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One of America's most successful chef-entrepreneurs talks about leadership in the kitchen.

The business world's preoccupation with predictability and quantitative analysis has not gotten us very far, the author argues. For instance, none of the economic forecasting organizations predicted that the economy would shrink in 2008, let alone that it would crater as disastrously as it did. Our complex world is like a spirited race horse, he says. The harder we tug on the reins to control it, the more it resists to prove a point: it is not a machine that responds the way a user manual suggests it will; rather, our world is an intensely complicated, ambiguous system of systems that defies comprehensive quantification. Such an environment demands a lesser-known form of analysis -- one that pays attention to qualities (i.e. important aspects of a problem that cannot be measured) rather than just quantities. The author argues that if we are to face today's complex challenges, we must build up 'qualitative intelligence'.

The complex problems we face go by many names, including 'social messes', 'wicked problems' and 'big hairy problems'. As the definitions of 'ends' (where to go) and 'means' (how to get there) become more ambiguous and the number of variables increases, the difficulty of solving such problems intensifies dramatically-a difference not just in scale of problem, but in kind. The author argues that such enigmatic problems comprise features identical to those routinely found in the arts-including uncertainty, ambiguity, complexity, uniqueness and interdependence between ends and means. As a result, she says, complex problems can be treated as opportunities for artistry -- but only if we enter the world of qualitative thought and experience, where judgment and imagination take their place alongside quantitative analysis and deductive reasoning.

Slowly but surely, modern managers are realizing that the complex situations they face cannot be approached in a routine manner. Indeed, the quest for creative solutions has become pervasive. But for creativity to truly add value to an organization, managers must first understand its core principles. In this article the authors define those principles, which include personal creativity, process creativity and collective creativity. They also highlight the critical role that imagination, inspiration and intuition still have to play in modern business.

A new source of inspiration for creative leadership and development comes from the world of the Arts. While the Arts have inspired people for centuries, greater attention is now being paid to learning from artists themselves. In their work with artists and business people the authors have uncovered two key approaches for applying artistic methods in business: the development of artful capabilities and competencies and the ability to conceptualize and prototype. In this article they examine how theatre directors use these skills and present a possible new model for creative leadership.

Today more than ever, business growth requires new ways of looking at the world. Unfortunately, most people don't know how to go about looking at their landscape in new ways. Too often, they continue to look at the world in the same way they always have, only to be surprised and disappointed when they don't discover anything new. In this article the authors present seven 'ways of looking' at the world around you that will enhance your ability to see possibilities that do not yet exist.

It takes a stubborn person to remain an artist in a society that values conformity, and the authors argue that it will take the same courage and tenacity in organizations to create a culture where adults can reconnect with their innate artistic capacities. In their research, they have peeled back the outer layers of creative methods to reveal the underpinnings of the 'artistic mindset'. In doing so, they have identified a capacity that they call Aesthetic Intelligence (AI), which is comprised of three elements: presence, authenticity and synthesis. When integrated into the fabric of organizational life, AI can inform strategy and process and holds the potential to energize leadership and performance.

The design and production of new products and services is an endeavor that calls for the skills and experience of interdisciplinary teams to get the job done. Yet, as a half-century of research makes abundantly clear, teamwork is difficult. The competing viewpoints that promote creative ideas and sound decision-making can also lead to conflicts that waste precious time and erode relationships. The authors present five key challenges faced by new product development teams and describe how these very challenges can lead to positive outcomes such as project management skills, broad perspectives, expanded networks and boundary-spanning skills.

While play is a familiar concept, as a topic of serious inquiry it is among the least-studied and least-understood organizational behaviors -- despite the fact that the Social Sciences have long associated play with creative functioning. The authors define play as a way of organizing behavior that consists of five elements: threshold experience; boundaries in time and space; uncertainty, freedom and constraint; flexibility between ends and means; and positive affect. While the cost of play can be inefficiency, errors or dead ends, the authors argue that the cost of not playing may actually be even more severe to organizations whose survival and prosperity depend upon creative ability.

