NECESSARY CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTRIBUTES OF A SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION LEADER

Phuoc D. Nguyen

Abstract

To be a successful innovator in the globalization process in today’s competitive global business environment so that a business can survive and grow. Innovation leaders need to learn a long-term strategic leadership training program. In addition, innovative leaders need to learn innovation and creativity through on-the-job training, learning from experience, and learning from best practices on creativity and innovation. Innovation leaders’ responsibility is to plan, do, check, and act (PDCA) an innovation strategy successfully. To implement this PDCA cycle successfully an innovation leader needs to possess appropriate characteristics and attributes to lead innovation successfully. This paper analyzes and discusses the necessary characteristics and attributes of a successful innovation leader and suggests convincing, practical, actionable advice to innovation leaders who can use used necessary characteristics and attributes to transform their organizations effectively.

Keywords: Innovation leadership, creativity, innovation, PDCA.

According to Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Gary W. Oster, “Innovation leaders find ways to mobilize the attitudes and capabilities of followers, regardless of the odds. Leaders who avoid or delay making difficult innovation decisions quickly disempower subordinates and reduce critical opportunities for change.” Innovation leadership is a specific topic, they are attracting not only the attention of scholars and researchers but also the interest of business leaders. The development of innovation leadership in enterprises has also begun to gain interest and is used in innovation leadership development efforts in the context of globalization. It is imperative to improve the innovation leadership capacity of corporate executives.

The Knowledge of an Innovation Leader

Innovation leadership knowledge that an innovation leader acquires and accumulates through experience or learning and it can be manipulated in his or her innovation leadership. The knowledge that executives of a business should have includes general business knowledge such as knowledge of leadership, business, management, creativity, innovation, industry, corporate culture, society, politics, laws, corporate social responsibility, change management, etc.

The skills of the innovation leader that is the ability to perform innovation leadership and apply leadership, business, management, creativity, and innovation knowledge into action. Innovation leadership proficiency demonstrates each person’s proficiency in applying the knowledge of leadership to achieve their creative and innovative goals. A leader needs to possess the skills related to innovation leadership, strategic leadership, and self-leadership including work and life balance, learning, and problem-solving. The founder and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation and Hewlett Consulting Partners LLC. Sylvia A. Hewlett proposed, “Inclusive leaders are more likely to encourage risk-taking and disruptive thinking: Their team members are three times as likely to say they’re not afraid to fail and four-and-a-half times as likely to report that nobody on their team is afraid to challenge the status quo.” Team leadership skills such as leadership communication, motivation, team development, influence, image building, and team building. Innovation organizational leadership skills such as innovation vision and strategy development; organization and implementation of an innovation management system; and building and developing innovation culture and organizational transformation. The qualities, behavior, and attitudes of innovation leaders include adventurous, learning, innovative and creative thinking, flexible, responsive, and inclusive.

The Characteristics of an Innovation Leader

A wise innovation leader should know how to evaluate his or her team’s creativity and innovation competencies. In addition, sincere appreciation is the incentive to help subordinates develop their confidence and optimally promote their strengths. A great innovation leader who knows how to apply love in action, be aware of the desires of the people they lead and decide to work in the best interest of team members. A brave innovation leader who is willing to take risks, and always has faith in others; these daredevils dare to discuss difficult issues and are ready to deal and share views that are not even welcome. Fairness is what everyone wants in life and great innovation leaders cannot be biased toward their subordinates. A great leader can change and adapt his or her leadership style in all situations and circumstances, he very welcomes innovative ideas and changes. A competent innovation leader can recognize his biases, they also recognize prejudices from others and are ready to face them to meet the needs of the staff, they know how to adjust their behavior to best fit the situation to listen and to judge exactly who they are.

