Characteristics of the Creative Leader (versus Authoritative Leader)

I made this chart for my presentation at Davos World Economic Forum on "Creative Leadership" in January 2009. Since it has been requested ... here it is. I hope it's useful. -JM

Authorative Leader		Creative Leader
Symbol of Authority More Sticks Hierarchical Linear Path Plan and Execute: Launching with 1.0 Sustaining Order Yes or No (clear) Literal in Tone Concerned with Being Right Think like a General or Conductor Delegates Actions Closed System One-Way Close the Ranks Follows the Manual Loves to Avoid Mistakes Reliability Orchestra Model Community in Harmony Wants to be Right Open to Limited Feedback Your Opinion Matters		Symbol of Inspiration More Carrots Networked Nonlinear Path Iterate and Do: Living in Beta Taking Risks Maybe (comfort with ambiguity) Metaphorical in Tone Concerned with Being Real Think like an Artist or Designer Hands-On Driven Open System Interactive Permeable Improvises when Appropriate Loves to Learn from Mistakes Validity Jazz Ensemble Community in Conversation Hopes to be Right Open to Unlimited Critique What are You Really Thinking?

PS Here it is in the original visual form.

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Source: Creative Leadership

Creative Elegance - the power of incomplete ideas, Matthew E. May

It is nearly impossible to make it through a typical day without exchanging ideas. Whether deciding on something as simple as a restaurant for a long overdue night out, or as complicated as the design of an entirely new product, we are forever involved in sculpting and selling our creative thought. Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, an idea must be concrete, complete, and certain. But what if that’s wrong? What if the most elegant, most imaginative, most engaging ideas are none of those things? Gaze at the image below for a moment. The three sets of right-angled lines depict something so ubiquitous that you’d be hard-pressed to make it through the day without it. Can you identify it? If you can’t, it’s because a key piece of information is missing. Once that information is shared, however, you will never again be able to see the image in quite the same way again. You are looking at the upper case version of the most widely used letter in the English language. The letter, though, exists in the white space. Do you see it now? It is the letter E. Look again. My guess is that from now on, you’ll have difficulty not seeing it.

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Creative Leadership - AGSM interview Ralph Kerle

Creative Leadership: leading your staff out of the box Innovation – in 2009 it’s not just a word to be bandied about. The economy is forcing us to get creative. Innovation could be just what we need and it could be very good for business. What exactly is creative leadership? It’s not an easy question to answer, but Ralph Kerle is one person who is well qualified to offer an answer. Ralph is the Program Director of the AGSM Executive Programs Leading for Creativity and Innovation program. He is also the Executive Chairman of the Creative Leadership Forum and Founder of the Creative Skills Training Council, Asia Pacific. If asked to define creative leadership, Ralph can conjure 1001 different definitions off the cuff. When asked to pick just one, he chose the following: Creative leadership is the ability to lead others into a new, innovative and unknown future. Ralph compares creative leadership to the process of sculpting or playwriting.

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Creative Leadership can Transform Your Organisation - ThinkXchange interview Ralph Kerle

Ralph Kerle, Executive Chairman of the Creative Leadership Forum, explains the how to of creative leadership.

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Interview courtesy of ThinkXchange.com.au

Creative Leadership and Simplicity

John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design redefines the concept of leadership and compares traditional leadership and creative leadership. I will have to follow up his presentation later on. Interesting how the concepts of Web 2.0 and Change Management are interwoven on this conference. I took the opportunity of another keynote that I weren't so interested in to check John's Laws of Simplicity (just mind you - John is a designer but uses his wisdom to talk about society, management etc. In 1999, Maeda was included in Esquire magazine’s list of the 21 most important people for the twenty-first century). So, here are his Laws of Simplicty:

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