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Leading for Innovation : Direct and Indirect Influences

Samuel T. Hunter and Lily Cushenbery
Advances in Developing Human Resources 2011 13: 248 originally published online 17
October 2011
DOI: 10.1177/1523422311424263
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424263
er and CushenberyAdvances in Developing Human Resources

ADHR13310.1177/1523422311424263Hunt

Leading for Innovation: Direct

and Indirect Influences

Advances in Developing Human

Resources
13(3) 248265
2011 SAGE Publications
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1523422311424263
http://adhr.sagepub.com

Samuel T. Hunter1 and Lily Cushenbery1

Abstract
Despite growing interest in developing and producing creative products, much remains
unknown about how to best facilitate the innovative process. Through a review
and integration of creativity, innovation, and leadership literatures, we propose that
leaders are one of the primary driving forces in increasing innovative output. To help
clarify how leaders achieve this influence, we offer a model of leading for innovation
where creativity and innovation are depicted as series of interrelated processes that
span multiple levels of analysis (individual, team, and organization). The proposed
framework illustrates the direct and indirect ways direct leaders enhance innovation
with the resulting discussion helping to highlight the range of behaviors and activities
that leaders might engage in to help encourage creative productivity. The implications
of our model for HRD scholars, professionals, and other stakeholderssuch as
executive level leaders, retailers, investors, and consumersare also discussed.
Keywords
creativity, innovation, leadership
Creativity and innovation are responsible for many of the advances and amenities we
enjoy in modern society (Christensen & Raynor, 2009; Estrin, 2009; Kao, 2007).
Despite current and increasing interest in these phenomena, however, much remains to
be understood about how to best facilitate innovative performance in organizations. In
this manuscript, we draw on leading for innovation research and suggest that leaders
play a primary role in helping to facilitate original thinking as well as guiding instantiation of those novel ideas that are worthy of exploration. Specifically, we review
previous literature and propose a model whereby leaders are depicted as having both
direct and indirect influences on the innovation process. Moreover, we integrate
1

The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:
Samuel T. Hunter, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Industrial & Organizational Area,
Pennsylvania State University, 111 Moore Building, State College, PA 16802, USA
Email: samhunter@psu.edu

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process perspectives of creativity with recent advances in multilevel innovation

research to provide a foundation for understanding how leaders shape innovative
performance (Torraco, 2005). We begin our discussion with an overview of process
perspectives of creativity.

Process Perspectives of Creativity and Innovation

There is general consensus among creativity and innovation scholars that creativity is
best defined as the generation of ideas that are both (a) novel and (b) useful or serve
a purpose (Amabile Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron, 1996). Innovation, in contrast,
represents the instantiation of creative ideas (Amabile, Schatzel, Moneta, & Kramer,
2004; Mumford & Gustafson, 1988). That is, for an idea to be labeled as innovative,
it must be made, built, or implemented. Even with consensus among researchers on
definitions, however, a few notable creativity and innovation scholars have recently
lamented the lack of preciseness with regard to the term creativity itself. Runco
(2008), for example, suggested that we should be more exact in our description of the
behaviors, activities, and actions surrounding creativity. More specifically, he proposed that we stop using the word creativity as a noun and, instead, use it as a descriptor (i.e., an adjective). Thus, when discussing creativity as a phenomenon we should
focus on explanatory terms such as creative performance, creative products, creative
teams, creative inputs, and creative processes instead of the overly encompassing
word, creativity. Consistent with these suggestions, we propose that for a functional understanding of how to facilitate innovative outcomes, it is critical, indeed
necessary, to view creativity as a set of interrelated processes rather than a unitary
phenomenon.
Although popularized relatively recently, process perspectives on creativity have a
long-standing history in the innovation literature. Beginning with the early work of
Dewey (1910) and Wallas (1926), scholars have continued to refine and develop the
core proposition that creative performance is the result of a series of dynamic and
iterative stages. Early perspectives included stages such as preparation, incubation,
illumination, and verification (Wallas, 1926). The emphasis in these early models were
on light bulb or illumination moments whereby a creative idea emerges quickly
and rapidly, often after a period of inactivity or rest. The creative event is frequently
caricatured by the classic light-bulb going off over a thinkers head.
More recently, models have moved away from the notion of illumination and suggested that although the creative process can be perceived as instantaneous to some,
the reality is that a host of activities prior to that moment permitted that perception. A
recent example of this type of creative process model may be seen in a series of studies
conducted by Mumford and colleagues (Baughman & Mumford, 1995; Mumford,
Baughman, Threlfall, Supinski, & Costanza, 1996; Mumford, Baughman, Maher,
Costanza, & Supinski, 1997; Mumford, Mobley, Uhlman, Reiter-Palmon, & Doares,
1991; Mumford, Supinski, Baughman, Costanza, & Threlfall, 1997). Models such as
these develop a richer picture of the range of activities required for innovative output

