I just finished P&G CEO AG Lafley's new book Game Changer and highly recommend it. Normally, I stay up late reading mysteries but this good read kept me up late a few nights as well.

Creativity is all about making connections. This is one lesson I took away. I started thinking about sports teams making connections to drive creativity. How often does this happen?

How often does the entire team get together to brainstorm...by this I mean, the operations, coaches, managers, marketers, sales office, security and concessions staff. Is it once a year after the season is over? Is it once a month to review guest experience surveys? I presume it's probably the former.

Mr. Lafley talks extensively about how he brings together his colleagues from various areas of product development to discuss opportunities, challenges and revive certain products.

P&G also invests heavily in innovation and rewards those that present the new big idea. Risk is rewarded. How many teams reward those who take risks? Failure is a big part of being successful, he says. It's hard to take on a risky project with the possibility of tarnishing your reputation, but an innovative company will support such creativity as P&G does.

Make Five Connections Today:
1-Ask 25 of your season ticket holders if you can have 15 minutes of their time to get their thoughts on customer service, marketing
2-Ask the beat writers covering your team if there is anything else you can do better to help them cover the team
3-Pitch two new feature stories to non-traditional media
4-Visit the concession staff prep meeting to share new programs and marketing initiatives
5-Take your team to lunch and ask if they have any new ideas to improve customer service