While we sometimes think of creativity as the product of a lone artist in a loft or an inventor in a garage, commercial creativity often requires coordinating the efforts of many creative individuals. In a presentation to Jerry Wind’s Wharton MBA course on creativity, Ralph Koster, game creator and former Chief Creative Officer of Sony Online Entertainment, discussed how he leads creative teams.
Koster was a pioneer of video game design, starting with the primitive game Pong, and helping to create games and virtual worlds such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. He discussed how he led creative teams through the complex process of creating a new video game, which can involve as many as 300 people and a budget of $12 to $20 million. Unlike a Hollywood film where one can gauge the quality of the outcome from the quality of the initial screenplay, the interactive nature of video games means that success may only be apparent after the game is created.
The manager of creative people often serves as the interface between them and the world. Think about the role of Beatle’s manager Brian Epstein, who discovered the Fab Four and helped guide them to stardom. “That is the person who puts up with and conceals from everyone else the quirks of the creative talent,” said Koster.
While individual genius may be, in Edison’s words, 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, managing creative people depends much more on inspiration. “Leading creative people is all about inspiring them,” Koster said. “If they are not excited about what they are working on, they will do professional but uninspired work.” There is a delicate balance between providing direction and constraints to spur the best work without dampening and stifling creativity.
Creative work comes from building and managing diverse teams. “People think creativity comes out of the blue, but that’s a lie,” Koster said. “That is propaganda put out by the creators. Creativity generally arises from the intersection of different disciplines, peanut butter meeting chocolate.” Creating such diverse and challenging creative teams is a challenge. Managers not only need to assure that they have the right portfolio of skills but also that all the employees are compatible with the culture and organization. Most of the time, this means that managers have to hire people smarter than themselves. Koster, like many creative managers, started his career as a creator and then made the leap to leadership. Koster now works on virtual worlds, and composes music and poetry in his spare time (for more on his recent work, see his website). “If you lead a multidisciplinary team, you are going to be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none,” he said.
- Robert Gunther
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