Innovation is the result of an environment that allows innovation to happen.

I have been collecting information and notes on leadership since the early 2000s. 

Throughout my career, I have worked in a variety of companies, ranging from small businesses with just a few employees to large organizations with over 500,000 employees.

In today’s newsletter, I bring negative leadership habits to our attention that I have observed throughout my career, and that I believe are important for innovative leaders to be aware of. I did a podcast episode where I went into 10 common issues that innovative leaders may not have been exposed to in leadership training.

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The episode is called: How not to Lead

Within innovative leadership, one of the most challenging aspects can be making decisions. As a leader, you are responsible for guiding your team and organization towards success, and this often requires making difficult choices. 

Unfortunately, some leaders struggle with decision-making, and can wait too long to make important decisions.

I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of leaders throughout my career, and have seen firsthand the impact of both good and bad decision-making.

One of the most difficult decisions that leaders often face is letting go of an employee who no longer fits within the organization or team. 

In these situations, it is important to be honest and timely in your decision-making, while also taking into account any legal considerations that may apply.

It is not always easy to make the right decisions, and I am certainly not immune to this. I have made mistakes in the past, and have waited too long to make important decisions. This can be incredibly detrimental to both the organization and the individual involved.

However, it is important to remember that making quick decisions is often better than waiting. 

Especially in the context of innovation, it is often better to make a decision and then navigate and change over time, rather than waiting for the perfect solution to present itself.

As a leader, it is also important to empower others to make decisions.

Sometimes, it is more about not making a decision, but rather trusting that your team members are better suited to make a particular decision. This approach can be a powerful form of leadership, as it allows others to step up and take ownership of their work.

Want to dive deeper into it?

If you are interested in an even deeper dive into the 10 topics I have covered in the episode I highly recommend you to have a listen or watch the episode.

Have questions?

Feel free to reach out I am happy to help.

Podcasts to innovate:

In this podcast episode I interview Peter Anderton. Peter works as Executive Coach and a High Performance Team Engineer. He is a public speaker and has spoken at TedX at the time of the recording the ted talk had 1,5 million views.

In our conversation Peter shares the 2 rules of leadership and we explore how the rules can be applied by leaders.

I thought this is a great addition to the part above and brings us back to essentials in innovation.

Learn more about the 2 leadership rules in this episode.

Videos that touched a nerve:

Leadership is also stakeholder management. This small clip takes a look into what you as a leader can do to support the rest of the organization.

Again a video clip from one of my live Q&As. Where I got a question that lead me to dive deeper explaining 3 steps how you can get closer to the organization.

Books that help me innovate:

Getting to yes by Roger Fisher & William Ury

We as innovative leaders are often challenged by different demands within the organization. One thing that helped me to find better ways to navigate this deep waters was learning about negotiations.

This book is brilliant and will help you not just to negotiate it also helps you to understand how the other side things and makes you a better leader.

Highly recommended!

Thank you for reading.

If you have a question or would like me to explain a specific topic in one of the future newsletters let me know.

That’s it for today.

And don’t forget to Innovate the human way

Jens

P.S.

I call the combination of innovation and leadership Human Innovation. Because many innovation systems miss this angle I have created the Human Innovation Academy this might be an option for you and your teams to succeed in your organization.

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