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including processes such as information gathering, concept selection, and creative

solution monitoring. On the whole, these newer approaches underscore a key point:
discussions of creativity are best served via a pragmatic process view. That is, for us
to understand how creative performance emerges, we must understand and maximize
success across the range of activities that lead up to creative achievement. Moreover,
although such activities may be complex, dynamic, and iterative, they are better understood than early models hypothesized.

The Importance of a Multilevel

Perspective on Innovation
Equally critical to understanding creative and innovative performance is a multilevel
perspective on the phenomenon (Mumford, Hunter, & Bedell-Avers, 2008). To the
lament of a number of creativity scholars, much of the work on creativity has tended to
focus on individual antecedents such as personality, divergent-thinking ability, intelligence, and associational ability (McLean, 2005; Sternberg, 1999). Although this
work has proven useful for understanding key predictors of creative thought, such
work is limited in utility with regard to gaining practical insight into organizational
innovation (Madjar, 2005). Clearly, creative ideas may be born from individuals,
but to understand how to facilitate innovationthe successful instantiation of creative thinkingwe must also consider these individuals within a team. Furthermore,
we should consider how that team functions within broader structures such as divisions, departments, and organizations. Thus, a multilevel perspective on creativity
and innovation acknowledges and incorporates information across the array of
individual, team, and organizational levels of analysis (Mumford & Hunter, 2005).
This perspective paints a much more accurate, and therefore useful, picture of innovative performance.
Integrating process models and multilevel perspectives. In the sections above, a case
was made for why it is important to consider both creative process models and multilevel perspectives on innovation. We turn now to the task of integrating these frameworks. A multilevel-process model of innovation is presented in Figure 1. As may be
seen in the three boxes at the bottom of the figure, the starting point of the innovation
process is the individual. That is, individuals are responsible for initial idea generation
with idea genesis depicted as largely cognitive in nature. Individuals, however, do not
operate alone when working in organizations and typically function within a broader
development group or project team (Madjar, 2005). For example, when an individual
has an idea, it must be proposed and vetted within a team. Moving through the creative
process, that team or group may then adjust, alter, and refine that idea or set of ideas. In
successfully innovative teams, core concepts are improved and the project is moved
forward. Depicted in the second box, it is during this stage of innovation development
that prototypes may be built, formalized sketches developed, or simulations programmed. Ideas, in essence, become more refined and begin to move beyond simply
forming and discussing an idea. When a team has a viable prototype or sketch in hand,

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Figure 1. Model of direct and indirect leadership influences on the processes of innovation

the project may move toward the third box in the model, implementation at the
organizational level. It is at this point that the team-based project may shift to other
teams for greater refinement, begin testing and evaluation for targeted markets, or
even move toward initial large-scale production. We see a shift from creativity (i.e.,
generation) to innovation (implementation).
Before turning to other components of the model, two key features warrant explicit
discussion. First, no one stage of the innovative process is independent of the next.
That is, successful innovation is the result of a series of processes and cannot come to
fruition without a host of activities preceding it. A second point to bear in mind is that
stages are not depicted in lock-step fashion. Rather, each level of analysis feeds into
the stages that precede and follow it, a process of backward influence and forward
influence. Scholars such as Finke, Ward, and Smith (1992), and Estes and Ward
(2002) have made a strong case that successful innovation is the result of a host of
back-and-forth activities, where ideas are proposed, refined, and tested only to feed
information back to the system to start the process again. A thought provoking teambrainstorming session, for example, will likely affect thinking and idea generation of
individuals in that team. Similarly, although organizational innovation requires team

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and individual creative performance (forward influence), activities at the organizational

level may also affect the creative output of teams (backward influence). Consider
Apples success with the wildly popular iPhone that featured, at the time of launch, a
novel touch screen and impressive processing capabilities. Such success gave way to
the newest gadget from Apple, the iPad, which used the same operating system and
much of the technological capabilities of the iPhone. Thus, success at the organizational level (iPhone) initiated thought and creative performance among teams of engineers on the next project (iPad). It cannot be overemphasized that creativity is most
accurately depicted as an iterative and dynamic series of processes. As much as we
may prefer it, creativity and innovation are not simple linear phenomena. They are the
result of a complex set of activities, actions, and behaviors, and successful innovation
necessitates attention paid to this complexity.

