Creative leadership

Creative leadership is a style of leadership based upon the concept of working cooperatively to develop innovative ideas.[1] Those who employ creative leadership tend to do so by creating conditions which promote creativity. Creating such conditions, which are sometimes called "supportive contributions",[2] are described as psychological, material, and/or social supports that trigger, enable, and sustain creative thinking in others.[2]

The term creative leadership is commonly used in organizational studies and was first referenced in 1957.[3] In recent years, there has been a significant increase in research surrounding creative and innovation leadership[4] and the term has also been used increasingly among practitioners[5] and in the public sphere.[6] Researchers and practitioners have suggested that creative leadership is more important in the current political and economic climate than ever before.[7] It has also been suggested that creative leaders display behaviors that may contradict traditional management styles.[8]

In 2010, results from the IBM Global CEO Study indicated that according to the polled Chief executive officers, creativity was the most important quality for leaders to build successful businesses, outranking integrity and global thinking.[9] Further research has found that although organisations may claim that they value creative leadership, the majority of those organisations tend to promote leaders who do not espouse creative leadership, and instead are risk-averse and maintain the status quo.[10][11]

  1. ^ Mumford, Michael D; Scott, Ginamarie M; Gaddis, Blaine; Strange, Jill M (December 2002). "Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships". The Leadership Quarterly. 13 (6): 705–750. doi:10.1016/S1048-9843(02)00158-3.
  2. ^ a b Mainemelis, Charalampos; Kark, Ronit; Epitropaki, Olga (January 2015). "Creative Leadership: A Multi-Context Conceptualization" (PDF). Academy of Management Annals. 9 (1): 393–482. doi:10.5465/19416520.2015.1024502.
  3. ^ Selznick, P. (1984). Leadership in administration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (Originally published 1957).[page needed]
  4. ^ Dinh, Jessica E.; Lord, Robert G.; Gardner, William L.; Meuser, Jeremy D.; Liden, Robert C.; Hu, Jinyu (February 2014). "Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives" (PDF). The Leadership Quarterly. 25 (1): 36–62. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005.
  5. ^ Nikravan, L. (2012). Why creativity is the most important leadership quality. Chief Learning Officer. Retrieved from http://www.clomedia.com/articles/why-creativity-is-themost-important-leadership-quality[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ Chernin, Peter (1 February 2002). "Creative leadership: The strength of ideas: The power of the imagination". Vital Speeches of the Day. 68 (8): 245–249.
  7. ^ Sternberg, Robert J. (2007). "A systems model of leadership: WICS". American Psychologist. 62 (1): 34–42. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.1.34. PMID 17209678.
  8. ^ Hunter, Samuel T.; Thoroughgood, Christian N.; Myer, Adam T.; Ligon, Gina Scott (February 2011). "Paradoxes of leading innovative endeavors: Summary, solutions, and future directions". Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 5 (1): 54–66. doi:10.1037/a0017776.
  9. ^ Nikravan, L. (2012). Why creativity is the most important leadership quality. Chief Learning Officer. Retrieved from http://www.clomedia.com/articles/why-creativity-is-themost-important-leadership-quality[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ Basadur, Min; Basadur, Tim (February 2011). "Where are the generators?". Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 5 (1): 29–42. doi:10.1037/a0017757.
  11. ^ Mueller, Jennifer S.; Goncalo, Jack A.; Kamdar, Dishan (March 2011). "Recognizing creative leadership: Can creative idea expression negatively relate to perceptions of leadership potential?" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 47 (2): 494–498. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.010.