Inspire Creativity & Innovation: A Philadelphia Thought Leader Speaks

• What we'll do
Develop the insight to lead innovation!

The technology being developed is amazing. However, just having technology available isn’t enough. We need innovation—and that’s the topic of this next Meetup.

Speaker:
Daan van Knippenberg, PhD
Joseph F. Rocereto Chair of Leadership
Academic Director, Institute for Strategic Leadership
Editor in Chief, Academy of Management Annals
LeBow College of Business
Drexel University

Presentation:
Innovation is a key challenge for many firms. Business models may point to the economic benefits – indeed, the necessity – of innovation, but financial performance is at best only a modest motivator of a company’s employees. To drive creativity and innovation, it is important that people are intrinsically motivated – that they believe in the value and meaningfulness of what they do. A core role for leadership in organizations, and in particular in leading for such hard-to-manage outcomes as innovation, thus is to intrinsically motivate employees.

In this talk, I outline how meaning-based leadership lies at the core of achieving this. Meaning-based leadership is leadership to build a shared understanding of the company’s purpose, its must fundamental objectives. Purpose captures the reason the company exists, what its ultimate objectives are, and why these are meaningful and important. Shared purpose infuses work with meaning, is intrinsically motivating, and provides guidance in determining what to do and how to do it. Meaning-based leadership thus provides a drive for innovation, both in intrinsically motivating efforts and in clarifying what innovation “is for.”

I further outline how effective meaning-based leadership often requires “local translation” to clarify for different groups (teams, departments) in the organization what they can do to contribute to company purpose, and how meaning-based leadership is more effective when employees are empowered to follow their creative inclinations.

Agenda:
6:15 PM – 6:45 PM: Registration & Networking
6:45 PM – 7:30 PM: Presentation: Leading Creativity and Innovation
7:30 PM –8:00PM: Q & A Session
8:00 PM – 8:15 PM: Networking and Drinks

Note: Location will be announced soon (downtown Philadelphia)

• What to bring

• Important to know