I’d like to close this chapter with an essential caveat about persistence from Built to Last. Of all the paragraphs I’ve authored or co-authored in thirty years, this is one of the most essential for entrepreneurs and leaders of early-stage ventures, reproduced here as a reminder to keep firmly in mind as you build your company:

The builders of visionary companies were highly persistent, living to the motto: Never, never, never give up. But what to persist with? The company. Be prepared to kill, revise, or evolve an idea . . . but never give up on the company. If you equate the success of your company with the success of a specific idea—as many businesspeople do—then you’re more likely to give up on the company if that idea fails; and if that idea happens to succeed, you’re more likely to have an emotional love affair with that idea and stick with it too long, when the company should be moving vigorously on to other things. But if you see the ultimate creation as the company, not the execution of a specific idea . . . then you can persist beyond any specific idea—good or bad— and move toward becoming an enduring great institution.

Eight Management Techniques for Stimulating Creativity

We’ve spent most of this chapter describing the traits of companies that remain innovative. We’d now like to discuss things individual managers can do to stimulate creativity.

1. Encourage; Don’t Nitpick. Keep in mind that there’s no shortage of good, workable ideas, but that there’s a tremendous shortage of receptivity to ideas. Don’t be like one of those “wet blankets” that shot down the radio, the telephone, Federal Express, the personal computer, and NIKE shoes as “dumb ideas.”...

1. Be Not Judgmental. Harshly critical people destroy creativity and initiative. The fear of being criticized or being made to look and feel stupid is the biggest impediment to people experimenting, initiating, trying new things. The problem is not that people are inherently uncreative, it’s that people are afraid to be creative—afraid of being laughed at, ridiculed, personally attacked, or otherwise psychologically abused. It’s the deep-rooted fear we all carry around of the seventh-grade math teacher making an example of us in front of our peers. …

1. Help Shy People. Some good ideas never go anywhere because the people who have them are too shy to speak up. In fact, some of the best ideas come from quiet people. Quiet people tend to be excellent observers and thinkers; like cats, they’re watchful and attentive, and often intensely curious. Yet they’re also often fearful of voicing their ideas….

4. Stimulate Curiosity. Relentless curiosity, the pure desire to know things, to test them, to see if something will work, fosters creativity. The most creative people ask many questions; it’s as if they never outgrew that naive childlike desire to ask why. Create an environment where it’s ok to ask questions. Ask questions yourself—not critical questions (again, don’t be a wet blanket), but open ended questions in the spirit of inquiry. A favorite question of ours is, “What did you learn from that experience?”...

1. Create Necessity. Human beings have an amazing ability to innovate their way out of seemingly impossible situations. “Necessity,” as the cliché goes, “is the mother of invention.” But cliché or not, it’s true. In fact, many great ideas have emerged precisely because a company lacked the resources to do what it ideally would have liked…

6. Allow Time Away from the Fray. Certain highly creative individuals need solitary time to do their best thinking, time away, time to think in silence. Phil Knight, founder of NIKE, believes that people get their best ideas away from the office, at the beach, or running, which is one reason why NIKE has a wide ranging campus with running trails, tennis courts, basketball courts, weight rooms, and aerobics studios. Herman Miller lets its designers choose their venue for creativity—and some choose to do much of their work at home or somewhere else off-site. .. At Patagonia, the pattern-making group (part of the design department) has a little sign posted near its area: PLEASE OBSERVE QUIET TIME. Closed from 8:00 to 12:00.

1. Catalyze Group Problem Solving. “Quiet time” is not the whole story at Patagonia. In addition to letting people have quiet, solitary incubation and thinking time, it’s essential to capture the creativity of multiple minds thrashing about together. Brainstorming and other group activities produce extraordinary ideas.

Desks at Patagonia are jumbled together in large, open bullpen-style pits (called “Bangladesk”). People are expected to work closely with others—both spontaneously and scheduled—in coming up with new ideas and solutions to problems….

8. Require Fun. “As far as I’m concerned, the most important thing is having fun,” explains Ted Nierenberg, founder of Dansk International Designs. “If you’re not having fun in what you do, lock it up and try something else.”

We’re serious about fun. Fun leads to creativity. Ask people, “Are you having fun?” Ask yourself. Set enjoyment as an absolute requirement of work; if there’s no joy, there will be little creativity. Have you ever noticed that some of the most creative people are a lot like little kids? They like to play, and, to them, work is play.

This doesn’t preclude hard work. Creativity is hard work, but it should also be fun.

Systematic sloughing off of the old is the one and only way to force the new. There is no lack of ideas in any organization I know. “Creativity” is not our problem. But few organizations ever get going on their own good ideas. Everybody is much too busy on the tasks of yesterday. Putting all programs and activities regularly on trial for their lives and getting rid of those that cannot prove their productivity work wonders in stimulating creativity even in the most hidebound bureaucracy.

If you continue down the road you are on you will be counting on motivation to move the company forward. I cannot honestly recommend that as a way forward because business competition is not just a battle of strength and wills; it is also a competition over insights and competencies. My judgment is that motivation, by itself, will not give this company enough of an edge to achieve your goals.

Systematic sloughing off of the old is the one and only way to force the new. There is no lack of ideas in any organization I know. “Creativity” is not our problem. But few organizations ever get going on their own good ideas. Everybody is much too busy on the tasks of yesterday. Putting all programs and activities regularly on trial for their lives and getting rid of those that cannot prove their productivity work wonders in stimulating creativity even in the most hidebound bureaucracy.