By talking too much about the importance of creativity in business it can become a bit of a fad or cliché. But people do need to be more creative. Businesses aren't designed for creativity. They are efficient machines with processes and rules and they can't cope with the unstructured thinking you need for ideas to flourish.

The Business Playground is about re-teaching creativity. Everyone has it in them as a kid. But people lose that imagination. It gets hammered out of you at work and school. But creative thinking makes new things work, and creates and solves things.

Of course, you need a team of engineers and people who know how to make things work as well. And you want people who know how to create business models.

In a lot of the businesses I work in, the idea is everything. I'm working on a film with the guy who made the Shrek films. While it's fine to have the idea, you have to be able to realise it. That's where contacts with normal businesses are useful.

I've worked with Nokia as a change agent for three-and-a-half years. Sometimes I help with ideas they're struggling with and sometimes I come up with new ideas.

The internet is having more impact on creative industries than recession. Things are speeding up and the middle is getting squeezed. At the bottom you can make a great cheap movie, while at the other end there are big blockbusters. But what about in the middle, where it's harder to make good films that cost a bit?

It's the same in music, where new bands put their stuff up on the Net and build a fan base and at the top end, big acts sell fewer records but just add $20 to the price of a concert ticket and go on tour. The middle gets squeezed because people don't want to pay for music.

While it's better to have creativity grounded in reality, it depends whose reality you're talking about. Look at Lady Gaga. She's taking the music industry by storm, but a lot of labels wouldn't sign her unless they could get her into a nice dress and with lovely hair like 50 other acts they've got who sell nothing.

The fact that everyone can now produce content is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good that you can discover new talent, whether that's a film-maker, actor or musician. The flip side is that there is just so much noise to wade through it is harder to find. There's so much of the man in Michigan with his skateboarding dog type of stuff that you often can't get to the good stuff.

But it's good that there's so much energy to harness. The trick is to harness and monetise it somehow, so the great young film-makers can have a go at making something longer and better.

There are always people who create just for the pure essence of being creative. This is important. There are lots of things we need for everyday life and we come into contact with lots of stuff daily. I'd rather that stuff was beautiful, well designed and creative.

The Business Playground (FT Prentice Hall) by Dave Stewart and Mark Simmons is available now, priced £14.99