Creative execution

The Ten Sage, which is gin with sage, lime sour and orange passion fruit liqueur, is a cocktail created in April by Don Adams, executive vice president for creative development at Restaurants Unlimited, and his colleagues. 

This volume represents the efforts of the many chemists whose ability to master both synthetic and medicinal chemistry enabled them to discover a new drug. Medicinal chemistry, like synthetic chemistry, comprises both art and science. It requires a comprehensive mind to collect and synthesize mountains of data, chemical and biological. It requires the instinct to select the right direction to pursue, and the intellect to plan and execute the strategy that leads to the desired compound. Most of all, it requires a balance of creativity and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds to reach the goal that very few achieve—a successfully marketed dmg. 

When tense, the muscles receive strong excitatory activation from the brain and, in turn, project excitatory activation back to it. When the tension is performance anxiety—as it so often is—the positive feedback loop that perpetuates the excitatory activation of the brain and muscles include the amygdala at the expense of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is not free to work its executive functions in an adaptive way. Hence memory may be blocked, decisiveness deferred, and creativity crippled. 

Ideally, these two approaches, bottom up and top down, will mesh and reinforce each other. Suppose, however, they do not—what then In most cases, I would choose the bottom up results. There is no substitute for deliberate, creative, carefully executed field marketing research. In the case of engineering plastics, however, there can be opportunities which all the field work in the world will not reveal—witnfess the example of the hula hoop. When these two approaches yield widely differing results, it is a clear sign that further work is necessary. 

CHARLES E. KOLB is president and chief executive officer of Aerodyne Research, Inc. Since 1971, his principal research interests at Aerodyne have included atmospheric and environmental chemistry, combustion chemistry, materials chemistry, and the chemical physics of rocket and aircraft exhaust plumes. He has served on several National Aeronautics and Space Administration panels dealing with atmospheric chemistry and global change, as well as on five National Research Council committees and boards dealing with environmental issues. He served as vice chair of the Stockpile Committee from mid-1997 to mid-2000. From 1996 to 1999, he was atmospheric sciences editor for Geophysical Research Letters. In 1997, he received the Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology from the American Chemical Society. 

With a PhD and relevant post-doctoral experience, ideal candidates for these positions will have excellent practical skills and a broad-based knowledge of synthetic organic chemistry. Creative ability in planning and executing assignments in a multi-disciplinary environment is essential. An ability to work in teams as well as good written and oral communication skills are also important attributes. 

It is easy for creative engineers to overengineer the design of a MOC system with multiple pages of forms and autograph requirements from every engineering discipline and every manager. Keep in mind that the focus is to prevent catastrophic accidents and to properly evaluate the concerns of safety and health and to accomplish this review in a timely manner. The CMA s Executive Summary covers these points [2]... 

Additional safety studies may be required to support the movement into new indications, and the complex designer biopharmaceuticals will continue to require creative approaches to safety assessment. In either case, the requirement for, and design and execution of, those studies should be driven by sound scientific rationale. Ultimately, the objective of preclinical safety evaluation is well articulated in ICH S6 ... 

However, serious problems remain after such mergers take place. Shortterm savings do not necessarily produce long-term growth. Furthermore, the executives and their subordinates of the merged companies may not get along with each other, the best researchers sometimes leave, and most of the time size is not the corollary of creativity. For all these reasons some contrarians in the industry have decided to pursue a different course at least for the time being. 

The initial plan of action must also address a proposed overall project execution strategy in order to promote creative thinking as early as possible. If the objectives set by the project sponsor are not realistic, it is the responsibility of the Project Manager to bring up the realities of life and, working closely with the Venture Manager, develop achievable goals. 

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