The traditional managerial mind-set is an analytical mind-set. It is about creating accountability and defining responsibilities.

The manager's job - the impresario's job - is to preside over the company's efforts to jam so the business runs really well.

Coca-Cola can get really fresh output because it is getting people who are outside the traditional model and they are combining ideas in very novel ways.

Improvisation in the jazz sense - like the business sense - is not formless. It is built on a skill set. Jazz, for example, involves selecting a tune.

Conducting a creativity audit can be very illuminating because it can tell you how the process is working internally and against the competition.

The challenge is to manage creative people so that the output is fruitful. The challenge is not to have an open environment and simply let them do whatever they want.

The impresario functions as a bridge and a translator. He or she is a bridge between the creative point of view - which is often very focused on the creative task itself - and the resource-allocation process. The impresario has to make certain the funds and people required to get that task completed are available.