The Role of Leadership in Facilitating

Creativity and Innovation
With a process model of creative performance in place, we shift our attention to asking
how to best facilitate success across these activities. Drawing on the work of a number
of scholars, we suggest that leaders play a substantial role in shaping and guiding successful innovation. OConnor (1998), for example, examined radical technical innovations and found that leaders with higher levels of strategic-thinking capability produced
significantly more creative projects than those leaders who lacked such capabilities.
Similarly, Andrews and Farris (1972) examined 94 scientists working in 21 project
teams and found that team leaders with greater capacity to make decisions helped
facilitate greater team performance. Finally, studies of leaders in research and development teams reveal that by intellectually stimulating employees, leaders help facilitate
novel idea generation (Arvey, Dewhurst, & Boling, 1976; Mossholder & Dewhurst,
1980). These examples demonstrate that leaders can positively affect innovation in a
number of ways. As several scholars have suggested, leaders shape employee behavior in both direct and indirect processes (Mumford & Hunter, 2005; Shamir, Zakay,
Brainin, & Popper, 2000).
Before discussing the specific mechanisms of how leaders shape creative performance, a few key issues should be borne in mind regarding the nature of innovative
achievement. First, creative thinking requires a break from norms and changes in the
way things are typically done. By definition, original ideas differ from those ideas that
came before them. Extrapolating from this point, creativity and innovation are not natural trajectories in organizations (Hunter, Cassidy, & Ligon, in press). In fact, most of us
are largely resistant to change, particularly if things are going reasonably well in an
organization (Tushman & OReilly, 1996). Because of the cost and difficulty of implementing change, some organizations choose to remain entrenched in their structures,
systems, procedures, and processes. Moreover, many organizations succeed by maximizing their use of resources, allocating funds and support for projects they perceive to
be the safest bets. Contrasting this tried-and-true strategy, creativity and innovation

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often require numerous failed attempts before success is found. Put simply, creative
ideas are high risk and often run counter to traditional forms of organizational
functioning (Hunter, Cassidy, & Ligon, in press; Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, &
Ligon, in press).
What is necessary to change a natural trajectory is a force that can counteract these
normative trends. Growing evidence suggests that this force is often leadership.
Leaders can guide behaviors and actions toward a less typical and usual end. Innovation
rarely occurs spontaneously and will most often require a new route taken. Without
explicit guidance, an organization will tend toward the less original, well-worn path.
A leader can provide the guidance necessary to blaze a new trail as well as ensure
that progress is made on that trail. In the sections below, we describe how leaders may
accomplish this via indirect methods such as the establishment of an environment
that permits novel thinking (i.e., indirectly) or through more direct methods such as
resource allocation or explicit creative idea generation themselves. We begin our
discussion with the indirect influences leaders may have on innovation and then move
toward a review of direct influences.

Indirect Influences of Leadership on Innovation

Role modeling. Psychologist Albert Bandura (1977) pioneered a model of observational education referred to as social learning theory. In essence, the theory proposes
that we learn how to perform activities by watching others engage in them. More central to this discussion, learning from others gives us the opportunity to evaluate whether
a behavior is advantageous. If, for example, someone takes a risk and is not criticized
or ostracized for doing soperhaps even rewardedwe may internalize that observation and increase our likelihood of engaging in a similar activity. The extent to which
we learn by watching others is influenced by several factors, with one of the more critical being how closely we attend to the person we might choose to model. That is, we
are more likely to learn from observation if we admire, respect, or look up to the individual engaging in the behavior. In an organization, leaders often stand as these role
models or make decisions about what is appropriate behavior.
In a test of social-learning theory applied to creativity, Jaussi and Dionne (2003)
had confederate leaders engaged in unconventional behavior prior to asking subordinates to engage in creative tasks. The researchers found that leaders who acted unconventionally were seen as stronger role models and, via this mechanism, increased
creative performance in subordinates. Unconventional behavior was defined as any
behavior that was novel or surprising to employees. One example of such unconventional behavior is the eccentric leadership style of Google founders Sergei Brin and
Larry Page. During their rein as CEOs, they were often found hopping around the
Googleplex on jump-shoes or wearing capes while addressing groups of employees
(Schmidt, 2010; Vise & Malseed, 2005). However, leaders can also be unconventional
in more subtle ways, and what is unconventional in one organization may be viewed
as typical in another (Jaussi & Dionne, 2003). Because leaders are in positions