According to leadership scholar Kateřina H. Bočková, “An innovation manager should have a creative personality. But not everyone has the right to invent new and new ways. Some people do not have such thinking at all. The creative personality is characterized by qualities such as activity, intuition, finding associations, the art of working with metaphors and inspiration, logic, energy, knowledge of the area in which the person operates, and many others.” An innovation leader must create an innovative vision for the organization; he inspires and influences people to reach that vision. Leadership qualities are the key to the value of the leader. Some researchers consider personal qualities as a decisive factor for a successful leader. Bass’ theory of leadership offers three doctrines for us to become great leaders, one of which is Trait Theory. Personality characteristics that one can assume the role of leadership in a natural way. Personal characteristics research expert Ralph Stogdill conducted a series of leadership studies, “The leader must have strong motivation, passion, and patience in achieving the goal. The ability to take risks and unique creativity in problem-solving. Leaders must be able to launch new activities with confidence, willingness to accept the consequences of their decisions and actions, the ability to cope with stress and forgiveness.” According to management expert Alexander, “Creative leaders value differing viewpoints and they see innovative ideas as opportunities for organizational success rather than as threats to their position. Through their willingness to interact with and listen to others, they demonstrate the importance of inclusion and the placement of high value on others’ contributions to the organization.” The adaptability, agility, and flexibility allow the innovation leader to capture the rapid changes in the business environment; and judge future trends in products, services, and market development. Creativity is the ability to think to create something new, something else that is valuable to oneself and society to improve the old backwardness to add value. Creativity can come from the passion to explore and conquer something new. A vision of the future so the leaders must have creativity and passion.

The Attributes of an Innovation Leader

Cognitive skills include the ability to analyze, synthesize problems, and think logically and comprehensively. Leaders need these skills to be aware of future development trends, opportunities, and challenges and to anticipate changes. Social relationship skills include the ability to perceive human behavior and the process of creating relationships between people. Specifically, it is the understanding of emotions, attitudes, and motives of people through their words and behaviors. It is the ‘human understanding’ that will help the leader to inspire and motivate his subordinates effectively. A great innovation manager needs foresight skills and must be able to connect an innovation vision with innovative ideas, they must be reformers and not against changes, they dare to dream to be different and they are also willing to accept failure.

According to leadership scholar David Ward, Jr., “Leaders need to encourage their team members to actively hike on innovation trails to uncover uncharted paths of possibilities. Employees are not going to find innovative ideas and concepts doing the same old thing or referencing the same information.” Innovation leaders need to lead well to change products, services, and systems dynamically. A good leader must be the one who motivates the process of deciding to solve problems and delegate his or her subordinates in the decision-making. Innovation planning skills are important to ensure that managers can project sound innovation strategies and drive all employees to work on the goals of the innovation strategy. When the innovation plan is completed, the manager must convey the plan’s outcomes to the superiors and subordinates for consultation. During the implementation of the innovation plan, the manager will need problem-solving tools and, when necessary, make decisions within his authority. An innovation leader needs to be aware of the time when it is appropriate to adapt and accept change. Leaders must always think about how to make the most effective innovation decisions. In any duty, he also needs to promote creativity to perform the fastest and most effective innovation and most assured product or service quality.

According to Professor Gary W. Oster, “In successfully innovative companies, leaders always deal with reality, speaking the truth and demanding the same of their subordinates. Corporate truth-telling is foundational to escaping complacency.” Executives must always identify who they represent and what they should do. They must be brave and determined in matters related to the survival and development of the business. In this process, the leader must anticipate the difficulties, obstacles, and changes in the business environment and he should suggest contingency plans. The leader must be able to develop and innovate new problem-solving methods for himself and his business. Creativity is an important quality, it is a result of a continual process of learning, observation, and creative thinking.

Innovation leadership competence is understood as any attitude, skill, behavior, motive, or other personal characteristics that are essential to complete innovation goals. In the role of a leader the attitude, skill, behavior, motivation, or personal characteristics that can make a difference in leadership effectiveness and helping the business grow sustainably. The ability to comprehend the views of others understand and perceive the role of others in the organization, and the social judgment skills involved in dealing with other members flexibly are the skills needed to solve the organization’s problems. It also includes the ability to communicate an innovative vision to members effectively. Persuasion skills in communication are needed to do that. Conflict resolution skills are an important aspect of the ability to bring about social effectiveness. In addition, the effect of social outcomes sometimes requires leaders to train subordinates, provide direction, and support them as they move towards the innovation goals the company has chosen.

