Being connected to customer needs and desires should be a key aspect of shaping your B2B brand. But the engine of growth needs to include creativity, something many B2B executives don't spend much time on. Others like Google stake their reputation on creativity. They walk the talk: All engineers are allotted up to 20 percent of their time to work on their own ideas. The result? Products like Gmail and Google News, seeds of which began as personal endeavors.

According to MIT Media Lab, a hotbed of creativity, the secret sauce for business creativity is developing an environment where different people from different areas and disciplines of an enterprise, work together to share ideas to innovate.

Dr. Nancy Andreasen, a well renowned scientist and creativity specialist says creative people often have similar personalities. "They're not just curious about what they do, they're curious about all kinds of things." Dr. Andreasen's research show that "people who are highly creative have different patterns of activity in their brain, a much more highly developed capacity to see relationships, to make associations."

According to a 2009 CBS poll of 1048 adults nationwide, we could use a little more creativity in business in areas like energy, healthcare and transportation.

Is your company committed to enhancing your brand with a commitment to creativity? Can it afford not to be?