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of influence, others will attend to their behavior and use what they do as a guide for
appropriate actions. Specific to the facilitation of creative behavior, leaders who take
risks and act unconventionally send the message that these activities are acceptable,
thereby increasing the likelihood of subordinates engaging in such behaviors.
Rewards and recognition. In addition to role modeling, leaders can also regulate acceptable employee behaviors via the ideas they recognize, value, and reward. Pioneered by
psychologists such as Thorndike and Skinner, the law of effect proposes that we are
more likely to engage in behaviors that bring us rewards and less likely to engage in
behaviors that result in discomfort or punishment (Skinner, 1953, p. 45; Thorndike,
1911, p. 244). This concept has proven central to many pay-for-performance incentive
systems used in organizations but can often be misused in creative endeavors. If, for
example, a leader would like an employee to produce more widgets per hour or more
sales calls over the course of a week, the leader might provide some form of monetary
incentive for reaching minimum goals. The challenge unique to creativity, however, is
that not all creative projects are successful. In fact, the general rule of thumb is that 19
out of 20 innovative projects will ultimately fail (Hunter, Cushenbery, & Freidrich, in
press). Thus, creative performance is challenging to reward simply on base-rate issues;
it is difficult to provide an incentive if the behavior rarely occurs.
Moreover, successful innovation is often dictated by factors outside the team or
organizations control. A sluggish economy, for example, may limit the expendable
consumer income available for a desired, albeit pricy, new invention. Because of factors such as these, leaders who focus on rewarding success will limit the full range of
employee behaviors necessary for innovation. Thus, leaders must reward and recognize
valid attempts at creative action even if they do not achieve financial success. Many
organizations will even recognize failures as a means to send the message that risk
taking is valued and essential to long-term-innovation goals. Hewlett Packard, for
example, has been known to give a sizable monetary reward for the biggest failure
in their research and development teams. Thus, leaders must move beyond simple
pay-for-performance reward systems to motivate creative work.
Hiring and team composition. A third indirect way that leaders may shape innovation
is through workforce composition. As is the case with many strategies for enhancing
innovation, however, hiring creative employees may be more easily conceived than
accomplished. Outlined by Hunter, Cushenbery, and Freidrich (in press) there are a
number of difficulties inherent to hiring a creative workforce. For example, developing new products requires expertise that the organization may not currently possess
and, more notably, does not currently realize they need. As such, one means to developing a creative workforce is to hire employees with unique skill sets without explicitly planning what projects they may work on. The strategy is to allow the organization
to capitalize on emerging trends rather than trailing competitors when opportunities
surface. Google, for example, hired a team of voice recognition engineers without having an explicit plan for what project they would work on. The leader knew that the skill
set would prove valuable but was not exactly sure in what capacity. Notably, the engineering team made a quick and substantive impact on the emerging

