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The Creative Executive in Action - Part 1

In the world of business, the word "leader" is one not used very often. Or, if it is applied to a man, as often as not it is in a fatuous sense.

Businessmen, perhaps through modesty or pretended modesty, seem to prefer terms like "executive," "administrator," "super­visor," "manager," or even "chief." Yet the problems inherent in all those preferred titles are problems involving leadership: making decisions; implementing policy and action; influencing the think­ing and actions of others in such a way that they will want to be "followers."

Leadership, of course, comes in all sizes and shapes. The grade school youngster who organizes a game of sand-lot baseball is exercising it. So is the production worker who feels that the only solution to his problem lies in organizing a grievance committee to complain to management. So is the company president who "sells" his board on expending $5-million on a new plant.

Of chief interest to the business leader, however, are forms of leadership best described as "dynamic"—meaning leadership char­acterized by energetic action that is both progressive and effec­tive. And dynamic leadership must be creative leadership. It must be imaginative and forwardly oriented to be of benefit to the company or organization in which it is applied. A man who dis­plays energy in tackling the problems of his job, and who also produces results that are both effective and progressive for the company, is a dynamic, creative leader—no matter what his official title or what he prefers to call himself.

It is true, of course, that every business executive or leader, no matter how creative or dynamic the results he obtains, is first of all a human being. If we were to list all the virtues that an executive should have, according to all the writers and "authori­ties" on management, the composite results would probably be more angelic than human. Therefore, the best we can hope for in describing the traits of creative leadership are some "ideals" that are worth working toward, and even these must be generalized to a high degree.

It has been said that the qualities for success as an executive are "drive; a sense of responsibility; the ability to communicate; the ability to think; the ability to get along with people; health; good character." To these should probably be added that of having a focus or goal in life: the creative leader should know what it is he is trying to accomplish—he should know where he is going and be able to explain it to others. It is often surprising and even amazing how many men you can find who are in their middle productive years of thirty-eight to forty-two who have never asked themselves the questions, "What do I want out of life?" and "Just where do I think I am going?" But a would-be creative leader must know the answers to these because, upon them, will revolve his entire attitude toward his relationships with others.

The executive's activities in applying his own creativity to help others release their imaginations are many: he, as an individual, must be a planner, coordinator, judge, and coach. And he must do each of these jobs in such a way that it does not interfere with any of the others or weaken his position as the final authority. This, in many cases, requires the highest degrees of applied imagination!

The creative executive will, needless to say, set a creative ex­ample himself. He will always be ready to suggest courses of action on problems that will at least get action started, without, in any way, taking away from the delegated freedom to experiment or develop. This means that the executive's own idea sources must be developed. He will attend conventions; he will travel; he will visit other plants or departments and question their proceedings with a view toward finding new ideas. He will be familiar with the views of business writers and authorities in trade magazines— even in fields not directly connected to his own. He will associate with creative people and people who can spark—and even shock —his own thinking.

In attempting to obtain results through other people, the crea­tive leader will, in a way, be a human chemist. He will think im­personally about people—as if they were human chemicals that will behave themselves in certain ways if skillfully handled. This means he will "learn" his people. He will study their natures as the chemist studies his chemical elements. The results, far from being inhuman or cold, will be that he can then employ the specific talents and reactions people have for creative, positive accomplish­ment, instead of making the mistakes that are attendant upon per­sonal, and often prejudiced, conception and misconception.

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