Forget Sir Alan Sugar, entrepreneur and star of the hit BBC Two series The Apprentice . What your business needs is a philosopher, writes Anthea Lipsett.
Tristan Moyle, a philosophy lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, is transplanting academic theories into local businesses to help them boost creativity.
Dr Moyle, whose interest lies in the philosophy of creativity generation and development, is working alongside colleague Robert Jones of the university's business school to help small and medium-sized businesses in the region to embed innovation within everything they do.
"You can apply philosophical theories to anything if they are good enough," he said.
The latest philosophical theories of creativity show that it would be more productive for businesses to move away from using the model of individuals as the sole source of creativity and to investigate how groups and networks can spark innovation.
Dr Moyle said: "My idea is not just about individual genius coming up with the ideas but creating a network that sparks them."