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voice recognition software used in the burgeoning smart phone market (Hunter,
Cushenbery, & Freidrich, in press). Another challenge unique to innovation is that
successful innovation requires proficiency in skill sets across the range of innovation processes. Thus, an organization cannot be comprised wholly of idea generatorsinnovation dictates that someone in the organization possesses the capacity to
test, market, and sell an idea.
In addition to how leaders choose individuals, which individuals leaders choose to
place on a team can also affect creative outcomes. At a very basic level, team size may
prove important to team-level creative achievement. Too many members on a project
team can limit idea exchanges among individuals; very few members and a team might
lack the diversity in expertise and knowledge necessary for synergistic creative efforts.
Optimal team size tends to be in the 4-to-7 range, although this may be increased as
team members get to know one another and are comfortable sharing ideas. Composition
can also shape creative output. Taggar (2001), for example, found that teams comprised
entirely of creative personalities failed to outproduce those teams that had only one or
two creative individuals. Along similar lines, Nissans head of design found that integrating staff from sales and marketing with members of research and development
improved overall creativity and innovation (Hirschberg, 1999). The theme emerging
appears to suggest that teams should be of manageable size and include individuals
with a range of skills across innovative processes. Differing backgrounds and agendas
for team members, however, may lead to difficulties in social exchanges resulting in
some degree of conflict. Hence, our next method of influence for leaders is establishing an appropriate climate for creative outcomes.
Establishing a climate for creativity. In a meta-analysis of more than 40 samples examining creativity, Hunter, Bedell, & Mumford (2007) found that a climate for creativity
had a sizable effect on creative and innovative achievement. As such, one way a leader
can indirectly affect the ideas generated in their organization is to establish an environment that employees see as supporting of innovative endeavors (Amabile, Schatzel,
Moneta, & Kramer, 2004). Precisely, how to do this, however, may vary somewhat
from organization to organization. Hunter et al. (2007) observed 15 different dimensions of creative climate. One critical component of developing a creative environment
is providing levels of autonomy and freedom to accomplish tasks in ways employees
see fit. As an illustration, members of 3M were allowed to work on their own projects
15% of the time (Kanter, Kao, & Wiersema, 1997). Google and other innovative organizations have followed suit, permitting up to one day a week to work on projects of the
employees choosing. The result has been quite successful, helping to spawn products
such as Googles popular email program, Gmail.
Still other methods include establishing an environment that continually challenges
and stimulates employees. The unique workplace of Zappos, an innovative online shoe
retailer, epitomizes a business driven by a stimulating work environment (Chafkin,
2009; Thorton, 2010). Employees are encouraged to radically decorate their cubical;
days are broken up by impromptu in-office parades; and laughter is more common than
hushed business tones. This atmosphere has been established and continues to

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be promoted by CEO Tony Hseih, who prefers to work in a cubicle alongside his
employees. Although a number of mechanisms may be used to do so, the broader message here is that creative and innovative performance requires a work environment
that supports these unique endeavors. Growing evidence suggests that leaders can significantly shape this work context and should make it their priority to be successfully
innovative (Amabile et al., 2004).

Direct Influences of Leadership on Innovation

Via the indirect methods described above, leaders help to set the stage for creative
thought. These indirect methods create the friction, pressure, and atmospheric materials that permit creative lighting to strike. Leaders, however, are not always bystanders in this process; they can also create a bit of lighting on their own. That is, leaders
are able to directly shape what innovations emerge and even choose which products
make their way to market. As we move our discussion into these more direct influences, we aim to understand how leaders explicitly and directly shape the creative
process.
Creative input and idea suggestion. Innovative leaders are often depicted as managers
of creative minds rather than originators of creative ideas. Although there is some
degree of truth in this, particularly for larger organizations that require creative output
across a continual range of products, there is some evidence that creative ability is useful in leaders themselves (Mumford, Hunter, Eubanks, Bedell, & Murphy, 2007). There
are times when leaders are the idea generators and not simply the shepherds of novel
thinking. Steve Jobs, for example, has shaped the creative output of Apple for many
years through his own creative input. In fact, many innovative leaders have early histories as entrepreneurs (Kao, 1989). Their curiosity and intrinsic motivation with novel
endeavors often provided them with the training to help guide creativity in others. This
background in successful creative thinking, however, can be problematic if a leader
is not careful (Hunter, Tate, Dzieweczynski, & Bedell-Avers, 2011). One of the challenges for leaders is not to be overly dominant in the creative process such that subordinates are afraid to challenge the leaders ideas. Innovation requires some level of
conflict and healthy debate to improve and distill ideas, and it is critical for leaders
who choose to provide their own ideas to ensure that others are comfortable in shaping and refining their input (Mumford, Connelly, & Gaddis, 2003; OConnor, 1998).
Vision and strategy. Goal-setting theory is one of the well-researched theories in
applied psychology (Locke & Bryan, 1967; Locke & Latham, 2002). The core tenet of
the theory is that providing a clear, concrete, and difficult-yet-attainable goal for a
work task maximizes performance. With respect to creative performance, there is
some indication that goals established vis--vis a leaders overall vision help guide
creative efforts (Anderson & West, 1996; Bunce & West, 1995; West, 2002). There is
also evidence, moreover, that leaders who are able to adeptly assess opportunities and
forecast solutions are better able to produce innovative outcomes (Koberg, Uhlenbruck, & Sarason, 1996; Rodan, 2002). Put another way, leaders who posses the skills

