Despite the incessant meeting of time, budget and bottom-line parameters, an effective leader would perhaps do well to, at very least, to acknowledge creative individual/team input. So often different or critical thinking is regarded as tangential, time-wasting or even negative.

It is surely a strong service-orientation that would most often prompt suggestion or unsolicited input?
Consistent dismissal or ignoring of ideas will, with time, de-motivate the most committed individual. De-motivated people quit, or worse, stay on as a bitter and negative influence.

Consider the words of maverick/iconoclastic WWII hero Orde Wingate:

“A man who possesses creative ability tends inevitably to form his own original opinions. Unless he is very fortunate the value of his opinions will not be apparent to his superiors unless there is some acid test to which they can be put”  

Wherever possible/appropriate a good leader will provide the occasion for such a test. Innovative/forward thinking forestalls problems, sustains the competitive edge… and in the long term, saves money!  

In the interview/hiring process both the hirer and prospective employee should ascertain the level/percentage that strategy VS execution is desired/required!

If a true leader is someone who has the ability to identify requirement, the courage to proactively engage & the smarts to formulate a workable solution, logically this person would automatically be, to varying degrees, at odds with the status quo and those who are content to go with the flow.

The key to meeting this challenge, as we know, is the ability to persuade, sell, influence and negotiate in order to overcome inherent resistance to change. Yet in the course of almost 2 decades of Leadership Training, Coaching & Consulting, I find it is this particular attribute that oftentimes frustrates real leadership deployment.  Innovative, different or exceptional thinking is, in the nature of things, in direct conflict with the beliefs, expectations, hopes and even the morality of the majority. How often are brilliant ideas ignored in favour of more digestible “what we know works” solutions? More...