Six Attributes of Innovative Leaders

September 8, 2009

From:  Deschamps, J.P. (2008).  Innovation leaders: how senior executives stimulate, steer and sustain innovation. 

1. "A 'mix of emotion and realism,' as Logitech's confounder and former chairman calls it, or an unusual combination of creativity and process discipline.
2. The acceptance of uncertainty, risks and failures, coupled with an urge to make their staff learn from them.
3. A high degree of passion for their mission and for innovation, as well as the burning desire to share this passion with their staff.
4. The willingness to proactively search for external technologies and ideas and then to experiment with them.
5. The courage to stop projects, not just to start them, and the flair to decide when to persist vs. when to pull the plug.
6. A talent for building and steering winning teams and a knack for attracting and retaining innovators (Deschamps, 2008, p.30)."

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