Fast Company magazine’s inaugural ranking of the 100 Most Creative People in Business puts Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple, in the top spot; Lee Clow, TBWA’s Global Director of Media Arts is named #32. In a press release Fast Company magazine said: “In an industry that tends to spit out anyone with a speck of gray hair, the brain behind the Energizer Bunny, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, and Adidas’s ‘Impossible is Nothing’ campaign continues to be one of the most creative forces in the game. Last year, as global director of TBWA\Worldwide, he [Lee Clow] helped the Omnicom-owned agency lure a phenomenal roster of new business, including Pepsi and the global Visa account.”
“Creativity cannot be reduced to a formula,” says Fast Company editor Robert Safian. “There will no doubt be controversy over how we ended up with these 100 individuals, why certain names are missing, why one person is ranked higher – or lower – than someone else. But there is a perspective in our list: Taken in its entirety, it’s a snapshot of the range and depth of creativity across our business landscape – a remarkable and perhaps surprising source of strength in these times of turmoil.”
The list includes engineers from Facebook and Google, movie directors and fashion designers, architects and inventors. “We emphasized those who creativity addresses a larger issue – from the future of our energy infrastructure to the evolution of philanthropy to next-generation media and entertainment,” explain the Fast Company editors, in the introduction to the list. “And while we couldn’t see how lauding Steve Jobs would show much creativity, we also couldn’t ignore the outsized impact Apple has had on our business culture. That’s why Apple’s chief designer heads our list at No. 1.”
Check out the full list on Fast Company online.
More on Lee Clow on I HAVE AN IDEA.
If you have any comments or suggestions please email Ulrich Proeschel
