of
learning and more confidence to make their hopes a reality. 20 per cent of the
population.
• The ‘safety firsters’. This group is least creatively minded and just want to get on with
things. 30 per cent of the population.

4. Creativity and our ‘tribes’

5. The‘held back’ areseeking themost support to maketheir creative
ideasareality.

6. Theevidenceisthat the‘held back’ arealready taking to digital technology to
improvetheir knowledgeand skillsbut they may beisolated…..

7. Life satisfaction and frustrated creativity

8. The changing organisational landscape
– the rise of new power
(see https://hbr.org/2014/12/understanding-new-power )

9. • We have traditionally asked staff to adopt corporate values and leave their own
values out of it.
• Gallup’s State of the Workplace study shows that only 13% of employees are
engaged in their jobs, while 63% are not engaged and 24% are actively disengaged.
• New forms of the corporation are emerging – The B Corporation movement
1. The purposeful organisation

10. • Hierarchies are threatened but resolute
• The ways in which we consume, contribute and participate are changing –
shifting patterns of supply and demand
• The rise of the collaborative organisation – Trader Joes, Cemex, Zappos
2. The collaborative organisation

11. • A creativity-sapping habit of management is ‘sorting’ – putting people in boxes
• The iron cage of bureaucracy resisting hard
• Business as usual is now on an uncertain and turbulent course – value has to be found
throughout the organisation
3. The open and diverse organisation

12. • Technology is not just a driver of change – it is the change.
• Ultra transparency and diminishing private space. We now live in an unmediated world
where anyone can create and share content with anyone. You can’t have different values
in private and in public.
• Open innovation platforms can harness internal and external talent – using the problem-
solving power of people
• We’re always on and we’re very demanding. Public values are shifting and technology
with it.
4. The borderless organisation

13. • But…….
• What proportion of any given organisation are ‘confident creators’?
• What about the ‘held back’ and ‘safety firsters’?
• Do we really think that ‘old power’ will simply be eclipsed? How do you run a hospital, or a police
force, or a finance department, or investor and public relations, or an airline, or a distribution
network on a purely ‘new power’ basis?
= > The challenge is this: how can you evolve towards a balance of new and old power, revolutionise
the creative potential of your organisation to avoid extinction?
And all this is great for the confident creators…

14. Evolving the right
new power-old power
balance

15. Well-being is about the right balance – same
for organisations
• What’s your mix of ‘confident creators’ who are more comfortable with new power,
‘held back’ who can better navigate new power with support, and ‘safety firsters’?
• The three powers: hierarchy, solidarity, individuality. Are they balanced in the right
way?
• What are their different needs and what can you do to maximise your organisational
creativity by meeting them?
• Where are your creativity blockers?

16. Predators and co-operators
• How well do your competitors blend new and old power?
• What are the ways of doing collectively what you have tried to do yourself previously?
• How can your users, stakeholders, and customers become part of your organisational
creativity?

17. Lighting the fire
• What’s your real motivating purpose?
• What can really inspire all who engage with you?
• How can you engender a sense of ownership and purpose?
• The why matters.

18. • Over to you….
• @anthonypainter
• More on the creativity tribes in ‘The New Digital Learning Age’