tA Fast Company article entitled, “The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity” (referenced by SmartBrief on Leadership), indicates, “For CEOs, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business, outweighing even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM.”

As you might imagine, creativity as a quality supplanting integrity and honesty is generating a fair amount of controversy in the comments section.  The article and comments and debate are fun to read, and while I don’t believe for a second that the laws of gravity and the attributes of effective leaders have been suspended, I have no qualms supporting the notion that creativity in this era is an increasingly important attribute for any leader and any professional.

Environmental complexity, the constant threat of marketplace disruption, the pace of change and all of the other powerful forces at work in our world, demand creative responses and (ugh…pardon the phrase), “out of the box” ideas and thinking.

Creativity comes in many sizes and flavors, and is an elusive quality to get your arms around. One cannot mandate that a group or an individual start thinking creatively and then expect a bevy of new ideas to come forth and reshape the business.

While I admire creativity in leaders, I mostly admire leaders that are creative enough to understand and help form a workplace atmosphere that encourages fresh ideas, experimentation and learning.

Rare is the company that has the lone-wolf, genius CEO capable of providing all of the creativity that the firm can consume.  I will place my bet every day on the firm that is led by an individual of integrity and character that gets that the value of having people is to tap into the rich veins of creativity that lie just below the surface.

Leader, let our creativity flow!