Creativity and leadership: neurocognitive insights in use

Abstract

Creativity is seen as the “basis of competitive advantage”. Therefore it also is distinguishes the more from the less successful military leader. This quality of leaders is so important that it is one of the Austrian Armed Forces Leadership Principles: flexibility (in mind and manoeuvre) – being flexible in thought and action, to be mentally versatile. To increase the chances for extraordinary creative outcomes there are several aspects, which can be used in the DMP, in military training as well as in leadership. This article focuses on stimulus variation, reference level variation, association variation, emotional state variation, reduced and focused attention. By linking these aspects with steps of the decision making process, training and leadership new approaches in the daily business can be found and better achievements reached.