“middle level managers learn that a big part of how they are personally measured is ‘do they keep people from screwing up’”, whereas, the innovative leader may “let people ‘screw up’ so that they can learn an important lesson.” In his article, Leadership: Creativity and Innovation, William R. Klemm states the following traits of Innovative and Creative Leaders:
• Innovative leaders have modest Intelligence. This is good news for those of us not found on either end of the Gaussian distribution for Intelligence Quotient. The idea here is that too much intelligence cripples creativity. • Innovative Leaders are well-informed. This is one of the foundation skills for competent leadership. A leader must have knowledge of a problem area and also know where creative thinking will be most effective. • Innovative leaders are original thinkers. Original thinking is a pre-requisite for creative thought. This is where Systems Thinking can be used as an effective tool. Original ideas will form the basis from which the innovative ideas will come. Innovative or creative thinkers will have the ability to sift through the original ideas, without discarding those that seem weak initially. They will spend time critically examining original ideas, looking for those that will pave the way to a breakthrough thought. Creative thinkers are not quick to discard or dismiss an original thought. •
Innovative Leaders ask the right questions. “A
question can easily
limit creative thinking if it restricts the space of potential answers” [6]. An innovative thinker might examine possible answers before asking a certain question in
order to
determine whether it will be beneficial
The Innovation Journal But as access to knowledge increases
more and more, the masses have more power. Knowledge is now freely available everywhere.
September 2012 | Management Today 63
to the creative thinking process. So there may not be such a thing as a stupid question but it seems that the answers to some questions can either add to, or remove from, the creative thinking process.
• Innovative Leaders are prepared to be creative. They have a desire to be creative, believe that there is a creative solution, and expect that they will be the ones to find it!
Leadership for Innovation
The emphasis of Leadership for Innovation is to create an environment where people are free to think freely.
Rick Joyner in his book, Leadership, Management and the Five Essentials for Success, writes about the four great epochs of human history. The first was the age of the conquerors, where military power was the main influence on world affairs. This was followed by the age of religion, where Constantine discerned that religion enforced by institutions would dominate world events. Politics emerged in the sixteenth century where governments were invented and developed, and this became the foundation of the third epoch. Both military power and religion formed part of this age, and aspects of all three became part of the fourth epoch, the economic age. This is the age we are in, where the global influence of a country is measured by its economic strength.
The skills required to be an effective leader
differs in each of these ages. In the military age, the leader required understanding of how to motivate men to give the most in battle. In the religious age, the leaders had to understand men’s fears and hopes. In the political age, knowledge of culture and literacy was required. And in this economic age, knowledge of where to find information and how to use it effectively is the basis of power.
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