How to characterize the Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leader

How to characterize the Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leader

While preparing to the Leadership seminar, we were supposed to state how to characterize the Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leader. Since we have a lot of group work at the moment, and some of us will start working with people in a company or run his or her own company, in any case the question of having a leader in a group or what characteristics he or she should have will definitely arise. And, therefore I find this topic very relevant and encouraging. In this part I would like to discuss the characteristics of the Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leader, taking in account the rapid changes in the environment, a leader should be really creative, innovative and entrepreneurial at the same time in order to hold out, sustain and succeed.

While communicating, interacting or cooperating with others or even during the group meeting sometimes it becomes noticeable (if talking about formal leadership), that one person is more active, more enthusiastic, more ambitious, more passionate and encouraged in it than others, that someone is willing to take responsibilities and actions towards the goals and make the others believe and contribute in it as well. This person takes measures to assemble different elements of the organization such as assets, resources, and people. It should be noticed that he or she has a peculiar ability to allocate scarce resources when information is not available. Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leaders are prone to innovate or to spot some opportunities.

When dealing with a situation of high uncertainty they are able to keep their eyes open, to continue effective communication and to carry on making effective decisions. Acceptance of the risk is actually something that Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leaders usually do. It recognizes that they are good at managing the situations where risk is high1 .

The demands for innovations and highly uncertain environment make the leader focus on change rather than continuity, on opportunity rather than resource conservation and on communicating a vision in order to guide the organizational population towards a future goal.

One of the distinctive features is that the Leaders have their own vision, vision of a new and better world. By taking on the role of the visionary leader they create the environment which brings out the best in the organization’s people by motivating them and giving them an overall sense of direction. Visionary leadership demands communication. (Wickham, 2006)

Good communication skills are one of the main advantages of the Innovative / Entrepreneurial Leader. In order to show support and commitment to people he or she identifies the value that people carry. And, therefore it is important to motivate those people to make the best effort they can on its behalf. Good leadership requires the ability to inspire people to work in a specific way. It is more than merely directing people; it is also about supporting them and helping them to achieve the goals they have been set.
When thinking about innovative leaders such as, Abraham Lincoln, Anita Roddick, Benjamin Franklin, Bill Gates, Coco Chanel, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and Winston Churchill, just to name a few, certainly some common characteristics can be found that reflect the points made above. Nevertheless, the weaknesses of the leadership theories explained point out that there cannot be a recipe of defining and building innovative/entrepreneurial leaders.


1. Northouse, P.G. (2007) Leadership Theory and Practice, 4th edition. Sage Publications.