This perspective arose from experience conducting an empirical study of organisations created within the English National Health Service to foster innovation for patient benefit, such as new technologies and models of care. Our discussions with those in leadership roles in these organisations pointed to a desire for a succinct review of concepts and theories that could inform their thinking. This perspective seeks to provide such a review.
As the terms ‘leadership’ and ‘innovation’ are at the core of this perspective, it is essential to define them at the outset. For the present purposes, we have taken the definition of leadership set out by Yukl as “the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives.” Innovation is defined as “a broad set of activities involving the creation and implementation of concepts and products new to an organisation.