The Seven C’s of Creative Leadership
By Tony Vengrove
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Welcome to Episode 8 of The Seven C’s of Creative Leadership! Today, we discuss the seventh and final C: Courage. When it comes to leading innovation and fostering a creative culture, courage is the leadership attribute that separates the good from the great.
Creativity and innovation always involve some level of risk because novel ideas are difficult to quantify in their infancy. A truly unique idea won’t easily dovetail with the organization’s cognitive map, which usually means people will spend more time trying to figure why it’s a lousy idea versus a great idea!
In this week’s episode, we interview agency veteran, Denis Budniewski, who is the EVP, Director of Campbell Mithun. Denis has been in the business of protecting and nurturing ideas for many years and he’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to creative leadership. Highlights from our conversation about courage include:
“Ambition is key. Without it, creative leadership is difficult.”
Creative leaders are great at distilling information that inspires creatives to do amazing work. Avoid data dumps!
“Keep your teams small and manageable.” Those are better conditions for courage to yield good results.
“Courage has to come from both sides.”
Our jobs as marketers is to go beyond what we did before or “what the ask is.”
“It is ok to be uncomfortable. That always means you are on the right path.”
Don’t forget to join us next week for Episode 9 as we invite Ivy Ross, Fearless Leader of Google Glass on the show to help us wrap-up our series! If there’s one person who embodies all seven C’s, it’s Ivy. You won’t want to miss this must-listen to interview!
You can follow the show and listen to archived episodes at our official landing page at Business in the Morning.
Miles Finch Innovation helps companies navigate the messy territory of corporate innovation. We’re strategic thinking partners who can help you get unstuck and identify creative solutions to your toughest challenges. We also love to train and speak on the subject of Creative Leadership. Email us or call us at 860-799-7505 to learn how we can help you you unlock the creative potential of your employees.