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to develop compelling and logical strategies are better at generating innovative

performance (Hunter, Cassidy, & Ligon, in press). The theme emerging from this
body of work is that a leader can shape the ideas generated, for better or worse, via the
strategy and vision they develop for the unit they lead.
One of the challenges of defining a vision for innovation is providing enough detail
to make the goal accessible, while also allowing employees the freedom to arrive at that
goal in the most novel and useful way possible (Mumford & Hunter, 2005). Leaders
who are too explicit in their strategies can actually hamper creativity by limiting exploration (Mumford et al., 2007). Consider an illustration from innovation powerhouse
3M. One of the more famous serendipitous products was produced at the organization
when a scientist, Silver Spencer, was attempting to develop high strength adhesive. The
glue was part of the research and development units strategy. Notably, when the adhesive was not strong enough and failed as a high-strength glue, the organization was not
bound to their initial vision and capitalized on the fact that the low-tack adhesive did
not leave a sticky residue. This invention, now known as the Post-It note, is one of the
more famous and profitable products to emerge from 3M. The point here is that leaders
must provide some level of direction to employeesa mission to guide general efforts.
That mission must not be so explicit, however, that it limits the freedom to explore
novel routes to success. That leader, moreover, must also be open to emerging opportunities evolving from the efforts of subordinates even if they divert from the initial strategy (Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, & Ligon, 2011).
Resource allocation. As is the case with most organizational endeavors, resource
availability plays a significant role in the success or failure of innovative projects. The
recent economic downturn provides an interesting backdrop in which to discuss the
criticality of resources for innovation. Although the majority of companies cut back on
research and development spending, known innovators actually spent more during the
recession than before (Bogoslaw, 2010; Jaruzelski & Dehoff, 2009). The result has
been an overall increase in revenue for these companies, with many looking poised to
make significant gains as the recession dissipates. A more empirical example may be
seen in a study examining adoption of technologies, where Klein, Conn, and Sorra
(2001) found that resources played a pivotal role in determining if innovative adoptions
were made. Similarly, in a series of interviews about new development efforts, Dougherty and Hardy (1996) also discovered that sustained availability of resources was
deemed critical for project success. These findings are not particularly surprising when
we consider the high rate of failure characterizing innovative efforts. Resources allow
organizations to pursue a range of ideas and absorb the inherent failure rate. Higher
levels of capital, space, and manpower also permit an organization to fully pursue an
idea, allowing for adequate development, testing, and marketing endeavors (Mumford
& Hunter, 2005).
Although it is easy to suggest that organizations allocate resources to research and
development, resources remain at a premium in nearly every organization. After all, if
the organizations goal is to turn a profit, it hardly makes business sense to waste funds
needlessly. Thus, a leaders job is often to determine which projects receive resource

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support and, perhaps more critically, which do not. As an illustration, consider Apple
CEO Steve Jobs acquisition of Pixar in the early 1986 from George Lucas and his
Industrial, Light, and Magic team (Capodogli & Jackson, 2010). Jobs originally
bought the organization as a software and hardware company not fully realizing that
the group had a deeper passion for an emerging form of digital animation. After seeing
early drafts of the film Toy Story, however, Jobs scrambled to acquire resources for the
animation group. Jobs recognized the potential in the innovative team and was willing
to allow them to develop, grow, and evolve over a substantial period of time. Given
the ultimate success of Pixar, its safe to say Jobs judgment in resource allocation has
proven, at least in this account, sound. The conclusion emerging from the resource
literature is that, creativity and innovation are resource intensive activities. Without a
template to follow, new projects often take longer than expected, and their true value
may not be readily apparent. A leaders job is to allocate enough resources for reasonable levels of exploration with the understanding that high-risk endeavors are often a
bit of a gamblealbeit a gamble with a high pay-off if done correctly.
Decision making. The final and perhaps most direct method a leader can have on
innovation is choosing which projects will be pursued and which will not. Such decision making is often tied to resource allocation but also represents a more direct link to
choices regarding innovative outcomes. Consider, for example, the editing process in
producing films. Prior to beginning the editing process, a director and editing team have
a glut of footage available to create the final product. It is during the editing phase that
great performances find their way on-screen or are left unseen on the cutting room
floor. As a second example, consider a novel trick-play in American football such as
the flea-flicker or statue of liberty. Although novel schemes such as these are often
developed by offensive coordinators and practiced multiple times by the team, it is the
coachs (i.e., leaders) job to decide if they are ultimately used in a game setting. Finally,
consider the CEO of a toy company who must decide on the line of toys for the high
profile holiday season, or the head of design at a car company who must choose which
lineup will be introduced at the Detroit auto show. The core theme here is that creative
efforts may be pushing their way through the organizations pipeline, but leaders often
make the final call as to which ideas are presented for public consumption. Decision
making in these later stages of the innovation process is often the final, and at times
largest, hurdle that an innovative project may face.
Given the range, speed, and nature of problems faced by leaders on any given day,
error free decision making is difficult for any leader (Hunter, Tate, Dzieweczynski, &
Bedell-Avers, 2011). Decision making with regard to creativity and innovation represents an even greater challenge. The novel nature of the phenomena makes success
difficult to predict because leaders cannot rely on previous case studies as benchmarks. Lacking a template to help gauge probabilities of success means that leaders
must rely on their own creative thinking skills to imagine how a product might perform (Mumford et al., 2003, 2007). Consider again, for example, the recent introduction of Apples newest gadget, the iPad. Many critics thought the novel product would
fail, largely because it fell between lower end net books and higher end laptops. Early