The result of knowledge from developing a categorization of a complex schema into clear and organized data. Knowledge has a positive effect on how the leader engages in solving problems. It is knowledge and expertise that the leader empowers people to think about complex system issues and identify strategies that are feasible for change. In addition, this capability allows us to use previous situations and events to plan changes. Knowledge also allows us to use the past to develop future strategies.

Conclusion

Leadership scholars Bhaskar Prasad and Paulina Junni found that CEO psychological characteristics can have a profound effect on firm innovativeness. More specifically, they found that CEO organizational identification enhanced firm innovativeness. They also found that CEO risk-taking propensity enhanced firm innovativeness. Their results also show important organization-specific conditions that moderate the ability of CEOs to influence firm innovativeness. They found that organizational size moderates the effect of CEO psychological characteristics on firm innovativeness. To transform an organization successfully innovation leader needs to acquire the appropriate knowledge, skills, characteristics, attributes, qualities, behavior, attitudes, and experience.  Innovation leaders need to acquire knowledge of leadership, business, management, creativity, and innovation. They should have risk-taking, disruptive thinking, and creative thinking. They need to possess the skills of innovation vision and strategy development; organization and implementation of an innovation management system; and building and developing an innovation culture and organizational transformation. The qualities, behavior, and attitudes of an innovation leader include adventurous, learning, innovative and creative thinking, flexible, responsive, and inclusive.

According to Professor Gary W. Oster, “Because of agapao love, corporations are obligated to develop an innovation agenda that not only meets profit targets but also intentionally aligns with the actual needs of clients and society as a whole.” A great innovation leader who knows how to apply love in action to be aware of the desires of the people they lead and decide to work in the best interest of team members. A Brave innovation leader who is willing to take risks, and always has faith in others; these daredevils dare to discuss difficult issues, ready to deal with and share views that are not even welcome. Professor Gary W. Oster defined, “Design thinking possesses three important attributes that help it complement operational efficiency and bolster strategic formation; it is abductive, inclusive, and problem-based.” The qualities, behavior, and attitudes of innovation leaders include adventurous, learning, innovative and creative thinking, flexible, responsive, and inclusive. The adaptability, agility, and flexibility allow the innovation leader to capture the rapid changes in the business environment and analyze future trends in products, services, and market development.

According to creativity and innovation expert Donald C. Hambrick, “An aspiration that challenges complacency and demands that the organization go beyond its current performance, to search, create, and surprise the customer; a vision that tells the organization where it is going; a leadership commitment in terms of resources; an innovation strategy and a set of processes and management systems to support the strategy; leadership by example; a clear sense of command; a culture receptive to new ideas and change.” A great innovation manager needs foresight skills and must be able to connect an innovation vision with innovative ideas, he must be a reformer and not against changes, he dares to dream to be different, and they are also willing to accept failure. Innovation planning skills are important to ensure that managers can project sound innovation strategies and drive all employees to work on the goals of the innovation strategy.

Management scholars Ganesh Mishra and Kusum Mishra noted, “Certain characteristics and attributes that play an important role in becoming an innovation leader are sharply focused, charming, energetic, thoughtful, highly confident, personalized, answerable to multiple stakeholders, attached to global community, attitude towards learning for life, must be collaborative, must be visionary, must act as change agent, must be a good salesperson to sell ideas to the people, must be a good listener to understand others requirements, must be a logical thinker to make decisions, must be a good team-builder, must be even-keeled demeanor to act in an unbiased manner, must be passionate about new ideas and concept, and must be optimistic.” The agapao love is a foundation of creativity and innovation, this attribute motivates innovation leaders who plan, implement, control, and improve continually the agapao love-based innovation management system to lead their organization to achieve innovation goals aimed to implement innovation strategy and change innovation culture successfully.