Innovation and Leadership

Innovation is a new way of doing things. For an organization it is creating or doing something that is outside of their comfort zone. it is taking chances, asking "why not?" or "what if?" It is finding a way to do it better, faster, cheaper, and more exciting than anyone else in the marketplace. This can be a product, service, design, or attitude.The first and most important guideline, I think, to be innovative is to have strong leadership.

It is hard to find a good leader within the company. Many people misconstrue leadership with management. This is very wrong. Management is being able to delegate to the get the job done. Leadership is acting, doing, and inspiring in such a way that people want to follow you. Leadership is a lifestyle. If you have to tell people that they SHOULD follow you or that you are a GOOD LEADER than you are not.People who are leaders are inspiring. They are exciting. They take chances. Others in the organization want to be them.

In order for an organization to be innovative they have to be that leader who stands out front and says "let's figure out, and if it doesn't work - blame me!" Because a leader draws strength off of mistakes. A leader knows that the only way to make it better is to make mistakes - lots and lots of them.The leader will stand out front of a crowd and say "Come on everybody - we can do this!" And everyone will get so excited that they will just say yes. Why? Because you have inspired them. You are willing to take the chance and push ahead, and they are excited to get on that road with you.

Confession time: I feel that I have not been a leader lately. I am finding myself turning into a manager - and I hate it. I am going to go back to the basics and figure out how to get my leader MO JO back. I will check back soon....