Q What's the best approach for leading creative people?

A It's a mistake to lead creative people from your heart and stop there—managing creative people also requires authority.

You don't want your resident "out-of-boxers" running for the exits. With their fresh ideas and unique perspectives, they are often the reason for breakthrough products and new ways of working. But creative people must know that boundaries and values exist, and they have to respect them. If they don't, they have a way of going off the rails—and taking the workaday core of the company with them.

The most creative people can be intellectually complex and emotionally delicate; odd or prickly. True creatives seem to shut down when squeezed into normal strictures.

But businesses don't exist to showcase creative output. Something has to give. Too often, companies contain creative types who are so exquisitely talented that their "buck-the-system" behaviour gets a pass: the award-winning art director who scoffs at corporate pleas for cost-cutting. The ingenious video game designer who won't talk to the marketing department.

People start working when and where they want, they stop sharing ideas with mainstream "grunts". So to win in the marketplace, leaders must respect the individuality of creative people. They are different. But if you want your organisation to cohere and thrive, you must make sure they keep that difference within bounds.