Creative Leadership...and Kandinsky?

Innovation. You know it when you see it. Taking the same old thing and creating something new, fresh, and interesting with it.

Creating innovative communities and environements reminds me of the art of Kandinsky.

On first glance, it's just color, lines, and shapes. These are the same elements used in all art. But Kandinsky trained himself to find a new vantage point from which to view these same old elements, and then create something bold, engaging, and innovative with them. He found that the road to innovation is through "a new way to see."

The same goes for leadership. This is from a recent "10 minute leadership window" I gave at a leadership breakfast:

The Innovation Leader - A New Way to See

You see what you EXPECT to see. Practicing INNOVATION breaks us free from a habitual and limited mindset and frees us to see with new eyes an old problem.
® Innovation requires the ability to view the world and see OPPORTUNITIES. Where other people see problems and obstacles the innovative leader sees solutions and possibilities, while not over looking the inherent difficulties.

It's been said that the increasing pace of work today often demands that people scan information quickly and make rapid judgments. To do this they typically take shortcuts, acting on what they expect to see...the innovative leader is efficient but also innovative by continually looking at situations and problems in different ways in order to discern a path through the maze of makng good decisions. There are many people who will try and sway a leader with their supposed doomsday predictions, but the innovative leader is unafraid and trusts his or her instincts.

"Managers faced with a complex problem typically spend about 90 percent of their time solving the problem and only about 10 percent examining the problem and its context." - The Leader's Edge: Six Creative Competencies for Navigating Complex Challenges

Be Bold...Innovate.