The Art of Thinking in a Digital World

In this summarized extract from their book The Art of Thinking in a Digital World, Luc de Brabandere , Jonas Leyder, and Lina Benmehreze explain how true creativity begins by looking at the same thing in a different way.

Creativity vs innovation

- IMD Business School — Creativity vs Innovation

Innovation (on the right of the diagram) can be defined as the ability to do better, cheaper, more developed, more elegant, or more fashion-forward things – but essentially it’s doing the same thing.

Creativity (on the left) can be defined as the ability to think about something else while changing your perception.

Innovation means continuously improving on things and is derived from a strategy that doesn’t change. Strategy 1 spurs the first burst of innovation – but a wave of innovation cannot go on indefinitely, precisely because the strategy doesn’t change (you cannot endlessly add new colors to a pen or different flavors to a cappuccino).

The creative jump

This is when the creative jump must happen. It’s induced by a different perception of things. Strategy 2 is new and sets off a new wave of innovations that could not have been derived from the initial strategy (even if the change in perception can be brought about by one of the original innovations).

S2 doesn’t change anything, yet it changes everything. The objects before you remain the same, but they’re perceived and categorized differently – and this change in perception leads to a new strategy that offers a means to develop fresh innovations.

Innovation is possible without creativity and vice versa, but creativity is the only way to boost innovation – and the ultimate responsibility of a CEO is to articulate the back-and-forth between the two.

Key learning

No strategic vision is eternal. Under the pressure of megatrends, competition, customers, or regulations of all kinds, one day S1 will give way to S2 – and it’s in your interest as a leader to have chosen that S2 yourself, rather than having it imposed by an external element.

Luc de Brabandere

Corporate philosopher

Luc de Brabandere is a distinguished Belgian corporate philosopher and polymath who has spent his career bridging the gap between the rigorous world of mathematics and the fluid realm of human creativity. Originally trained in applied mathematics, he later earned a PhD in philosophy, a duality that defines his unique intellectual perspective.

A Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group, de Brabandere has served as a strategic guide for global leaders, teaching them to “think in new boxes” rather than simply trying to think outside them. He is a prolific author of more than 20 books and a co-founder of Cartoonbase, an agency that uses visual storytelling to simplify complex ideas. Whether lecturing at world-class universities like the Louvain School of Management or analyzing the ethical implications of AI, he remains dedicated to the “zigzag” of thought – the essential movement between logic, creativity, and critical judgment.

Lina Benmehrez

Co-founder of RoadCo

Lina Benmehrez is co-founder of RoadCo, a startup that strengthens collaboration strategies within organizations. She specializes in impact business intelligence and is a columnist on the future of work.