Characteristics of creative leaders

Although creative leadership is not exclusive to entrepreneurs, Creative Leaders display many elements of entrepreneurial behavior.

These are:

Creative Leaders find insights and ideas from unrelated fields, chance encounters and the unexpected. They nurture broad external networks with the expectation that this builds significant future value, and they use open dialogue to tease out perspectives and ideas from others. They are comfortable with contradicting insights, paradoxes, conflicting needs and ambiguity. They identify and challenge assumptions that underpin perceived realities.

Creative leaders think in contrary directions and deliberately reject conventional, inherited parameters.  They are not satisfied with the first solution and search for better concepts that bring major improvement. They view life as a journey where opportunities for learning and development are always present. Finally, they intuitively sense new opportunities that could be created.

Creative leaders think globally, strategically and towards large impact.  They have social awareness and holistic connectedness. They exhibit mindful self-awareness, being connected to what is happening in the here and now, demonstrate compassion for others, and exude a humble, open attitude.

They are able to translate an appealing market opportunity into an enterprise concept that is innovative against incumbent business models.  They can integrate large societal impact with attractive economic returns.

Creative leaders are able to attract team members who raise the calibre and diversity of the collective. They are capable of designing creative processes that enable learning and improvement resulting in an accelerating rate of improvement, working toward a tipping point where change becomes unstoppable.

They know what key values are important in one’s life and act authentically upon them. They are transparent and honest, with congruence between intentions, words, presence, and actions. They build an organizational culture that nurtures and cherishes the ideas of others, removes barriers and structures incentives to reinforce the change that is being sought.

They provide the story, experiences, and motivations that empower the organization toward a common goal. They orchestrate the ecosystem of partners in the public, private and social sector to bring systemic change.

Creative leaders create urgency and shared inevitability to work towards a better future for all, thereby inspiring others to act.  They dare to be bold in new areas, not limited by present logic or institutions, embracing fears rather than avoiding them.

They understand how to mitigate risks, with a head in the clouds and feet firmly on the ground. They are able to master execution in uncharted territory with imperfect information and limited control.  They maintain focus towards longer-term social impact, while being resourceful in capturing opportunities as these arise and overcoming challenges to keep the enterprise afloat. They are good stewards of natural and manmade resources.