Build company growth through creativity and freedom

Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.

“Be Water” is one of Bruce Lee’s most famous philosophical quotes from a 1971 interview that perfectly encapsulates the importance of freedom for a creative mind to perform at its most optimum. And it’s this optimization of creative thinking that has the strongest potential to unlock future growth as most industries continue to be challenged in 2023. 

We see this belief in the power of optimizing creative thinking from a recent Deloitte survey of 1,015 executives, which shows that creativity contributes to real growth and is an increasing business necessity as we continue responding to recent challenges.

In this survey, high-growth brand respondents (defined as those with annual revenue growth of at least 10%) are more likely to have the mindset and processes to allow creativity to flourish than their negative-growth peers. Not only are higher-growth brands seen as more likely to view creative ideas as essential to long-term success, they are also more likely to create an environment that supports creative thinking to ensure their high growth levels continue.

Restricting freedom in the workplace

So creativity drives growth, and freedom to create processes and environments to stimulate this thinking are key. Then why are we seeing some of the world’s seemingly most progressive and creative companies reversing their decisions to give employees freedom to work remotely? Why are they mandating strict return to work policies, directly challenging their ability to “be like water” and drive growth?  

Companies like Disney, in March under the returning Bob Iger, had its first full month of a 4-day week mandate. Apple, in the recent weeks, went one step further and now apparently tracks office attendance data to ensure that its 3-day a week mandate is strictly adhered to. These actions, even if presented as a need to promote creativity through collaboration, as Mr. Iger’s return to work memo suggests, absolutely rally against the notion of providing the right settings for creativity to flourish.

How Saatchi & Saatchi is promoting a creative environment for growth

At Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s most recognized creative industry brands where I am the CEO, we’ve been trying to learn from others to provide the right environment for creativity to flourish, and to give our company a competitive advantage.

We do not suggest having all the answers but we have been trialing a number of things that, from a business performance perspective, have had a positive effect. We have increased our new business growth by 3 times over the last 12 months, and in March were recognized as one of the top 10 most innovative companies in Europe by this very magazine. 

One trial is a work flexibility model we call “2+2+1.” It provides a guide for the work week, defined by the different project teams and the project requirements to be their most effective. The guide suggests two days in the office when collaboration is needed to create the most optimum results for the project, two days where the employee chooses to work based on their needs for deep work time to ensure those concentrated creative tasks can be delivered, and one day out in the real world, be it a coffee shop, art gallery, or public workspace. That ensures external stimulation away from home or the office to receive real-world creative stimulus. 

With the 2+2+1 approach, we have seen more balanced attendance over a working week driven by an optimization of collaboration within projects. That has resulted in the right connections at the right times, driving a deeper change in output. And, we have also seen more innovation within the company from deeper work days where employees can spend more time sharing content and ideas, or being out in the real world and bringing back inspiration and insights they have gained from their experiences.

We undertook a second trial, the creation of a squad-based system that split the company into four mini-companies by clients and projects. This ensured more concentrated leadership for working rhythm and creative output, giving more freedom in decision-making at the source, to enable greater speed and accountability.

From this, we have seen the next generation of leaders emerge who are taking stronger responsibility for their squads’ output, and in turn are having greater impact on the company and clients’ success. And we have also seen the emergence of healthy competition between the project teams as they create enhanced output that allows for stronger reputation building, both internally and externally.

We totally understand we are not operating at a scale of Disney or Apple. But we are seeing that a healthy respect for the individual and creating an environment that promotes more freedom in physical connection and mental accountability is starting to show a positive impact in the organization’s creative output and financial performance.  

So, in our own way, we are becoming believers in Bruce Lee’s philosophy as a way of creating freedom to optimize performance.

Chris Kay is the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, and the author of Reset Inc: A Handbook for the Future of Work.