Innovative Team Leadership

Abstract

The goal of any innovative team leader is to achieve something quite different – obviously. But it means more than that; it means not only doing things differently, but also leading differently. After all, how can one expect a team to deliver rule-breaking, industry-transforming systems innovation if it is led in the same old way as a conventional organisation? How can a team deal with uncertainty, risk and chance, if the leader is merely worried about resources, time, budgets and specifications?

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honour and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate. When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘we did it ourselves’. Sun Tzu, 600 BC