Creativity: Does It Pay?

www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com

1. Creativity is the raw fuel of innovation. It alone does not give the intended end benefit, which is economic benefits. Like any raw fuel, it needs to be burnt for energy to burst. Creativity needs to be digested into manifestation that make possible economic transaction. So we will need the left brains to work with the right. The former are business people and the latter, artists.

2. The science of making money has never worked on chaotic approach. It has been proven by many that when you reduce transactions into set parameters, it produces profits. This is why humankind invented systems such as Bourse, Currency Exchange, Book Keeping, Valuation, SWOT analysis and many more. Now creativity on the other hand will only produce its best results when there is freedom. Freedom means no restrictive boundaries. This means chaos.

3. In the Venture Capitalist fraternity, a famous term is used to describe how ideas meet its fate, i.e. demise or alive. The term is "The Valley of Death". What it means is that, when there is a good idea, i.e. creativity, it will die a natural death if there is no capital to nurture it. When a Venture Capital pumps in money, the ideas materialise, giving rise to economic undertaking. This, again, demonstrates the inability for creativity alone to pay.

4. In the Malaysian film industry we have seen many examples of how a creatively awesome film wins awards for its artistic value but does not make money. On the other hand, films that appeal to simple minds make money. Some of you may know a great film director, the late Yasmin Ahmad, who produced fantastic movies but did not make money out of it. She won awards. On the other hand we have movies on hantus, gangsters and love stories getting mega box office collection.

5. Going back to the Venture Capitalist theory, most Venture Capitalists would rank Management Competency as higher ranking than Strength of Idea Creativity. For them, it is better to have a tip top management with average product rather than an awesome idea with average management team. If the source of capital is believing this, no wonder creativity alone does not pay.

6. I have experimented this notion of "creativity does not pay" myself. Apart from managing 4 linear TV stations, 1 MCN, 1 TV shopping and 1 OTT chanel, I am also a part time visual artists. When I paint on canvas what my creativity instincts manifest, I will produce what I believe to be a creative work. However, those works take ages to find buyers. Whereas, when I paint a typical painting that does not have any story telling to it with no uniqueness given the repetitiveness of the style, I can sell easily. It is indeed an unfair world - Creativity does not pay - accept the reality.

7. Lastly, I would like to quote a quotation from a very famous Kelantanese Chinese international fashion icon, Dato' Zang Toi, who said, "To be successful in the fashion business, you only need 10% artistic values. The remaining 90% is all business acumen". Now I don't think any of my opposition panelists has got the credibility to proof Dato' Zang Toi wrong because they have not tested the notion like how Dato' Zang Toi had.

* kopihangtuah

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