Archive for Thought Provokers
Positive Influencer or Bulldozer?
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Excerpt from A-CHIEVE! (July 2011)
Do you use your power of positive persuasion or negative persuasion when selling your ideas and influencing your co-workers?
Check out our side-by-side comparison and evaluate yourself, or better yet, ask one or more co-workers, who will be candid and open with you, to objectively assess you!
Click to continue reading “Positive Influencer or Bulldozer?”
Facing the Creative Leadership Chasm
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Excerpt from A-CHIEVE! (June 2011)
In last month’s “Top 3 Forward-Looking Global Trends” article, cultivating creative leaders was identified by 707 Chief Human Resource Officers across 61 countries as the #1 challenge facing organizations as they compete in the dynamic global marketplace (IBM’s 2010 “Working Beyond Borders” Study).
In this issue, we were initially going to examine how cutting edge organizations aggressively develop their creative leadership bench strength. While conducting our research, Cornell University ILR School’s study “Recognizing Creative Leadership: Can Creative Idea Expression Negatively Relate to Perceptions of Leadership Potential?” (2010) caught our attention. Their statistically-driven and evidenced-based approach revealed the following three ‘Creative Idea Pitcher’ (aka Idea Pitchers) and ‘Leadership Potential Evaluator’ (aka Evaluators) outcomes:
Study 1: Idea Pitchers who presented creative (novel) and useful ideas were perceived as having less leadership potential by the Evaluators in a sample study involving employees working in jobs that required creative problem solving.
Study 2: Idea Pitchers who were presenting creative (novel) and useful ideas were perceived as being competent by the Evaluators, but having less leadership potential than Idea Pitchers who were presenting useful (but not novel) ideas.
Study 3: Idea Pitchers who were presenting creative (novel) and useful ideas were perceived as having leadership potential when the Evaluators were introduced to a ‘charismatic leadership’ definition (nonconformist and unique) prior to assessing the Idea Pitchers.
The study’s first conclusion…all things being equal, creative employees who are perceived as being charismatic ‘have a leg up’ on creative employees who are not perceived as being charismatic. In fact, being creative but not charismatic is a promotional liability. Why would that be the case?
Click to continue reading “Facing the Creative Leadership Chasm”
Dissecting Charisma – The Cliff Notes
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Excerpt from A-CHIEVE! (June 2011)
In our Facing the Leadership Chasm article, we cited multiple key points from Cornell University ILS School’s study “Recognizing Creative Leadership: Can Creative Idea Expression Negatively Relate to Perceptions of Leadership Potential?”, including:
- Creative employees who are perceived as being charismatic ‘have a leg up’ on creative employees who are not perceived as being charismatic; and
- Being creative but not charismatic is a promotional liability.
So if you are creative, which is an asset, how do you:
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Let’s first take a step back and define ‘charisma’. According to Wikipedia, charisma is a “…compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.” The term is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘favor given’ or ‘gift of grace.’ Charisma can arise from two opposing foundations:
- Honorable, collaborative and authentic
- Dishonorable, manipulative and disingenuous (e.g., narcassism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy)
Our context is the former vs. latter.
Click to continue reading “Dissecting Charisma – The Cliff Notes”
