The (Messy) Heart of Creation

"Invention is by its very nature a disorderly process... You can't put a Six Sigma process into that area and say, well, I'm getting behind on invention, so I'm going to schedule myself for three good ideas on Wednesday and two on Friday. That's not how creativity works…

"You cannot create in that atmosphere of confinement or sameness. Perhaps one of the mistakes that we made as a company – it's one of the dangers of Six Sigma – is that when you value sameness more than you value creativity, I think you potentially undermine the heart and soul of a company like 3M."

(George Buckley, CEO of 3M, in “At 3M, A Struggle Between Efficiency and Creativity: How CEO George Buckley is Managing the Yin and Yang of Discipline and Imagination,” by Brian Hindo. Business Week: June 11, 2007. Iss. 4038; pg. 8)