Innovation Leadership: A New Kind of Leadership

Abstract

The previous chapters on innovation and the innovation ecosystem lead us to the central topic of this chapter: Innovation Leadership. In contrast to traditional forms of leadership, we reframe leadership as a modality as well as a mindset, and emphasize the need to define it as a capacity to create impact in an increasingly complex class of challenges. Innovation Leadership involves two main dimensions of change namely the ability to amplify the impact and the ability to amplify the Innovation Capacity of the system. The primary job of the Innovation leader is to manage the two dimensions. The Innovation Capacity of the organization and the ecosystem in altered by increasing both the level of expertise as well as the ability to innovate across challenge categories. There are multiple pathways for increasing Innovation Capacity that are discussed in detail in terms of the required innovation skills, mindsets, and impact frame.