Creative Leadership

1
Creative Leadership Women

• Dr. Tara Grey Coste
• Singapore 2009

2
Overview

• What is effective leadership practice?
• What is creative leadership?
• How are women especially well suited to succeed
  as creative leaders?

3
Effective Leadership Practicefor Modern Times

• Non-autocratic leadership style
• Flexible structure
• Open culture
• Questioning attitude
• Tolerance for mistakes

4
Effective Leadership Practicefor Modern Times

• To achieve success in these times of great
  change, we need creative people building creative
  organizations.

5
Creative People

• Have a great deal of physical energy but are also
  often quiet and at rest
• Tend to be smart yet also naïve at the same time
• Exhibit a combination of playfulness and
  discipline
• Alternate between imagination and fantasy and a
  rooted sense of reality

6
Creative People

• Seem to harbor both extroversion and introversion
  
• Appear remarkably humble and proud at the same
  time
• Exhibit the psychological strengths of both
  genders (e.g., aggressive and nurturing)

7
Creative People

• Seem both traditional/conservative and
  rebellious/iconoclastic
• Are both passionate and objective about their
  work
• Have a tendency toward openness and sensitivity
  that exposes them to pain and suffering yet also
  a great deal of enjoyment

8
Elements of Creative Leadership

• How does that translate to leadership practice
  geared toward developing creative organizations?

9
Elements of Creative Leadership

• Challenge Involvement
• Keep your people highly engaged.
• Freedom
• Develop an atmosphere that encourages original
  thought.

10
Elements of Creative Leadership

• Trust/Openness
• Strive for a culture in which it is okay to
  experiment and admit mistakes.
• Idea Time
• Carve out time for projects and thinking not
  tied to production deadlines.

11
Elements of Creative Leadership

• Playfulness/Humor
• Leave plenty of space for fun.
• Conflict
• Allow disagreement to stimulate better formed
  ideas.

12
Element of Creative Leadership

• Idea Support
• Budget sufficient resources so that fledgling
  ideas have a chance to prove themselves.
• Debate
• Encourage healthy forms of idea challenging.

13
Element of Creative Leadership

• Risk Taking
• Celebrate the success and learn from the failure
  found in the unknown.

14
Causes of Gender Differencesin Leadership

• Less experience in organizations
• Less committed to work and career
• Quit jobs more often
• Less educated
• Discrimination and stereotypes
• Cultural factors

15
Change Oriented Thinking

• The more people are challenged, the more they
  tend to rely on tried and true answers to the
  challenges that face us. But as we all know, in
  order to survive in todays highly competitive
  global reality, we must embrace creative ideas
  and the change that necessarily comes from them.

16
Creative Leadership Women

• Tara Grey Coste, Ph.D.
• Leadership and Organizational Studies
• University of Southern Maine
• 51 Westminster Street
• Lewiston, ME 04240 USA
• tcoste_at_usm.maine.edu (e-mail)
• 207/753-6500 (phone), 207/753-6555 (fax)