The cold hard truth is that innovation is a clear sign of a great leader. Followers copy, replicate and essentially borrow smart ideas and new ways of rethinking from their lead visionaries. Truly innovative leaders fully understand that there’s always a better way to do things. There is always new ground to break and new roads to travel. The trouble is that leaders don’t wake up one day and decide to change the landscape of businesses and organizations. Through a long road of successes and failures, they hone tools and resources that foster an innovative environment wherever they turn. This is every leader’s life work.
Three Marks of an Innovative Business Leader
1.They Know When to Innovate
The truth is there’s no trick to gauging when to innovate with a business idea, product or service offering. The big idea is that innovation never ceases. Once a leader stops dreaming of new ways to do things, they essentially stop caring and they get left behind. This is especially true in the tech and web-based industries. Technologies and ideas are evolving, changing and growing at break-neck speed. Some businesses get into a comfortable situation and don’t want to risk that safety net. Smart leaders know that all of business is a risk, but that lying dormant in a vacuum of relative safety is a sure path to failure.
2.They’re Always Learning
The smartest of the smart know that they’re not the be-all-end-all of business leadership. Reaching thought leadership status in your industry is going to involve travelling with fellow innovaters. This is why conferences like, the Front End Innovation conference (FEI) are so important. According to PayCor’s Chief Information Officer, Vinay Mehta, this year’s conference “was a breath of fresh air, an opportunity to downshift from the day-to-day and upshift into the world of the possible.” You can tell that this environment gives you the chance to get in a room with lots of other business thought leaders both in and out of your industry to take in their brilliant ideas, and toss some of your own into the ring.
3.They’re Tech Savvy
In today’s business climate, particularly throughout the tech industry, today’s leaders know that innovation isn’t remotely possible without the right tools. This is part of the learning process. You’ll need to get onboard with current technology. This means reading books, blogs, going to conferences, getting expert opinions from thought leaders. Then you’ll need to adopt that technology and use it to nurture a culture of innovation in your business. In short, with the right tools and resources you can be a dangerous leader in your industry.
Becoming a leader
At the end of the day, a good business leader must be intuitive. They must see potential in just about every aspect of their business, and have the vision and pragmatic solutions to solve these problems. This is the type of leader that people will follow, even into the most uncertain waters of innovation. Don’t take this responsibility lightly. Cultivate it with the people you work with.
About the Author:
This guest post is written by Danielle