Entrepreneurial leaders: Creating opportunity in an unknowable world

Abstract

The authors believe that “organizations have entered an unknowable world in which current business problems bear little resemblance to the past.” Rather than endlessly gathering information, they must continually take action. Three principles of entrepreneurial leadership are outlined, starting with cognitive ambidexterity, which involves “integrating two diverse ways of making decisions into a single approach to pursuing opportunity.” Next is “commitment to social, environmental, and economic value creation,” in which leaders are “driven by their commitment to social, environmental, and economic responsibility and sustainability (SEERS).” Finally, leaders must develop self‐awareness, “a deep understanding of who they are to guide their actions.”

Developing entrepreneurial leadership: the challenge for sustainable organisations

“…The lack of leadership capacity and capability acts as a constraint on developing sustainable enterprises, yet entrepreneurial leadership can unlock the potential for wider-scale ambition and impact of sustainable entrepreneurship. (Greenberg et al, 2011).…”

How Do Ambidextrous Teams Create New Products? Cognitive Ambidexterity, Analogies, and New Product Creation

“…Greenberg et al . () suggest that cognitive ambidexterity is an enabler of entrepreneurial leadership, where two different methods of pursuing opportunities are integrated (Greenberg et al ., ). They use the terms “predictive and creation logic,” which correspond to exploitative and explorative ways of making decisions.…”

“…They use the terms “predictive and creation logic,” which correspond to exploitative and explorative ways of making decisions. Despite the juxtaposition and seemingly incompatible methods of thought and action, these two logics complement each other and create greater value when used in conjunction (Greenberg et al ., ). Based on these initial notions of the relevance of cognitive ambidexterity, this study suggests that achieving the balance of exploitation and exploration is especially relevant in innovation contexts and, in particular, NPC.…”

“…To bridge this research gap, this study integrates the insights from several recent conceptualizations on cognitive ambidexterity and cognitive frames (Smith and Tushman, ; Chandrasekaran, ; Greenberg et al ., , ; Lin and McDonough, ). This study portrays cognitive ambidexterity on a team level as the combination of exploitative and explorative knowledge processes.…”

Developing entrepreneurial leadership: the challenge for sustainable organisations

“…Kuratko (2007) addressed the role of entrepreneurial leadership primarily as economic leadership, operating entirely within the paradigm of western capitalist economies, without questioning this approach, other than brief consideration of 'the dark side of entrepreneurship' and the ethical role of the entrepreneurial leader. In contrast, Greenberg, McKone-Sweet and Wilson (2011) proposed an explicitly values and action-based approach to entrepreneurial leadership, which they defined as: 'leaders must rely more on action than analysis to create new opportunities. By taking action, leaders learn about a situation and can use their understanding to guide future action.…”