Entrepreneurial Leadership Part

1: Why is it important?
Posted at 09:53h
in Leadership & Management, Leadership Coaching, Leadership
Development, Mentoring by Antoinette Oglethorpe
2 Comments

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 

Earlier this year I received an invitation from the President of the

Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico.  The theme of the
11th annual Mentoring Conference was to be Mentoring, Coaching and
Leadership for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  They wanted me to
deliver a keynote speech.  The title was How to Develop Innovative,
Entrepreneurial Leaders Through Mentoring and Empowerment.

The session was well-received and I got lots of positive comments and
feedback so I thought I’d share my thoughts in a series of blog posts.  In
this post, the first in the series, I’ll start by looking at what we mean by 
Entrepreneurial Leadership and why we need it.

What is Entrepreneurial Leadership?

In 2004, Chris Roebuck defined entrepreneurial leadership as “organizing
a group of people to achieve a common goal using proactive
entrepreneurial behavior by optimising risk, innovating to take advantage
of opportunities, taking personal responsibility and managing change
within a dynamic environment for the benefit of [an] organisation”.

Entrepreneurial leaders may work within a formalised organisation

structure. But they use the skills and approaches associated with
successful entrepreneurs.

Why do we need Entrepreneurial Leadership?

The answer is relatively simple. To keep up with the swift pace of change
in the world, we need forward thinking, creativity and innovative ideas.

In today’s fast-changing world, leaders need to be agile.  You need to be

able to make decisions quickly, take action and learn from the results. 
You need to anticipate the future, respond to unforeseen circumstances
and adapt to change.

That relies on entrepreneurial leadership.

In other words, entrepreneurial leadership is like white water rafting.  To

ride the waves of change, you need a strong sense of purpose and
motivation.  You need a committed and effective team.  And you need the
agility to respond quickly and change direction when needed.

And for that reason, entrepreneurial leadership is not just for startups.  It’s
for all organisations.

4 Contexts for Entrepreneurial Leadership


 4 Contexts for Entrepreneurial Leadership
There are four contexts which need different types of entrepreneurial
leadership.

1. Starting a new venture. Start-ups are what we normally associate with

entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial leadership. For a start-up to be
successful, leaders need to spot gaps in the market, identify new
opportunities and engage teams and investors. They have to operate
differently to big organisations because they don’t have the same
resources.  They have to rely on low-cost experiments, teams and
partnering.
2. Social ventures. Social ventures are similar to start-ups but their main
purpose is meeting unaddressed social or economic needs. Leaders in
social ventures need to spend more time on partnerships. They need to
develop relationships with the community, the government and NGOs.
3. Family enterprise. Leaders in a family business have to focus on the
parallel challenges of family and business. They need to evolve the
organisation so that it responds to the changing market as well as
transferring to the next generation.
4. Achieving organisational innovation. Even large organisations need to
innovate if they are going to survive and thrive in a changing world. There
needs to be a strong alignment between strategy and culture. And that is
only achieved through entrepreneurial leadership that enables creativity
and change.
No matter what context you’re operating in, entrepreneurial leadership
will be central to your growth.  Developing leadership skills helps develop
talent, roll out new products and services, deliver efficiency and gain
market share.


 

Not developing your leaders might be fine if you want to stay small.  If
not, it will stunt your growth.  There is a clear connection between the
quality of leadership and the engagement of employees.  And that
impacts on results and growth.  Better leadership can improve an
organisation’s bottom line by hundreds of thousands – or even millions –
of dollars.

Want to learn more about why developing leaders is important for a fast-
growing organisation?  Why not download a free chapter of my book
Grow Your Geeks.  A Handbook for Developing Leaders in High-Tech
Organisations.  You can get it here
https://www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/resources/grow-your-geeks/

2 Comments

Jacob Castillo

Posted at 06:11h, 11 February

REPLY
when was this article published????

Antoinette Oglethorpe

Posted at 06:13h, 12 February

REPLY
Thank you for asking Jacob. It was
published in November 2018. Is the
date important?
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