An Innovation Blizzard hits the U.S.?

As a blizzard swirls outside my window here in Chicago, I wanted to reflect on Obama's State of the Union speech last week, during which he unleashed his own storm for innovation. "The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation," he hailed. Speaking of our response to Sputnik a generation ago, he said, "We didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs." He summarized his theme of "winning the future" through innovation in his weekly address video (below or click here if you don't see the video) by "out-innovating, out-educating and out-building our competitors."

Now, I'm not a big fan of "we must win" (and others must be crushed in defeat) language that is quite popular in business world these days, but it's good to see Obama thunder about innovation, which he hasn't dramatically done since 2009. This innovation imperative is exactly what has to be center stage right now. And because innovation does not just come from tax breaks or federal investment--but creativity throughout a culture--I particularly enjoy him saying, "What America does better than anyone else is spark the creativity and imagination of our people."


But is it true? Are we the best at sparking the creativity and imagination of our people today? Anand Giridharadas, whose book India Calling examines emerging India, recently made the point that America's culture, compared to India, is more destructive than creative:

When we talk about India and China in this country, we talk about an economic threat….[but] I think the real thing America needs to think about is that these countries pose a challenge of culture and spirit”…Here in America “we are all pulling each other down, we’re creating a culture of destruction…India and China, for all of the work that lies ahead for them, are starting to create cultures of hope and cultures of creation, where there is a consensus on saying, ‘How do we create something extraordinary’; we need to be worried not about an economic threat but the threat of that spirit in about two and half billion people.”

He may have a point, but there are plenty of ways that we can nurture a more creative spirit, and Obama's leadership can make a difference, in both business and education. But we also need new leaders to emerge, and a few fascinating signs have recently surfaced from members of our creative industries--those advertising, marketing and branding innovators who could play a greater role in raising the creative IQ of the nation. February's Harper's magazine challenged advertising leaders to reinvent Uncle Sam's debilitating reputation by creating a Superbowl-style ad campaign. How could we reframe government in a way that would inspire possibilities and positive change? Pick up a copy (or creatively scour the Internet) and see what they came up with. And check out this new initiative called No Right Brain Left Behind, supported by leaders in creative fields, to foster more creativity in education. No Right Brain Left Behind describes itself as "a speed innovation challenge, calling on the creative industries to concept ideas that can help the creativity crisis happening in U.S. schools today." Can't wait to see what they come up with.