It has never been easy to dream big at the enterprise level generating ideas for success. Scrappy startups tend to dream big, while enterprises often seek to maintain the status quo. Market pressures and efficiency-first thinking tend to set a hard limit on the size of dreams. In addition, dreams and their influence on strategy are normally the province of the uppermost layers of management. while the tactical practicalities of execution are pushed down the level of project teams. Keeping the two in sync is challenging, to say the least.

Yet somehow, organizations that repeatedly bring fruitful innovations to the market find a way to work with structured and creative leadership at the same time. They learn how to make peace with an environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and – most critically of all – ambiguity.

In Volume 1 of our book series Business Innovation, which you may or may not have read based on your chosen pathway through this series of books. We discussed details on current thinking about innovation leadership. We examined why the right culture, matched to the appropriate leadership persona, is central to the success of moving from creative ideation to functional innovation. Ambiguity is necessary to give project teams the freedom to succeed or fail in pursuit of the dream.

Confirming anecdotal evidence about how creative ideas come to market, (Rigby, Gruver, & Allen, 2009) concluded that the most creative businesses in the fashion industry are virtually always led by one highly imaginative leader in partnership with an equally talented analytical thinker.

Read more here about innovation management, leadership, culture and transformation for sustainable growth and profit.