“The Management of Creativity”, Managing the Creative Mind: A Business Elective

The immediate problem facing the authors was replacing someone with the background and stature of Joseph Abboud with an individual or, as it eventually worked out, four individuals with differing creative backgrounds and levels of success that would be of benefit to the students (in the spring 2006 semester the course was offered to undergraduate business students) enrolled in the course. Replacing Abboud proved to be not as difficult as the authors originally imagined. Within a period of three weeks, four individuals with diverse backgrounds in film, music, sports entertainment, and entrepreneurship were identified and agreed to take part in the newly redesigned course. In hindsight, these individuals created a dynamic new learning environment for the students enrolled in this course, one they could not have benefited from previously. It should be kept in mind that the purpose of the class was, and continues to be, to offer business students the opportunity to hear from successful individuals from various creative disciplines and to offer students opportunities to hear of the challenges they faced and continue to face with regard to financing and marketing their respective businesses and careers. It is not unusual for individuals with creative backgrounds to have little or any experience or knowledge of the challenges with regard to financing and marketing their ideas. This, once again, was the onus for the development and continuation of this class