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Role of Leaders in Innovation

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The Role of Leaders in Innovation
Saran Crenshaw
MBA 6006
September 7, 2014

Innovation. It’s the lifeblood of our global economy and strategic priority for virtually every CEO around the world (Dyer et al., 2011). What is Innovation? The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers (www.businessdictionary.com).
Leaders must learn how to create an organizational climate where others apply innovative thinking to solve problems and develop new products and services. It is about growing a culture of innovation, not just hiring a few creative outliers. How can you help others to think differently and work in new ways to face challenges? What can be done to innovate when all resources are stressed and constrained? How can you stay alive and stay ahead of the competition? (Bunchner & Horth, 2014). Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal (Kruse, 2013).
Leadership Models:

According to Doyle and Smith (2001), a transformational leader raises our level of awareness, our level of consciousness about the significance and value of designated outcomes, and ways of reaching them. Allows us to transcend our own self-interest for the sake of the team, organization or larger polity. Also, alters our need level and

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