Uniqueness of Leadership

Develop your leadership within an area that comes natural to you

Through a group in LinkedIn, I was lead to an article from Harvard Business Review entitled ‘Discovering Your Authentic Leadership’. It made me relate to one of our past Innovation Masterclass on Leadership and Culture provoking my neurons to create naïve thoughts around how great the ‘working’ world would be if both were combined. 

The Innovation Masterclass covered elements that made a company successful in innovation: The strategy goes hand in hand with what the company is capable of doing well. The goals are set within specific timeframes and fit the company’s business model, innovation inhibitors and enablers are addressed.

• Inhibitors include: Communication, compensation and culture,  it was stressed not to ignore these factors, to bring the whole team on board by having open channels of communication and being clear with employees on how they will be evaluated, rewarded, recognised and compensated for being responsible for projects that involved new processes and higher risks.  
• Enablers include: People, processes, and permission, where it  highlighted the importance of providing training so that people can think creatively, following a consistent process to develop better results.

However, the main lesson of this Innovation Masterclass is that a company can be the best in practicing the theory behind successful innovation, but success in innovation relies on leaders that can stimulate active thought and lead plans of action. It needs leaders that are aligned to corporate strategy without blinding themselves from new horizons and business opportunities, leaders that understand that innovation is long-term and  involves much risk in the changes to come, therefore they are capable of guiding a team that actively supports the innovation efforts.

Is there a real theory behind leadership?

It is evident that a strong, capable team leader will make a big difference in innovation. There are many authors that have written on the necessary leadership capabilities, and how people can become leaders by developing the skills required.

What was refreshing in this HBR article is that through a study, it was found that leaders didn’t share the same characteristics the exact same way. What they did have in common was a thread that made them unique: They were authentic in how they lived their life and confident in who they were. They all provided leadership in different fields, but they provided leadership in their own field, in the field they were confident in and could exploit their traits and help people the best way.

Imagine yourself as a leader, but not just any leader, a leader within your field of passion. If you encounter yourself working in a field that you love, understand why you enjoy it so much, and question how you can make it even better. Becoming more confident in what you do and why you do it will generate an energy that can be easily transferred to your team members. By leading people in an area that you are comfortable exploring and developing, the theory behind successful innovation will flow without much effort. As the article says “devote yourself to a lifetime of realizing your full potential.”.