Design thinking has received a great deal of attention as increasing numbers of organizations succeed in solving complex problems by creative means. In doing so, many of these firms have focused on implementing specific 'design methods' - from observational research to iterative prototyping to storytelling-alongside more mainstream approaches. But as any professional designer will attest, design thinking entails much more than applying such methods: to create value, methods must be applied together with design sensibilities. The author explains what design sensibilities are and describes innovations from Altoids to Virgin America that embody the optimal balancing of design methods with design sensibilities.

Differences in behavior and associated gender stereotypes derive from the different norms and expectations associated with the social roles that men and women typically hold. The stereotypes are all-too familiar: men are better at math, women at communicating; men make better military officers, women better caregivers. As a result, occupations, jobs and tasks become gender-typed as 'male' or 'female' according to the gender of the typical incumbent. The authors report their findings, which suggest that the additional scrutiny of being a solo member of one's gender -- whether self-imposed or imposed by others -- can be either beneficial or detrimental to performance, depending on the typicality of the task relative to one's gender.

Arts Education champion and Stanford Professor Emeritus Elliot Eisner discusses how the Arts can inspire business and how we can continue to develop artistically throughout our lives. Unlike our brains, he says, our minds are not entirely given at birth: they are a form of cultural achievement. The kind of mind you develop is profoundly influenced by your experiences and learning opportunities, and as a result, artistry can be fostered by how we 'design' the environments we inhabit. Eisner argues that as we learn in and through the Arts, we become more qualitatively intelligent and our consciousness is affected in many ways: our senses are refined so that our ability to experience the world is made more complex and subtle; our imaginative capacities are promoted so that we can envision what we cannot actually see, taste, touch or hear; and we experience the world in new ways.

There's a major cultural and demographic shift away from suburban sprawl. Businesses need to understand it and plan for it.

Research shows that hindsight is far from 20/20-and foresight, in some situations, is even worse.

A new empirical study compares innovative and competitive strategies. Blue Ocean holds its own-until competition erodes profits from innovation, after 15 or so years. The authors suggest a blend of the two approaches.

Organizations spend lots of time and resources trying to pick up their operational pace, in hopes of gaining a competitive edge. But when they work at warp speed, they end up lagging rivals in terms of strategy and performance.

According to studies done by Dana Carney of Columbia Business School, powerful people are better liars. The stress of lying produces involuntary physiological reactions-such as half shrugs, rapid speech, and cognitive impairment-but liars who have power are much better at masking or suppressing those telltale signs than liars without power. Physiologically, high-power liars closely resemble truth tellers. Bottom line: Powerful people are more comfortable lying, and it is harder to tell that they're being dishonest.

Do the managers who are in the highest tiers of leadership at your company also feel the greatest sense of responsibility? Moreover, do they actually have authority to get things done? If you map out the authority of all your managers against their titles and their sense of responsibility, the results may surprise you-and reveal hidden pockets and dangerous vacuums of power.

Executives often find themselves debating the merits of incremental innovations versus game-changers, but that's a false dichotomy, says HBR columnist Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Even if a company is lucky enough to come up with the next Kindle, Swiffer, or smartphone, blockbuster products don't spring to life or work in the marketplace without the many small changes that make breakthroughs possible, such as tweaks to processes and market development. Kanter proposes a systemic approach to generating all kinds and levels of innovation.

CEO pay has become a lightning rod for criticism and debate, but CEOs themselves have been largely absent from the conversation, says Procter & Gamble's former CEO. It's time to stand up for responsible compensation leadership and get rid of indefensible and inappropriate amounts and forms of compensation. The author's proposals include establishing simpler and clearer guidelines, eliminating post-employment provisions not based on performance, and creating a CEO-led coalition for responsible compensation. If CEOs don't take corrective action, he says, Congress surely will, and not necessarily in a form that will benefit anybody.