When MTV started out, it fired people who didn't take risks. To break new ground, it had to part company with the safe and predictable and re-invent the rules. Southwest Airlines did much the same, as did Yo!Sushi, Amazon, Virgin, Dyson - the list goes on.

It goes without saying that creativity and rule breaking go hand in hand. To invent the new, you have to challenge the old. If you just follow conventional thinking, all you'll ever be is conventional.

The economy, too, is being challenged as we move away from manufacturing and into the new "creative economy".

Here, intellectual capital is king. Innovative thinking and good old British entrepreneurial inventiveness offer a more profitable export than steel, carpets and vehicles in the form of art, architecture, fashion, computer gaming, television and film, literature, creative-based consultancy, design and music. No wonder the government is investing millions in supporting it through organisations like the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts and the Cultural Industries Development Service.

However, just when we need to embrace that creative entrepreneurial spirit and stick our necks out a bit further, the trend seems to be going the other way.

British businesses are becoming more risk averse. Risk management has become risk aversion management. More than ever, companies are falling back on tried-and-trusted formulae, taking a defensive approach and failing to accept the odd failure at the price of great leaps forward. The decline in the profits of the large labels like EMI is typical, due in part to its failure to invest in ground-breaking new acts. No risk, no reward.

Risk aversion is probably one of the biggest threats to us moving forward in the new economy, as it undermines the very cornerstone of British inventiveness and creativity. The cancer of business, it eats up innovation and the can-do attitude. No one wants to take responsibility and, before long, no one has the ability to respond.

Most management gurus believe creativity is critical to the long-term survival of a business, as it gives it a competitive edge and allows it to change and progress.

When helping companies to be more creative, I always remind them that it's not just about opening the mind but about taking away the safety barriers. If you're too busy trying not to fall over, you can't walk forward.

Marks & Spencer, hardly renowned for its creativity, thought it had the right formulae for success. But formulae rely on consistency - and public taste is anything but consistent. M&S got left behind and decline set in. Desperate to win customers back, it's now trying to be more entrepreneurial.

As Charles Handy recently said: "In business, if you aren't going forward, you're going out of business."

thought.dimension@virgin.net

Chris Arnold is a strategic creative consultant

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