Photo by Nerses Khachatryan on Unsplash
The Digital Age has unleashed three powerful forces. Continuous change, pervasive innovation; and global markets, customers and competition.
So new leadership capabilities are required and innovation matters more than ever. Digital transformation is largely enabled by innovation, from building new products and services to leveraging data for more efficient operations.
Going digital, the focus for many companies today continues to demand the attention of leadership teams as they evolve to meet new challenges and expectations.
If innovation is to flourish, leaders must create an entrepreneurial environment in which everyone feels encouraged to experiment and where failure is viewed as something that can be learned from. Real leaders promote diversity, as innovation can come from anyone.
More than 70 percent of senior executives in a recent McKinsey survey say that innovation will be one of the drivers of growth for their companies in the next three to five years. Other executives see innovation as the most important way for companies to accelerate the pace of change in today’s
global business environment.
“Innovation leadership is a philosophy and technique that combines different leadership styles to influence employees to produce creative ideas, products, and services. The key role in the practice of innovation leadership is the innovation leader.”
–Wikipedia
In a recent in-depth study of leaders in the telecommunications industry, the Harvard Business Review isolated 10 distinctive behaviors that set this group apart as innovation leaders. Here are the bullet points:
- Display excellent strategic vision. The most effective innovation leaders can vividly describe their vision of the future.
- Possess a strong customer focus. Network with clients and ask incessant questions.
- Create a climate of reciprocal trust. People are never punished for honest mistakes.
- Display fearless loyalty to the company and to the project.
- Trust in a culture that rewards upward communication.
- Excel at setting goals. These goals require finding new ways to achieve a high goal.
- Persuade. These individuals are highly effective in getting others to accept good ideas.
- Emphasize speed. Experiments and rapid prototypes preferred over lengthy studies.
- Communicate candidly, honestly and even bluntly.
- Inspire and motivate through action.
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
— Lao Tzu
How to become an innovative leader in the digital age
Leadership and Innovation
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