Peter Drucker’s quote (roughly paraphrased) is the guiding light of my business.

“Innovation and Marketing are the only two things that create value for the enterprise. Everything else is a cost center.”

I’m not worried about losing sight of the value of marketing (after all, it is built into the name of the company), but I think innovation requires disciplined commitment as well and that is a bigger challenge.

One of the exercises that I have baked into the DNA of the company is a semi-annual “art-oriented field seminar” where I go to an art gallery/museum and use Harvard’s Artful Thinking palette to help exercise the “whole mind” that Dan Pink (client) discusses in his book ““A Whole New Mind.”

And, since I’m a social guy by nature (and following up on the success of NSM Field Seminar 1), I like to invite my friends to join me.

Four of them joined me recently at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria to get a mental workout.

In 90 minutes, we tackled two intriguing pieces of art, one called “Escape Artist” and one called Beehive #7 by Sheep Jones. We analyzed, debated, and discussed a whole range of options. The discussion, which we tied back to our day-to-day business lives helped us challenge some of the assumptions which may (unknowingly) inject themselves into the way we handle our client relationships.

Right or wrong…doesn’t matter. ROI on this activity? Who knows and hard to quantify.

This is one of the inherent challenges of the Drucker maxim…the two things which are so critical to growth/profitability are difficult to quantify until after the fact.

Opportunity cost of taking the time to step away from the business? Yeah, that can be quantified. That’s why it’s so difficult to do it.

But, you have to and Ron, at least, thought it was worth it ;-)

Lesson: You don’t have to go to the art gallery, but you MUST bake some “free thinking/innovation” exercises into the operating model of your business…and your life.

Bonus footage: Sheep Jones explains her art work.