Creative Leadership

We've talked about a number of leadership models in this publication.  Most of these models date back to some of the earlier thoughts on the subject.  Creative leadership is one of the more recent additions to this area, and in some ways has redefined the way we should look at leaders.

Robert Sternberg of Yale University, with funding from the Army Research Institute, the US Institute for Educational Sciences, and the National Science Foundation is responsible for developing the model of creative leadership.  These three agencies charged Sternberg with the task of outlining a model for the development of expert leaders.

Creative Leadership Goal

One product of this research was a goal statement, around which the creative leadership model was developed:

"Good leadership is, in large part, a decision.  Developing leadership is thus guiding future leaders in the kinds of questions they will ask and the decisions they will make about how to use their skills."

Sternberg points out that one of the keys to achieving this goal was to understand traditional approaches to leadership as well as newer models, leveraging the strengths of each.  For example, more traditional approaches emphasize leadership attributes such as traits and leadership behaviors.  Current leadership theories include those from researchers such as Bass, with his thoughts on transformational and transactional leadership styles.

WICS and Leadership Expertise

The foundation of the creative leadership model is built upon the skills and attitudes of what Sternberg terms "expert leaders."  Simply stated, leadership expertise comes from WICS:

• Wisdom - allows the leader to balance and understand the long and short-term impact of new ideas on oneself and others.
• Intelligence - the skills needed to analyze ideas to determine if, in fact, the creative ideas are good ideas.
• Creativity - the ability to generate new ideas using creative skills.
• Synthesized - to make creative ideas functional, and convince others that the idea is valuable.

For many people, it is difficult to think creatively.  We know what we are supposed to do, but for some reason we don't always do the right thing.  This can occur because of internal or external pressures, such as political pressure at work.  Another reason this occurs is because we know what needs to be done, but we're just not sure how to do it.

If we put these two concepts together - what it takes to be a creative leader, and the obstacles that leaders encounter - then we can see how Sternberg draws the following conclusion about creative leadership:

Creative leadership is not just about having the ability or necessary skills; it is also about choosing to lead.  Not everyone is up to this task.

Paradigms and Creative Leadership Styles

In the creative leadership model, Sternberg is particularly sensitive to the role of creative leaders, and how their ideas mesh with the current operating environment or paradigm.  The model identifies eight types of leaders, and three levels of paradigm acceptance:

Creative Leadership Styles Accepting Current Paradigms

• Replicators - these are leaders that pretty much do what previous leaders did, making only small changes.
• Redefiners - this style, once again, recycles the ideas of previous leaders, but they are able to redefine the reason for doing it.
• Forward Incrementors - this leader moves the followers forward in small increments.  They tend to continue down the same path that was started by previous leaders.
• Advanced Forward Incrementors - this is a leader that is moving followers well beyond the efforts of past leaders.  These leaders may even move well beyond the comfort zone of most followers.

Creative Leadership Styles Rejecting Current Paradigms

• Redirectors - this type of leader picks up where the past leader left off, but then takes followers in a new direction.
• Reconstructors - a leader that revisits the efforts of former leaders, perhaps even leaders of the distant past, and then starts to move in a new direction.
• Reinitiators - this leader moves the followers in a new direction from a completely different starting point.

Creative Leadership Styles Integrating Current Paradigms

• Synthesizers - these leaders examine two or more ideas from the past, integrate these ideas, and move forward from that point.

Creative Leadership Model

To summarize, the creative leadership model and the styles described therein can accept, reject, or integrate the current way of doing things.  Sternberg believed that the type of leadership style that will be most successful depends on the leader's abilities, the job that needs to be done, and the impact or interactions with others.

Here once again, we see the integration of the new and the old.  While Sternberg has a unique view in how he constructed leadership styles, he recycles the situational leadership theories of past studies.

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