Hey, CEO ... Do you know how to dress?
A few weeks back, Business Week did an article that caught my
eye. Where MBAs Learn The Art Of Blue-Skying. For the longest
time, High Tech has produced entrepreneurs and CEOs who are, for
the most part, nerds. Fairly unidimensional, Silicon Valley is
not known for its taste. It is known for its amazing talent in
figuring out Physics and Electronics. BUT.
The BUT factor is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs has taste. Pretty
exquisite taste. The staircase at the office of NeXT Computer
(that salvaged Apple, eventually) was designed by I.M. Pei, one
of the most fundamental thinkers in the history of architecture.
And hence, it is no surprise that Steve Jobs is the one who
comes up with the iPod, or, for that matter, the NeXT computer.
(When I was in college, there was a "shrine" for a single NeXT
machine in the Computer Science department at Smith College.)
NeXT was a slick black animal, panther-like, precise, crisp. All
those words that evoke imagery of salivating women. To me, the
design of NeXT was like Pugliese, one of the greatest maestros
of Argentine Tango musica.
"If you are looking for a business school that teaches you how
to think creatively, design new products and services, manage
your innovations through a corporate bureaucracy, or present
them to outside angel investors, Fontaine-bleau, France-based
Insead, the leading European B-school, just outside Paris, may
be just the place. Insead has joined with the Art Center College
of Design in Pasadena, Calif., to offer a joint program that
teaches the role of creativity in business decisions, how
innovation really works, and why design may be as important to
corporate management today as Six Sigma was in the '90s. A Swiss
trustee who sits on both boards brought them together." Reports
Business week.
I am delighted. The marriage of business savvy with design and
creativity, is an essential element going forward. For example,
I am terribly frustrated that the Toyota Prius has not been able
to come up with a better design. The world's top-selling Hybrid
car is an ugly piece of Industrial Design.
Of course, it would be great if the fashion business learned
some business, too! It would at least help them in staying ...
well ... alive?