In an era of technological upheaval and declining global growth rates, organizations need to harness the power of imagination in business.
Most leaders agree that imagination in business is crucial for success. But they struggle to cultivate this capability.
Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller have demystified this curious, transformational capacity in the BCG Henderson Institute’s new book, The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company’s Future.
In their view, imagination gives companies the ability to see and create valuable possibilities that do not yet exist—and to build new businesses around them.
Martin Reeves
Every great company was founded on an act of imagination—an idea that went against conventional wisdom at the time. But many companies have lost the ability to imagine. How can organizations reignite imagination and keep it alive systematically?
The BCG Henderson Institute has developed a survey to assess organizations’ capacity for imagination. Answer just seven questions to discover whether your organization is imaginative and has the capability to move from imagination to innovation.
If you did not rate your organization highly, you are not alone. Fewer than one-third of respondents are confident of their organizations’ ability to harness imagination.
Recovering from Crisis
Learn how to build resilience systematically
Reimagining Work
Combine the best of human and machine cognition
Discovering New Paths to Growth
Engage in innovation strategy, product innovation, and business model innovation
Thriving amid Disruption
Equip leaders and employees with the inspiration, tools, and agency to move from imagination to innovation
Tackling Environmental and Societal Challenges
Develop new and sustainable approaches
Responding to Fast-Changing Business Environments
Anticipate and capitalize on new opportunities through reimagination, reinvention, and rejuvenation
Explore an immersive virtual gallery celebrating founding acts of imagination by business leaders and inventors like Leonardo Da Vinci, Alexander Graham Bell, Walt Disney, Erno Rubik, and others. Let the messiness of their early-stage thinking and subsequent dedication to working their ideas serve as inspiration for innovation in business.
How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company’s Future
By Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller
To thrive in today's competitive economy, you need to constantly reimagine your business. This TED Talk with BCG's Martin Reeves utilizes a series of imagination games, making a pitch for embracing play to spark innovative ideas.
BCG’s Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller emphasize the importance of imagination to seizing and creating opportunities in tough times. “With imagination,” they say, “we can do better than merely adapting to a new environment—we can thrive by shaping it.”
Big businesses often struggle to make use of imagination. But there are ways to cultivate imaginative capacity without relying on chance, intuition, or mechanistic processes.
Games can get us out of our ruts and give us permission to think about what could be, not just what is. Here are some you can use as the prelude to—or even instead of—a formal strategy process.
When we play, we improvise, imagine, and inspire—all of which are good for business. Here’s how to add playfulness to business strategy.
Creativity is too important to be left in the sandbox. It belongs in the boardroom. Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, explains how to bring it there.
Founder and CEO of Casati Health, BCG Alumnus
New York
