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Abstract
Scientific research into the topical arena of leadership has spanned a century, and leadership has been recognized as the linchpin of organizational effectiveness. In this context, creative leadership adds a critical dimension to the field of leadership by delving into the persona and potential of the leader who aspires to steer away from the beaten path. Creative leadership thus fuels vision, spawns novel ideas, crafts diverse methods, and produces innovative output. In essence, creative leadership serves as a catalyst to impel salutary change in the ecosystem through the effervescence of innovative change. This theoretical paper looks at the phenomenon of creative leadership by synthesizing concepts and constructs of creativity and leadership.
Keywords: Organizational Effectiveness, Creative Leadership, Ecosystem, Innovative Change
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost, 1916
Introduction
Scientific research into the topical arena of leadership has spanned a century, and leadership has been recognized as the linchpin of organizational effectiveness (Kouzes & Posner, 1987; Nahavandi, 1997; Yukl, 2002). In this context, creative leadership adds a critical dimension to the field of leadership by delving into the kaleidoscopic persona and creative potential of the leader who aspires to steer away from the beaten path. Creative leadership fuels vision, spawns novel ideas, crafts diverse methods, and produces innovative output. In essence, creative leadership serves as a catalyst to impel salutary change in the ecosystem through the effervescence of innovative change. This essay looks at the phenomenon of creative leadership by synthesizing concepts and constructs of creativity and leadership.
Literature Review
Leadership and Creativity
The question may well be asked: What does it mean to think creatively? Blessed with a fertile mind, we turn mental ideas and models into reality through our innate ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions to problems (Norman, 1983). Creativity involves not only thinking, but also producing what is perceived as novel in tangible and intangible ways. Thus, the pensive poet Robert Frost pens a stirring poem, and Rodin carves a rugged sculpture widely admired as the pensive Thinking Man. Clearly, creativity brings with it some excitement as...