By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL
In a business environment increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, automation, and data analytics, creativity is emerging as one of the few genuinely human assets capable of generating economic value, said Felipe Symmes, Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation at EGADE Business School.
Symmes warned that the rapid advance of artificial intelligence is displacing much of the analytical thinking traditionally associated with leadership and decision-making. “Artificial intelligence is going to take over analytical thinking,” he said, emphasizing that what will remain uniquely human is the ability to create from what does not yet have data, imagine possible futures, and bring them into being.
These ideas were discussed in a new episode of Territorio Negocios, titled The Economic Power of Ideas and Creativity, in which the academic argued that leaders and entrepreneurs must increasingly think of themselves as artists rather than as traditional managers. “The space that will remain for humans is to create from what has no data, and that requires a much more artistic form of training and mindset,” he explained.
From this perspective, Symmes questioned approaches to entrepreneurial education that focus exclusively on risk reduction. In his view, value creation does not arise from optimizing what already exists, but from imagining realities that do not yet exist. “Most successful entrepreneurs first imagine a future that does not exist and are able to make it real,” he noted.
Symmes also drew a distinction between measurable risk and radical uncertainty, comparing the entrepreneur’s work to that of an artist. “Whenever you are creating a future, risks are incalculable, because that future does not yet exist,” he said, underscoring that learning to operate amid uncertainty is a central source of economic value.
The EGADE professor also highlighted the strategic potential of creative industries in Latin America, suggesting that sectors such as music, film, design, and sports offer a natural comparative advantage for the region, rooted in human experience, narrative, and sensitivity.
The episode was hosted by Pablo Necoechea, Regional Director of EGADE Business School in Mexico City and Querétaro.
Territorio Negocios releases a new episode every Tuesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