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predictions on product sales hovered near the 2 million-unit mark with best estimates
edging toward 7 million. Jobs anticipated much greater success, and through his creative thinking skills, was able to conceive of the potential new tablet market. After 17
million units sold and counting, Jobs once again demonstrated the capacity to envision outcomes many others missed. In addition to creative thinking skills, decision
making can be enhanced vis--vis a keen understanding of an organizations capabilities and capacities. It is conceivable that a car manufacturer might have generated the
idea for an iPad-like product, but would have lacked the organizational capacity to
develop, manufacture, and distribute it. Apple, in contrast, had the network in place
to effectively design, create, and market the product.
One final way a leader can improve decision making in innovation is via expertise,
particularly domain expertise. Andrews and Farris (1972), for example, examined
leader capacities in design teams and found that the leaders technical skill was the best
predictor of team performance. Along related lines, Barnowe (1975) conducted a study
of leadership in more than 80 research and development teams. Creative performance
in these teams was more highly correlated with the technical skills of team leaders than
with other leader behaviors such as support, task emphasis, and supervision closeness.
The emerging message from this literature is that simply having creative ideas percolating in an organization does not ensure successful innovation. There are a series of
choices made by leaders later in the process that affect final innovative outcomes.
These choices are difficult to make and often require a commitment to an established
vision when critics, and even subordinates, may lack confidence. Decision making in
leaders is enhanced if they possess creative thinking skills as well as domain expertise
in the area they are making choices about.

Conclusion
There are three broad conclusions that emerge from the present effort. The first is that
leaders play a multitude of roles when facilitating innovation in organizations. We
chose to discuss eight of these roles and see these eight as particularly important to
creative achievement. The fact remains, however, that leaders influence innovation in
ways not discussed here, further underscoring the broader point: There exists no single
one thing a leader can do to increase innovation in an organization. Instead, there is
a system of activities, actions, and behaviors needed that often operate in concert with
one another. The pursuit of innovative endeavors is not for the faint of heart.
A second broader point that emerges from our discussion is that understanding how
to facilitate innovation depends on an understanding of the processes that preceded the
manufacture of that product. These processes are not linear and often contribute backward and forward to other ongoing innovation activities. They are, moreover, multilevel in nature with various overlapping circles of individuals, teams, divisions,
departments, and organizations shaping each other iteratively and dynamically. Despite
this complexity, a leaders job is readily apparent: Maintain success across this range
of activities if the hope is to produce innovative outcomes.

