Management Tip of the Month: 5 Traits of the new Creative Leader

Change is a constant in today's organizations. Leaders need to be adaptive, flexible, and innovative. Yesterday's leadership skills will not work in today's fast-moving and evolving world. Only creative leaders who are visionary and empathetic will succeed. What kind of leadership do we need now?

Here are five things you can do to succeed as a creative leader:

1) Instead of commanding, coach your team and organization toward success.

2) Don't manage people, empower them. The know-how, experience, and solutions are often out there; it's a matter of helping people discover them.

3) Cultivate respect by giving it, instead of demanding it.

4) Know how to manage both success and failure.

5) Show graciousness in your management rather than greediness. Be humble about your successes and whenever possible, give someone else the opportunity to shine.

What's most essential for us in the Global Leadership 2.0 universe, then, is the capacity to be creative as leaders. The really good news is that you can learn to become more creative as a leader, at work -no matter what your formal position- and in the other parts of your life, and thereby gain a greater sense of control over the turbulence.

Leadership is the capacity to mobilize people toward valued goals; that is, to produce sustainable change- sustainable because it's good for you and for the people who matter most to you. To be innovative, to act with creativity, is to experiment with how things get done. The innovations are designed to improve performance not only at work but also at home, in the community, and in your private life (mind, body and spirit) by better integrating these different parts of your life.