Wk6: Ch4: Leadership & Critical Roles

Question 1

Why is Entrepreneurial Leadership important?

Answer 1

• You need key individuals to aid, support and guide the entrepreneurial and innovative processes in an organisation
• Internal communication channels and technical resources are vital, but abosrbing information from the external environment is also important.
• Strong leadership enhances entrepreneurial vision

Question 2

What are the different roles in an enterpreneurial organisation?

Answer 2

• Gatekeepers
• Champions
• Initiators
• Innovation midwife
• Sponsor/Facilitator/Wizard
• Supporter
• Reactor

Question 3

Within an entrepreneurial organisation

What are the characteristics of the gatekeeper?

Answer 3

• Internal employees
• Able to effectively understand and interpret external environment information
• Able to effectively transfer external information to their internal company environment
• Incease company inventive creativity through creative adaptations and combinations of different external ideas to make radical new concepts

Question 4

Within an entrepreneurial organisation

What are the characteristics of the champion?

Answer 4

• Identifies and promotes an idea vigourously
• Often found in middle-management
• Maverick, but respected as credible by senior-management
• True entrepreneur and highly motivated so see idea succeed
• Protects idea in early stages to increase its chances of successful implementation

Question 5

What are the charcteristics of the initiator, sponsor, innovation midwife, supporter and reactor?

Answer 5

• Initiator: The one who first identifies the opportunity or threat (Often becomes the champion)
• Sponsor/Wizard: Senior level executive who protects the idea from corporate scrutiny and provides the required funding/resources/approval for the champion to pursue idea. Must be high-up and have influence in the organisation
• Innovation midwife: acts as the translator for effective communication and understanding between the sponsor and champion
• Supporter: Team player who aids the champion in developing the idea (Provides expertise, secondary role)
• Reactor: Plays devil’s advocate by pinpointing weaknesses and pitfalls in idea

Question 6

Describe the deal & kennedy model.

Answer 6

• It is a model to diagnose a company’s culture.
• There can be Low or High feedback speed (Low= takes long for findout whether project is successful, High=quick feedback on success of projects/innovations)
• There can be low or high degree of risk
• Process culture= Low feedback speed & low risk (e.g: banks, insurance companies)
• Work Hard/Play Hard culture=High feedback speed & low degree of risk (e.g: most insurance companies)
• Bet the company culture= high degree of risk & low feedback speed (e.g: big projects that take years to determine whether it is successful and are very expensive)
• Touch guy/Macho culture= high degree of risk & high feedback speed; very competitive (e.g: Movie industry, professional sports industries)