Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships

Global competition, new production techniques, and rapid technological change have placed a premium on creativity and innovation. Although many variables influence creativity and innovation in organizational settings, there is reason to suspect that leaders and their behavior represent a particularly powerful influence, In the present article, we review the available literature examining leadership behaviors contributing to creativity and innovation in organizational settings. Based on the findings obtained in these studies, we argue that the leadership of creative people requires expertise. Moreover, the successful leader must employ a number of direct and indirect influence tactics-tactics consistent with the needs of creative people working in an organizational environment. The implications of these observations for theory and practice are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.