This may come as a surprise but when it comes to
innovative leadership, substance wins out over style every
time.
Most organizations focus their time, attention and money on
training or recruiting operational, activity-based leaders -
however, very few companies devote any investment in the
development of innovative leadership competences.
Unlike traditional leadership, style isn’t as important as
the substance of an innovative leader.
Leadership styles usually involve strategic solutions to
tactical challenges - leaders employ styles to influence,
govern or relate to people.
Innovative leadership depends on the substance of one’s
innovation strategy, the model for innovating in use, the
principles and fundamentals of the technologies involved in
the innovation, and the organizational elements needed to
make the innovation successful.
What follows are some criteria you can use to identify,
recruit, develop and improve the capabilities of qualified
candidates for your innovative leadership ranks.
Tip-1 - Has Acquired a Broad, Insightful Knowledge of the
Humanities, Technologies or your Industry
This candidate has extensively read or written about and
possesses in-depth experiential knowledge of one or more of
the following areas:
- Understands the challenges of the human condition
[perhaps worked as a missionary, been a volunteer, or lived
and participated in the affairs of a foreign community],
- Knows one or more of the technologies critical to your
organization’s success or
- Worked in the exact or a related industry or has
experience working with a similar business model as yours
The more of these experiences and knowledges a candidate has
acquired, the more likely she is to have the potential for
becoming a superior innovative leader.
An ideal profile might look like this:
“Candidate-A is a former relief aid worker who lived and
worked in 2 or more other countries, who studied technology
while in school and who worked for 3 years as a part-time
associate at a competitor company.”
Tip-2 Appreciates Why the Engineering of Systems, Cycles,
Processes and Graphic Representations Are Primary Causes for
Organizational Success
Your search for and promotion of qualified candidates for
innovative leadership positions must include those persons
who are able to eloquently express or demonstrate the
requirements for and importance of systems, cyclical
principles, processes and graphical depictions of key
business elements.
Those candidates who have this level of appreciation for
core organizational components will have performed
prodigious amounts of work on them or spent significant
amounts of time trying to refine, improve or radically
change the systems, cyclical or process-oriented natures, or
graphical representations of their work environments or
operational model.
You’re likely to find these types of employees working
within your midst, or they may have recently joined your
organization from other companies.
Tip-3 - Embraces, Leads or Has Experienced and Is Now
Prepared for Radical Change
While most people either avoid making changes or prefer not
to undergo change, innovative leadership demands an
emotional and psychological acceptance of or a positive
mental attitude for the constant realities of change.
In keeping with the themes of Tips one and two, you will
discover these people have experienced serious changes in
their living conditions or locations, work environments or
situations and in their job descriptions or knowledge
bases.
You may want to groom these people by helping them
strengthen their relationship-building, communications,
collaboration and cooperation and coaching skills. Your
investments of time and money would be well rewarded.
————————————————————
The famous innovator, entrepreneur and industrialist, Howard
Hughes, purportedly said, “Never judge a man by his
appearnace, always judge him by his experience!” His
sentitment is the dominant theme of this article.
You can not evaluate a person based on what you see, you
must use conversations to determine their worth to your
organization instead. A scripted interview or your everyday
homogenuous scoring sheet system is not likely to identify
truly innovative leadership candidates.
Who would have hired Bill Gates as a software developer,
Warren Buffet as stock broker, Sir Richard Branson as an
entrepreneurial leader or Steve Jobs as a CEO using ordianry
hiring criteria and methods?
“Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read
at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to
conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.”
- Oprah Winfrey, Entertainment and Social Entrepreneur
Nearly every innovator has been a serious student of life,
technology or business - the majority of innovative leaders
are readers or experimenters or doers in their subject
matter of choice and interest.
You will discover what the true secret of innovative
leadership is: innovators have a passion, commitment and
loyalty for pursuing and being excellence. In a word,
innovative leaders will put substance above style everytime.
Copyright © 2006, Mustard Seed Investments Inc.
All rights reserved.
About the Author:
Bill Thomas energizes your innovative leadership & innovations via Imagination Age methods - his books, software & training programs empower business skills & processes, improve strategic advantages, produce tangible value & deliver powerful results! See how his Executive Briefings, Management Handbooks, Professional Guides & Innovation Workshops:
“Super-Seed & Sustain Your Innovative Leadership Power!”
http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/innovativeleadership.php
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