In today’s New York Times, author Susan Cain has penned an op-ed called “The Rise of the New Groupthink.” In it, she highlights research that strongly suggests that despite all the corporate hype about the importance of groupthink and collaboration, “people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.”

In her upcoming book, QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Cain builds on this assertion by citing numerous cases where introversion is responsible for creativity and innovation. For example, she points to well-known introvert and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who as she puts it, “toiled alone on a beloved invention, the personal computer.”

Cain does not totally dismiss teamwork. She notes its important place in the overall corporate process of exchanging ideas, managing information and building trust. Yet, she’s less sympathetic towards so-called “brainstorming sessions,” which she describes as “one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity.”

I agree with Cain on many levels. As I have written here in numerous blog postings over the last three years, creativity should be nurtured in the individual, and that each person’s trigger or button for creativity is different and should be highly valued.

For example, in my blog post, “Find Your Creative Place,” from April 26, 2009, I note the importance of finding that place and state of mind where you feel you are at your most creative and productive. “It may be a bench in your favorite park, a special nook or room in your house or spot in your yard, a quiet desk at a library, a small bistro table in a busy Starbucks, or a spot at work where no one can interrupt you.”

And I called on businesses to provide for a culture that encourages employees to take advantage of their most creative places to do their work, of course, within the boundaries of practicality.

I’ve also written numerous times on this blog about the powers of teleworking, and allowing certain employees, where possible, to work from home or from some other location where they could be more creative and productive.

Like Cain, I agree that a focus on greater private time and individualization is not a call for employee isolation. There still can be plenty of opportunity during the work day or during the week for team members to assemble in face-to-face groups, teleconference and video conference.

In the end, corporations have the power to spur increased creativity within their ranks by focusing attention and programs not just on the extroverts, but also those introverts who may very well be the source of your company’s next best product or service.

To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the #slings and #arrows of outrageous fortune…

Speaking of fortune, most every Fortune 500 company in America has jumped into the social media fray over the past year, whether it’s a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, or both.

Facebook and Twitter have undoubtedly given companies new ways to get the message out beyond the traditional press release, corporate website, or a corporate blog for that matter. The challenge, of course, is not saying something — but actually saying something meaningful.

Whether it’s a short Facebook status update or a very short 140-character-limited Twitter post, knowing what to say and how to leverage this new medium has corporate executives scrambling to find value.

Corporate leaders are also wrestling with the individual vs. business nature of social media. Twitter by design is the short muttering of an individual, even when it’s in the name of an organization.

Since its inception, individuals have flocked to the Twitter platform to chronicle important events such as: “Just had a great bowl of chili,” or “Sitting on tarmac at JFK already hating person in 24B sitting next to me.” Not quite the makings of Pulitzer prize-winning material.

Then comes along a CEO or the SVP for Communication or a Business unit head, and a new Twitter account set up to drive corporate messaging, and it quickly goes from the personal mundane to corporate tripe.

Yet, with all its warts, I still think this new medium has something to offer and should be taken seriously.

Throughout our nation’s history, business enterprises have sought to leverage each new wave of communication innovation, including the printing press, radio, television, and the Internet. And at each juncture, trial and error has eventually given way to a valuable return on investment.

For example, as recently as ten years ago, many traditional brick and mortar stores struggled to find value in an online presence. And today, many of them are leveraging the Internet not simply as a supplement to their bottom lines, but as a huge driver for their bottom lines and highly cost-effective way to reach target customers, e.g., Walmart.com.

Ten years from today, the same will be said for the micro-blogs. Already, Twitter and Facebook have literally helped change the geopolitical landscape in countries such as Egypt, where these new forms of communication have played a leading role in spreading ideas, actions, and change.

I’m betting these technologies will also soon lead to innovative business practices and the next generation of successful enterprises and corporate leaders, who will find smart ways to leverage their potential.

That will be something worth tweeting about.

September marks the beginning of school for students around the globe. Some schools started in August, while others get underway this coming week.

Nothing says “fresh start” like the first day of school. The slate is clean. The grade book is empty. And no classes have been missed. In short, the opportunity to succeed will be never be greater.

Likewise in business, September can represent a new day and “back-to-school” opportunity.

Start with your employees. If you’re like most companies, you will not be adding headcount this coming year. Therefore, it’s important that you literally make the most of what you have.

Treat your employees as your company’s most important asset, and they will return the favor. Invest in high-value training for your employees. Use September and the months that following as an opportunity to hone your employees’ skills.

Second only to a raise or promotion, providing an employee with effective training sends the most important message you can send: we value your contribution to the company and we want you to stay and grow. Most important, training can make a so-so employee good, and a good employee even better.

So use September as a fresh start for your company, and take your employees back to school with an innovative training program. I’m betting it will lead to a better grade for your company.

British painter and portrait artist Lucian Michael Freud died last week in London at the age of 88.

Not as famous as his grandfather, Sigmund Freud, Lucian was well-known nonetheless in the world of art for his “stark and revealing paintings of friends and intimates,” according to the New York Times.

