From my window of my New York City apartment in the Chelsea-Flatiron area, I can see 5 of the 31 naked sculptures that make up the unique Event Horizon outdoor art exhibit in Madison Square Park.

Event Horizon opened on March 26 and runs through August 15. It has already caused quite a stir around New York, but causing a stir is nothing new for 59-year-old British sculptor Antony Gormley.

All 31 life-size sculptures are of the same male figure – made from a cast of the 6 foot, 2 inch artist himself. Only four figures are on the ground in the Madison Square Park area. The remaining 27 sculptures are literally framed against the sky, many of them perched on top of the historic buildings that encircle the storied park.

A few sculptures are several blocks away, and one is as far as 8 blocks away standing on a ledge at the 26th floor of the famed Empire State Building, which Gormley referred to as “the exclamation point” in a New York Times article before the exhibit opened.

According to that same article, the New York City Police Department actually felt the need to preemptively issue a statement that reassured the public that the figures were sculptures and not people on the verge of committing suicide. But that is far from the effect that Gormley is looking for from observers. He’s hoping they will see these simple figures in a different way given their uncommon positions in the cityscape.

Provoking viewers to look at ordinary objects in a different way is pure Gormley. He exhibited his figures in London in 2007 atop buildings and bridges, and thought “it was great to see an individual or groups of people pointing at the horizon,” according to eventhorizonnewyork.org.

As remarkable as the Event Horizon exhibition is itself, the fact that Madison Square Park is the setting for the exhibition is even more remarkable. As recently as 10 years ago the Park was an eyesore and near abandon. But thanks to the work of the Madison Square Park Conservancy, created in 2002, the 163-year-old park has been transformed into one of the most attractive big city parks anywhere.

What is on the horizon for your company? I would encourage you to find ways to creatively provoke your employees by taking them out of their ordinary surroundings, and exposing them regularly to the extraordinary.

You’ll soon find it will transform your company into a very attractive place for both your employees and your shareholders.

What exactly is business innovation? Is it a company’s ability to dream up a new and improved product? Is it a better way of doing business or providing services to your customers? Does it represent a more efficient and effective internal process within your company? Yes. Yes. And yes. All of the above.

To some, business innovation is a science – rational, methodical, and predictable. I prefer to see business innovation as more of an art – part science, but with a healthy dose of creativity and fearless ingenuity.

What is the genesis of the next best-selling car? It is a creative design team member, working on a white board or with clay, sculpting the outlines of the vehicle by hand, possibly mimicking the contours of another natural or man-made object that captures his or her imagination.

Then you bring in the engineers, the CAD team, the developers, and the focus groups to build out and test the proposition. But it starts with an idea, sparked by a creative moment by a talented employee.

How do I get one of those you might be asking? One of those creative employees who could be the ticket to your company’s next hot product or service?  I’m guessing you already have more than one of these employees who are capable of such feats. Your challenge is to find and develop this talent.

Artists and innovators need the right stimulation. They need a suitable environment that promotes imaginative thought. And most importantly, they need a corporate culture that embraces, not discourages, new and original thinking.

Starting today, commit to a business innovation program that seeks to engage employees, managers, and executives in a new way. Shine light on those who show promise and inventive traits. Challenge them with provocative training and events that develop their talents. Cultivate the artist in them. Once you’re able to get this down to a science, you’ll likely be one step ahead of your competitors.

      
I suggest you read this month’s (June 2009) Fast Company magazine, specifically its cover story on “The 100 Most Creative People in Business.” Creativity, of course, is in the eye of the beholder and sitting down to pick a mere 100 from the tens of thousands who could be considered is a highly subjective exercise. Nevertheless, I applaud Fast Company for drawing our attention to some of the globe’s most creative individuals and the enormous impact they have on innovation and business.

Fast Company’s 100 includes creative thinkers and doers from a wide array of fields, such as medicine, technology, fashion, philanthropy, government and academia. Their list includes some household names (e.g., Melinda Gates), and appropriately, many who are not-so-familiar. Professions comprise technologists, designers, artists, creative directors, CEOs, inventors — and even the Chairman of the FDIC, Sheila Bair.

“Sheila Bair’s combination of foresight, consistency, effective use of resources, and sensible ideas to secure the banking system looks pretty creative—and significant—to us,” says Fast Company. More traditional members of the 100 include people like Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts at TBWA\Worldwide, who has been the creative brains behind some of the most memorable and provocative ad campaigns for Apple, Adidas, Nike and Sony – and who coined the campaign “Think Different.”

Others on the list include Neri Oxman, a Presidential Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, who is creating new nano-materials for construction. That may not sound too sexy, but her work helps lead to cutting-edge innovations in manufacturing processes – and that’s her photo on the June cover of Fast Company (above). According to the article, Oxman helps blur the boundaries between architecture, product design, and art.

The point is this: business innovation starts with employees who think more creatively. Make sure your company is doing everything it can to identify, nurture, and develop the creativity that already exists within the employees. Establish your own most creative top 10, 50 or 100 list in your organization.

Most important, demonstrate to your employees that your company puts a premium on creativity and the role it can play toward more innovative products, services or processes. Now that’s a sexy proposition that should have some appeal for your shareholders.

Wikipedia refers to Hunt Slonem as an artist who “combines abstract expressionism and representational imagery.” Slonem splits his time between his native Louisiana and New York. Over 75 museums internationally include his work in their collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum, both in New York.

Earlier this year, I hosted an Innovation Summit for 40 top executives at Thomson Reuters in Hunt Slonem’s home and studio in New York City. I took the executives out of their usual office and business environment and exposed them to one of the most provocative and innovative artists of our time. The executives engaged Slonem and his art, and in doing so they came away inspired and energized by this unique experience.