Whether it's a new process innovation, new product, or a whole new business, or whether it's inside a large company or an early-stage startup, they all need a unique form of leadership. Leading innovation and change requires some different skills than leading a team or organization in a well-established, operational capability, but over the years we've heard these conflicting assertions made over and over in different contexts.
An Innovation leader must be passionate about their idea. They must have that fire in their belly if they are to have any hope of overcoming the obstacles they will face. Not only must they possess this passion, but they must also be able to instill that passion into the hearts and minds of their team, their partners and their customer!
An innovation leader must be objective. They can't be so wedded to their idea that they are unwilling to recognize and adapt to negative feedback from the market. The only thing that is known with certainty at the beginning of an innovation-oriented program is that many of the assumptions are wrong. If a leader is not objective, they are more likely to ignore the data telling them which are wrong, and they will be like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, wasting time and resources.
Which Trait is More Important for an Innovation or New Business Leader?
We believe the answer is both. Wait, before you start thinking, "what a cop-out", indulge us for another paragraph or two. As demonstrated above, there are strong arguments for either. For proponents of passion as the most important trait, they may argue that the objectivity will be imposed on the leader by investors or stakeholders who are not directly tied to the program, which can certainly be true in many cases. For proponents of objectivity as the most important trait, they may argue that passion should grow from success and positive feedback from their target audience.
Our position is that a good innovation-oriented leader needs to demonstrate both passion and objectivity, which may sound oxymoronic. Doesn't objectivity imply a "dispassionate" perspective? It does, but the key lies in defining what the leader's passion is about. If their passion is about their initial proposed solution or product, then it can become the problem that the objectivity proponents are concerned about. However, if their passion is externally focused on solving a problem or the needs of a customer, then they can use this passion to bolster their perseverance, while still maintaining a more objective distance to their proposed solution and be more receptive to market signals that may require a pivot or change to their hypothesized solution.
A good innovation-oriented leader should be both passionate and objective. Ideally, their passion should be for something other than their initial product or solution idea, such as their customer's problem or even their team so long as it allows them also to demonstrate objective and critical evaluation of their proposed solution and a willingness to accept feedback and new data. This combination creates a powerful balance with the passion as a driving force to push through setbacks and sometimes crippling uncertainty, while analytic objectivity can help drive to higher quality decisions along the journey.
Elon Musk, despite your opinion of his recent actions and behavior, is a publicly visible example of such a leader. His passion for the challenges facing the planet and our species is clearly evident, and he's certainly been successful at instilling passion for trying to solve those problems into his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, as well as many potential customers. However, he also demonstrates a level of objectivity in the face of new data and has demonstrated a willingness to change tactics based on those data, such as admitting to over anticipating the potential for automation in ramping up the Model 3 production. It's not just passion or just objective analysis of data, but the combination of both that have made him a successful leader of innovation.
