John Doe

"I teach an elective course called Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Organizations, in which I help students understand what creativity is and how they can keep it alive within themselves. I also help them understand the enormous impact they can have as business owners and managers in shaping the environment for creativity within their own organizations. Their actions can dramatically influence whether creativity is nurtured or thwarted.

My own research has found that managers tend to kill creativity, however unintentionally, in the course of maintaining control over an organization and managing its processes. The misuse of things like evaluations, surveillance, competition, and reward systems can undermine people's creativity primarily by undermining their motivation. So we talk in the course about what motivation is, what kind of motivation is most conducive to creativity, and what kind of organizational environment can foster that motivation. We also discuss how you can shepherd creative ideas along so that they actually end up as successful innovations.

Part of the coursework involves studying creative people in a variety of disciplines, including business, the arts, and the sciences. We also explore the creativity involved in starting a company, building a company, and keeping it successful. One of the things I stress to students is that implementing your business idea is often as creative a process as coming up with the original idea.

The methodologies I discuss apply as much to managing startups as to managing well-established firms. So what's exciting is that the course draws a wide variety of students, from those thinking of starting their own business, to those who want to go into advertising, marketing, or the entertainment field, to those interested in research and development or general operations and management.

I'm so impressed not only by UB students' intelligence but by the intense passion they bring to the classroom. What's particularly rewarding is keeping in touch with students, hearing how they're using concepts learned in the course at their jobs. We on the UB faculty really enjoy these ongoing relationships."

Back to Faculty Profiles