Lucian Freud was born in Berlin on December 8, 1922 to Sigmund Freud’s youngest son, Ernst Ludwig Freud, who was an Austrian architect. Lucian’s mother, Lucie née Brasch, was German. As both parents were Jewish, the Freuds moved their family to the St. John’s Wood district of London in 1933 to escape Nazi Germany.

I know St. John’s Wood well and have walked down many of its streets given my grandfather lived in that district for many years. I also know the work of Lucian Freud and have always respected it for its thought-provoking nature. His earlier Surrealism works gave way to bluntly-presented nude portraitures by the 1950s, which served to shock the senses. For example, his “Naked Man with Rat” (1977-1978) depicted a man lying on a couch holding a sleeping rat.

The central figures of Freud’s paintings many times appear tired, aged, and distressed – which has unnerved some observers over the years, particularly in the United States. Yet, no matter what one thinks of Freud’s work, there is an undisputed market for it. In May 2008, his 1995 portrait “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” sold at auction by Christie’s in New York City for $33.6 million, which set a record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.

Conformity is the enemy to both the artist and the innovator. Corporations are generally expert at promoting conformity, but seldom proficient in providing for a culture that promotes creative thought and action. And they do so at their peril.

The next time you find yourself trying to conform, ask this question: “What would Freud do?” No, not the father of psychoanalysis, but his grandson.

Inventor and entrepreneur, George C. Ballas, Sr. of Houston, TX, died this past week at the age of 85. You may not know his name, but you know his most popular invention – the Weed Eater.

His weed trimming device helped revolutionize lawn care in the 1970s. Ballas first introduced the product in the early 1970s, and by 1976, “he was selling $40 million worth of them annually,” according to the Associated Press. In 1977, he sold the company to the Emerson Electric Company for an undisclosed amount.

Eager to find a way to more quickly trim his three-acre yard, Ballas got the idea for the Weed Eater while sitting in an automatic car wash as he watched the large rotary bristles clean his car. His first version used wire attached to a popcorn can, which was then rigged to a rotary edger. He then worked with an engineer to substitute monofilament line as the lightweight and inexpensive cutting material. Ballas held several patents on the machine.

George Ballas also invented an adjustable table and marketed an early portable phone, but inventing was not his day job. Ballas was a professional dancer who owned and ran several Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire dance studios in the 1960s. He served as President of Fred Astaire Studios from 1960 to 1964. After getting out the service, he married a dancer instructor, Maria Louis Marulanda, who taught Ballas the tango. The couple later performed together.

His son, Corky Ballas, also became a professional dancer, as well as his grandson, Mark Ballas, who has appeared on seven seasons of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Mark Ballas partnered with Bristol Palin in Season 11.

You never know where creativity and ingenuity may come from or where it may take you. How many great ideas, like the Weed Eater, never made it to the production table because of lack of confidence, encouragement, or risk-taking?

The same holds true for creativity and innovation within a company. Make sure your corporate culture embraces the George Ballases within your ranks, even when their ideas may not fit neatly in their day jobs.

It could very well lead to a new patent for your company, an improved service, or a new dance move that’s bound to impress the judges (a.k.a. shareholders).

In Businessweek’s November 24, 2010 story, “What’s in Amazon’s Box? Instant Gratification,” BW reporter, Brad Stone, writes that “Amazon Prime may be the most ingenious and effective customer loyalty program in all of e-commerce, if not retail in general.”

For an annual fee of $79, Amazon.com customers can get free two-day guaranteed delivery on any product it sells. Customers who sign up for the Prime program tend to increase their purchases on Amazon. One customer cited by Stone increased her Amazon buying from 82 items in 2009 to 150 items in 2010 as a result of the Prime program. Even if she finds an item on a competitor’s web site, she’ll come back to Amazon to purchase it so she gets the free delivery.

Analysts point to the Prime program as one of the main factors for Amazon’s 30 percent increase in sales during the recession, while other retailers suffered. That’s why competitors like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target have recently followed suit with their own free shipping promotions.

So you’re probably thinking that it was some high-priced management or marketing consulting firm, which helped Amazon come up with its best-in-class loyalty program. Au contraire.

In fact, it was Amazon software engineer, Charlie Ward, who first cooked up the free shipping idea via an internal web-based corporate suggestion box. Credit then goes to CEO Jeffrey Bezos and Amazon board member, Bing Gordon, for taking the idea and running with it.

In numerous blog posts over the last two years, we have made the point here at New Lantern that a company’s own employees are its single best resource. Your employees possess the talent and creativity that could in fact lead to your organization’s next blockbuster product or service.

I bet there are dozens of Charlie Wards who sit in your company at this very moment. And most likely, they are getting paid for doing a specific task, like writing software code, but are given no incentive for thinking up creative approaches that fall either inside or outside their bailiwicks.

This is an opportunity lost indeed. You owe it to your shareholders to leverage every bit of talent and creativity that exists within your company. Promote creativity and innovation across every part of the company, and at every level.

Incentivize your employees to not only think outside the box, but to forget there is a box in the first place. And seek to identify and nurture these talents via innovative training and other cost-effective, cutting-edge methods.

In doing so, I predict you’ll soon create a shareholder loyalty program that will be second to none.