Creative leaders or leading creatively.

Taylorization of management

Management and leadership development instrumentalised

Controversial management: more with less, pressure on delivery, on performance, pressure on time

Loss of autonomy for management, internal transaction costs and political correctness, lack of trust and confidence

Absence of Courage

Risk aversion and lack of creativity

Commoditisation of managerial activities

Off shoring of managerial activities

Innovations and creativity needed on products and services, on organizations, on business models What is creative leadership,

Most managerial activities are based on convergent thinking. As J.March wrote in his different books about management, the first acceptable solution is the good one, there is almost no further thinking about a tough question. There is no time to mull over, redefine the problem and look for something more creative, more elegant and different. The cost of selling a creative idea within the corporation is too high. What is the profile of a creative leader? More than (just!) the traditional required leadership skills, creative people have a few other attributes, as found by past research. Flexibility, fluidity, tolerance for ambiguity, marginality and risk, lack of inhibition, critical judgment. They are not always easy people to live with, as they may be very individualistic and hypercritical. Good examples are found within artists, high level professionals, journalists, faculty members. In that last case the role of a Dean in a Business school as been described as herding cats on an frozen pond. How can a leader be creative him(her)self and manage creative people? This means a creative leader can be a stand alone person. Only true followers can stay by, with the risk of being surrounded by yes-men, and courtiers. Understanding creative processes Understanding creative people Supporting and coaching creative people: Becoming a servant leader If as a leader you are yourself very creative, chances are that your team will not compete with you, and you will end by doing all the jobs yourself. You must play as a catalyst and allow people to be creative. You can add spice, but never take the final result for yourself. This means a lot of natural generosity. If you want to be creative yourself try to implement it to a non competitive field to your team, and try not to allocate their resources to your project. A Dean must listen to all the faculty, read their publications, discuss with them freely, in their offices, or in a neutral place, off the office, a place where they feel safe and not under scrutiny, formally or informally. Questions should be about what they plan to achieve, and what they need to do it. Then the Dean can bring resources and support, eventually discuss the final outcome and try to make it relevant or contributive to the school project. Defining too precise goals for creative people can kill their motivation.