Creative Leadership - Contexts and Prospects

Dr Babis Mainemelis 22.5.2016

Creative Leadership: Contexts & Prospects

❖ A capsule-history of the evolution of the notion of creative leadership in the last 70 years ➜ More important today than even before.

❖ Conflicting or diverging views in the study and practice of creative leadership ➜ Context-sensitive manifestations.

❖ A recent meta-theoretical framework of creative leadership that stresses the role of context ➜ Tripartite conceptualization (Mainemelis, Kark, & Epitropaki, 2015).

3 messages about Creative Leadership

“Creative Leadership: Human vs. Metal Brains” Stanley Stark, Academy of Management Journal, 1963

Herbert Simon “Administrative Behavior”

1947

Philip Selznick “Leadership in Administration”

1957

“Creative Leadership: Human vs. Metal Brains” What’s happening in 2016?

❖ IBM 2010 Global CEO study with 1,500 CEOs in 60 countries and 33 industries: Creativity is the #1 leadership quality for success in business.

❖ However, a battery of research studies have shown that:

❖ The trait “creative” doesn’t show up in implicit leadership theories (e.g., Epitropaki & Martin, 2004, 2005).

❖ Creative individuals are less likely to emerge as leaders (e.g., Kark et al., 2012).

❖ Creative idea expression is negatively associated with the assessment of leadership potential (e.g., Mueller et al., 2011).

Paradoxes of Creative Leadership

❖ Creative leadership is among the most rapidly growing research areas in leadership research (Dihn et al., 2014; Mainemelis et al., 2015), but…

❖ Academics still can’t agree on what creative leadership is (3 views)

❖ Managers as well hold different views on what creative leaders do (3 views).

Paradoxes of Creative Leadership

John Ferrell President & CCO, Ferrellcalvillo, New York (in Oliver & Ashley, 2012: 342)

“Advertising is a business of big ideas. The objective of the copywriter and art director is to develop the big idea. The creative director’s objective is to help others develop big ideas. I begin by explaining the potential of an assignment to the creative people, so they’re excited about what can be done. Then, I’ll try to take them right to the edge of the big idea. Once they’ve begun to generate work, my job is to help them identify the truly big idea and bring it to the top. So I must enthuse, energize and, when truly big ideas begin to emerge, help to identify and nurture them."

What Is Creative Leadership?

Davide Scabin Chef and owner, Combal.Zero, Turin (in Slavich, Cappetta, & Salvemini, 2014: 37)

“A chef is an excellent artisan who is able to create the perfect prototype for the perfect dish, to enable those who work with him to perfectly replicate it many times. This is crucial, because no chef works directly on every dish prepared in his kitchen. In order to make my business succeed and grow, I have to become a mentor and share my knowledge with the people working with me.”


Harold Clurman Theatrical director and drama critic (in Dunhman & Freeman, 2000: 115)

“One might say that the director is the author of the theatrical production, except for the fact that in the collaborative art of the theatre no one c a n b e m o r e t h a n a c r u c i a l collaborator.”


❖ Creativity in organizations is predominantly collaborative (not solitary).

❖ Creative in collaborative contexts requires both:

❖ Creative contributions (e.g., generating and developing new ideas); and

❖ Supportive contributions (e.g., providing material, psychological, and social support for creative pursuits).

❖ Supportive contributions are not perceived as creative themselves but they play a crucial role in enabling creative and innovative behaviors in the workplace.

“Creative Leadership: A Multi-Context Conceptualization” Mainemelis, Kark, & Epitropaki, Academy of Management Annals, 2015

Followers’ Creative Contributions

Lead

er’s

Cre

ativ

e C

ontr

ibut

ions

Facilitating

IntegratingDirecting

Low High

High

Leading by fostering the creativity of others in the

work context.

Leading by synthesizing heterogeneous creative

contributions.

Leading by materializing one’s own creative vision

through others’ work.



Lead

er’s

Cre

ativ

e C

ontr

ibut

ions

Facilitating


Low High

High


work context.


contributions.



Leader SupportFollo

wer S

uppo

rtCrea

tive Sy

nergy


Facilitating IntegratingDirectingLeading by fostering the creativity of others in the

work context.


contributions.



“It’s management’s job to play defence, it’s the team’s

job to play offence.”

FacilitatingLeading by fostering the creativity of others in the

work context.

Variation Selection Retention

FacilitatingLeading by fostering the creativity of others in the

work context.


Lead

er’s

Cre

ativ

e C

ontr

ibut

ions

Facilitating


Low High

High


work context.


contributions.





work context.


contributions.





“You have to control the project through to the end,

really control thegoddamned thing, because

it’s your design. Nobody else knows how to do it.”

• In some organizational contexts authenticity is much more important than volume and quantity.

• Authenticity can be claimed through: • Tradition/heritage, or/and • Creativity

• In many cases the image of authenticity is very closed tied to or even fully embodied by the leader. This tends to give rise to directive forms of creative leadership.

DirectingLeading by materializing one’s own creative vision



Lead

er’s

Cre

ativ

e C

ontr

ibut

ions

Facilitating


Low High

High


work context.


contributions.





work context.


contributions.





“You have to control the project through to the end,

really control thegoddamned thing, because

it’s your design. Nobody else knows how to do it.”

“There’s a sensual satisfaction in working in close union with strong, independent, and creative people: actors, assistants,

electricians, production staff, props people, makeup staff, costume designers, all those personalities who populate the

day and make it happen. “

• In some organizational contexts the final creative product integrates the heterogeneous creative contributions of diverse professionals.

• Such context tend to give rise to integrative forms of creative leadership, be it in a single, dual, or collaborative form.

IntegratingLeading by synthesizing heterogeneous creative

contributions.

IntegratingLeading by synthesizing heterogeneous creative

contributions.

Facilitating IntegratingDirecting

Goal Maximize Variation Authentic Creative Identity Creative Synthesis

Social Structure Stable / positions High institutionalization Temporary / roles

Key Learning Aspect Separation Codification, teachability Recombination

Key Leader BehaviorsEncouragement, Support, Idea Evaluation, Networks

Creative Vision, Inspiration, Communication

Creative Vision, Integration, tertius iugens-

tertius gaudens

Key Follower Behaviors Idea GenerationIdea Implementation, Impeccable Execution

Idea Generation & Idea Implementation

Leader’s tensions Encourage-Reject Live up to expectations Negotiate

Follower’s tensions Resistance & rejection Creative entrapment Negotiate


Lead

er’s

Cre

ativ

e C

ontr

ibut

ions

Facilitating


Low High

High


work context.


contributions.




Creative Leadership - Contexts and Prospects

Business

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