Press Room
Panel: Building a Culture of Creativity
Presented by FORTUNE, moderated by FORTUNE’s Anne Fisher
The first panel discussion of the day was organized around FORTUNE Magazine’s “Best Companies to Work For” list. Each company represented on the panel appeared on the 2007 edition of that list and panelists offered thoughtful insights into how they approach creating and maintaining a creative work environment at their companies.
Sarah St. Clair of Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) led off with the importance of values at BAH and how she keeps in touch with employee perception of those values through regular surveys.
Rob Keeling of Capital One spoke about the challenge of maintaining value and creativity at an organization that grew from 2,500 to more than 12,000 employees in the last 12 years. Creative works spaces and feedback from associates were key in successfully managing that challenge at Cap One.
William Albright of MITRE also pointed to surveys and employee communication, adding that his particular challenge was to stem a high attrition rate, something MITRE accomplished through a focus on work/life balance and increasing flexibility.
Following their introductions, moderator Anne Fisher asked each panelist to choose one piece of advice for the audience on how to foster creativity at work.
St. Clair suggested a willingness to share ideas and imagine possibilities without fear.
Keeling echoed St. Clair by suggesting that trust was necessary for creativity to breathe freely in an organization.
Albright added that communication, especially surveys that give you a pulse for the organization as a whole, fosters creativity.
The panel concluded by answering enthusiastic questions from the floor, such as how to apply an ROI model to creativity and how to balance productivity and creativity.
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Top: Anne Fisher; Bottom, left to right: Sarah St. Clair, Rob Keeling and William Albright. All photos by Kaveh Sardari. These and many other high-resolution images from the National Conference on the Creative Economy may be viewed and purchased from www.sardari.com.
