There is a wide agreement among scholars, practitioners and the general population that innovation matters. But how should innovation be managed? During his inaugural address, Professor Stam will argue that leadership and innovation are inextricably bound; even more so, they are two sides of the same coin. Second, he will propose that leadership for innovation has two faces: the corporate catalyst and the innovation incubator. Finally, he will endorse the idea that research into leadership for innovation can be significantly strengthened by taking inspiration from innovation management literature and practice, and by applying diverse and rigorous methods and designs.
Stam: “When people think of innovation – as I have often witnessed in my classrooms – they quickly think of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Henry Ford. Interestingly, when I show the faces of these people and ask what people think, the most mentioned word is leadership. Apparently, many great innovators are also seen as great leaders.”
The inaugural address will take place on Friday, 21 June 2019 and is open to the public. The ceremony will start at 16:00 in the Aula of the Erasmus Building on Woudestein campus, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50 in Rotterdam. The reception will take place at 16:45 in the same building.
Daan Stam holds the chair of Leadership for Innovation in the department of technology and operations management at RSM, where he is the head of the Innovation Management section. His research focuses on leading innovation and change. He is particularly interested in understanding why so few people are able to gather strong support for innovation and change whilst many others struggle to do so. He has searched for answers by studying visioning behaviours of leaders using a psychological perspective, and found that identity issues are key to solving this mystery. Daan Stam is a member of the Erasmus Centre for Leadership and the Erasmus Centre for Innovation Management.
Watch Daan Stam share his views on leadership and innovation on RSM Discovery.
