A creative revolution requires shaping your team with an "inside person" and an "outside person." The inside person has operational know-how and tactical skills, and the outside person embodies the company vision and mission, has strategic thinking skills and can serve as the company's public face.

Think about the team you are surrounding yourself with, and think about what you are very good at, though you probably hate to admit it. To the extent you can find other people to contribute strengths that complement your own, you can start pushing your store or company to loftier goals.

In the retail ranks, consider Sharon Culbertson at Blessings Christian Bookstore in Harrisonburg, Va., who courageously started her store in a 1,000-square-foot facility without a finished ceiling or walls. Blessings now occupies 3,000 square feet of space in downtown Harrisonburg in one of the most upscale facilities in the state.

Individuals like Sharon are able to turn on the lights in both sides of her head-the emotional/artsy/musical right side and the logic, dexterity and processing data of the left-combining art and science. With proper funding, great merchandising and an understanding of market needs, she knew she would find success.

A revolution will take both sides of your brain-after all, you wouldn't drive with just one headlight, would you?

In many manufacturing companies and stores, adhering to rules is required unless truly unusual circumstances take hold. For instance, in the Federal Aviation Administration, an air traffic controller may break the rules only in dire emergency.

Unfortunately, people follow rules without understanding how detrimental that may be. Self-help books have created a formulaic approach to success but in the process have eliminated free thinking. Is marketing really limited to 22 immutable laws or retailing to seven irrefutable rules, or how about six ways to write a sympathy card?

How does it become OK to start breaking the rules and taking some risks? At our company, we have adapted a marketing pyramid from an old friend, Lynn Dolan. The bottom layer of the pyramid is core business, constituting 35% of the business. The second is emerging business, for another 35%, and the apex, with a 30% share of our focus, is pegged as innovative. This forces our entire organization to be breaking the rules with 30% of the product line.

Can you accept that taking risks and making what might be called "miss-takes" may lead to greater growth and personal satisfaction? Can you bravely build a high-level performance team who can revolutionize a product, a store or even a community of seekers and believers?

Moving forward, consider taking on a new mantra about how miss-takes are viewed:
1. When someone makes a miss-take, admit it.
2. Learn from it as a team.
3. Assess and identify what went wrong.
4. Build a plan to ensure that the miss-take is used as a stepping stone to longer-term success.
5. Don't cast any blame.
6. Make ideas your new currency in the company.

How will you begin to change the ethos of your organization today, allowing yourselves to become risk-takers?

Rick Tocquigny

CEO

Artbeat of America

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