Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Many times when someone thinks of the consequences of long term thinking, they think that it will result in a loss of creativity and the pioneering spirit. On the contrary, it is short term thinking and focus that damages the creative process far more than the long view.

Every company should have people that are given the task of being creative explorers; whether you're a public or privately held company. There should be those that have the freedom to - at minimum - tinker with new thoughts and ideas that can be applied to various aspects of the business.

What this does for creativity and exploration, is that it is counted as part of the cost of doing business, and looks for breakthroughs that will drive the company for a number of years. It doesn't look for or concern itself with quarterly numbers or trying to make short term numbers look good.

Even recently, when Viacom had Tom Freston step down, it was a huge mistake. They based their decision on a nine-month time frame, and had a good CEO step down because of pressure from short term thinkers.

Being efficient is not a bad quality to shoot for, but we need to understand that efficiency isn't what drives new products or innovative ideas; it doesn't look to the future. What it does is take the present products and services and attempts to improve upon what is there now.

While exploration and efficiency both need to be in a company, exploration should always be focused on primarily because it is the easiest thing to let go and lose site of when the pressures of everyday business begin to cloud the future vision of the company.

If we're not careful, we will find ourselves having the most efficient products and services that nobody is interested in.