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The final point is perhaps more conceptual than the first two, but remains important
nonetheless. Namely, our discussion highlights that a leaders influence on creativity
and innovation varies across the range of activities needed for innovation. Although
somewhat simplified for the sake of brevity, a leaders primary role in early stage processes is to provide the materials and environment that permit original thinking and
novel idea exchange among teammates. As ideas move through the pipeline, often iteratively, a leaders role becomes more direct and critical, requiring decision making about
which ideas receive support and which do not. These two broad influences, labeled
direct and indirect in our model, represent potentially conflicting roles for the leader.
Early on, the leaders job is to encourage noveleven odd or weirdthinking. In
contrast, later in the process a leader must determine market viability and cut ideas not
ready for stakeholders or public consumption; the leader becomes an evaluator of idea
potential. This dual-role tension, termed the generator/evaluator paradox, represents a
notable challenge in leading for innovation (Hunter, Thoroughgood, Myer, & Ligon,
2011). Thus, it is important for leaders to evaluate which stage of innovation they are
leading and consider their role in that stage.
Implications for HRD. The results of the present effort reveal four key implications for
Human Resource Development. The first is that successfully leading for innovation is
contingent on building a workforce with at least moderate levels of creative potential
(Hunter, Cushenbery, & Freidrich, in press). Although a skilled leader can create the
appropriate environment to elicit novel thinking, the workforce must be capable of
generating original ideas in that environment. Even in the more rare case where leaders themselves are the generators of creative ideas, it will prove necessary to have
subordinates who are able to refine, further develop, and ultimately implement those
ideas. Moreover, organizations will have a difficult time being innovative over the
long-term if they are reliant only on their leaders to generate creative ideas. Successful, sustained innovation requires a creative workforce as well as the leadership to
support creative efforts (Bilton, 2007).
Second, leaders should understand that the creative process is not linear and learn
how to motivate their employees to innovate. Because of the ambiguous nature of their
tasks, leaders of creative efforts should be patient with projects that stall, start over, or
ultimately fail. Innovation requires a great deal of persistence, and leaders who become
frustrated can hinder their employees progress. Instead, leaders should encourage
effort over performance and reward their employees tenacity. These reward systems
may be less straightforward than other pay-for-performance systems, so leaders should
learn what works in their own companies. Leaders should also keep in mind that creative individuals may value nonfinancial rewards such as greater autonomy over their
work or being assigned to tasks where they can continue to innovate (Amabile, 1985).
Third, leaders must balance the needs of their creative workforce with the expectations of stakeholders such as executive-level leaders, retailers, investors, and consumers. In early stages of the creative process, leaders must protect creative workers from
stakeholders time pressure and expectations for lower costs. At the same time, however, leaders must remain cognizant of the criticality of stakeholder input in the final

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product. Accordingly, as suggested by Vos and Achterkamp (2006), stakeholder

involvement may be most prominent toward the later innovation stages such as
implementation planning and monitoring. In these stages, leaders can influence stakeholder adoption of innovation through decision making and expertise. Along similar
lines, leaders expertise is essential in their role as representatives of innovation to
stakeholders. Leaders can serve as both interpreters and salesmen of new technology to
outsiders. Research suggests that innovation adoption by a focal stakeholder within an
organization can cause a diffusion of adoption to others outside the organization
(Troshani & Doolin, 2007). Thus, understanding how to appeal to stakeholders while
preserving their creative employees environment for exploration, is key to success.
The final implication for HRD is that, much like innovation itself, developing creative leaders is a complex endeavor. Our discussion here revolved around at least eight
ways that leaders might affect innovation with the acknowledgement that still others
exist. Training leaders to be proficient across the range of these activities will require
substantial variety in development efforts (Mumford et al., 2007). Moreover, developing individuals with the potential to successfully lead for innovation will require substantial time and commitment to their skill development. Although we often think of
innovative pioneers as emerging from a garage, the notion that many popular companies start this way is a myth. Consider, for example, founders of YouTube Steve Chan
and Chad Hurley. Certainly the concept of user created web videos was an impactful
and original idea, but the founders did not spontaneously become innovative leaders in
their garages. Rather, they honed their skills at PayPal before starting YouTube (Heath
& Heath, 2007). Even Steve Jobs can track his development to time spent at both
Hewlett Packard and Atari (Audia & Rider, 2005). Moreover, leaders can reinvent
themselves with new challenges throughout their careers. Walt Disney shifted from
full-length movies such as Snow White to television shows to the creation of Disney
theme parks. The central point emerging here is that leading for innovation is challenging and possessing the capacity to do so requires a variety of skills that take years to
develop. With the appropriate leadership, however, successful innovation becomes a
realistic and achievable goal. Without it, the challenge may prove insurmountable.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

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Bios
Samuel T. Hunter is an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the
Pennsylvania State University. His primary areas of research include leadership and innovation
management. Within these areas, Dr. Hunter has published over 35 journal articles, books, and
book chapters in outlets such as the Leadership Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Psychology,
and the Creativity Research Journal. A recent co-authored article published in 2008 received
the Center for Creative Leaderships award for outstanding publication in the Leadership
Quarterly. Dr. Hunter has also received funding for his work from agencies such as the
National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
Lily Cushenbery is a fourth year graduate student in the Industrial and Organizational
Psychology program at The Pennsylvania State University. Her primary research topics include
leader error recovery, malevolent creativity, and innovation management. Ms. Cushenbery has
published several articles and book chapters on the topic of innovation in outlets such as the
Leadership Quarterly and the Handbook of Destructive Leadership.

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