Part Two (Human Side of Leadership) of a five-part series bridging arts, science, and business to reclaim a sense of wonder in American innovation.

We need a leadership glow-up to match the boldness of our visionaries and entrepreneurs.

Visionaries in arts, science, and business are at the forefront of identifying future trends and driving transformative change. They pose radical questions, generate groundbreaking ideas, and mobilize resources to bring these innovations to life. 

Current leadership development models often yield only incremental progress, failing to foster the revolutionary breakthroughs needed in today's rapidly changing business environments. Alarming research indicates declining mental well-being among entrepreneurs and increasing unresolved grief and trauma within business innovation networks.

I suppose this is logical on some level. Entrepreneurs regularly face extreme pressures, financial instability, and isolation, leading to higher rates of stress, anxiety, loneliness, and burnout. Additionally, the cultural stigma around business failure prevents many from seeking necessary support, exacerbating the emotional toll. These issues underscore the urgent need to reconceptualize America’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems as fundamental to human flourishing within the American context. Currently, however, this is not the case.

Other signals point to another little-discussed driver of American innovation, supporting the need for a fresh approach. For many Americans, especially for entrepreneurs and innovator teams, a massive culture shift has been brewing for the last fifty years. Our “work life” increasingly resembles a spiritual quest.

To address these systemic challenges, executives in coaching and leadership roles must be equipped to guide entrepreneurs and innovation teams through holistic journeys that unlock human creative potential.

While core business skills like finance remain essential, integrating leadership practices focused on holistic well-being can improve leaders' effectiveness in supporting the dynamic needs of innovation teams across all domains and industry sectors. Leaders who can foster transformational creativity  rather than just incremental improvements will be the most effective and most rewarded.

Is the “Entrepreneur Experience” Actually the Product?

From the lingering shadows of pandemic isolation, the “cat on a hot tin roof” vibes of grind culture, and the weirdness of technological fever-dreaming, innovators and entrepreneurs are set into motion with a set of valuable tools but are often left to Don Quixote their way into a battle with no clear objective or enemy.  They are confident in the importance and magnitude of their offered solution but ill-equipped to engage in the radical self-critique necessary to be vulnerable enough to acknowledge they may not have the right question.

The top reason for startup failure is a lack of product-market fit, indicating that many entrepreneurs launch ventures without fully understanding market needs. This misalignment can lead to substantial wasted effort and resources.

Let’s not put all the blame on entrepreneurs. Economic systems are, after all, a set of learned behaviors. Entrepreneurs often simply exhibit a trained response from how investors and systems have rewarded those who came before. The current entrepreneurial ecosystem (and intrapreneurial initiatives within corporations) most frequently rewards the performance of confidence mixed with promises of rapid growth over sustainable problem-finding, long-term viability, and genuine transformational innovation.

In these wild times, there is a collective yearning for experiences that stir the soul and reclaim a sense of wonder. These experiences are more than a Disney-like sojourn or a dream vacation. In America today, the personal and the professional have merged for so many of us that entrepreneurship itself is on its way to becoming a type of consumer “identity brand experience” with the promise of transforming the mundane into the magical and promising the rich, emotion-laden experiences that human hearts seek along with the acknowledgment of others that human egos often crave. 

Rise in New Entrepreneur Ventures

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, entrepreneurial activity has increased significantly post-pandemic, with many Americans opting to start businesses at record rates. This trend has continued into 2024, driven by shifts in consumer behavior and technological advancements. Fast Company recently had a solid read on how this trend is shaping the future of Denver.

University programs and non-university niche accelerators are also experiencing significant growth, and prominent accelerators like Y Combinator and Techstars have scaled their offerings, too. These developments reflect a robust ecosystem supporting new entrepreneurial ventures and fostering innovation through diverse training levels and programs.

I think it’s important for us to recognize that entrepreneurship goes well beyond the traditional notions of an MBA-type entrepreneur. Based on the 2015-2019 ACS PUMS data , nearly 34% of U.S. artists were self-employed entrepreneurs, compared with just over 9% of all workers. New signals lead me to believe that this will only increase. For example, while it’s hard to know for certain, significant enrollment shifts in higher education over the past five years, suggest we have moved beyond a “blip” and are now firmly within a trend to what’s next. 

The chart below uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES ) to illustrate enrollment from 2018 to 2023. It shows the decline in enrollments for Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs, contrasted with the rise in enrollments for undergraduate and master’s degree programs in entrepreneurship.

These trends suggest a potential shift in student preferences, with many who might have pursued fine arts degrees now opting for entrepreneurial studies. Whether arts programs can adapt and find new opportunities within this change remains to be seen. Similarly, it is uncertain whether business schools have the creative know-how to leverage this opportunity beyond merely increasing student enrollment revenue.

Driven by the rising importance of creative brain skills in business and the profound implications of human creativity in co-creation with artificial intelligence , leadership programs must quickly learn how to support the deep integration of the arts, brain science, and business. This integration is critical to our national entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Higher education has a massively important role to play here. It can and should lead this charge in public-private partnership models with industry. However, competition for students among arts, business, and other programs often reinforces a protectionist focus on the "me"—what am I running from—rather than the liberating expansion of opportunity found in the "we"—what are we together running toward?

"These things must be done delicately, or you hurt the spell."

- Wicked Witch of the West, Wizard of Oz

America depends on entrepreneurs and innovators to drive societal and economic advancements. However, one (often taboo) question not asked enough is whether the current modes of developing entrepreneurs’ cognitive, emotional, and collaborative skills are delivering the goods.

• Would you trust a surgeon if nine out of ten of their patients didn’t survive the operation?
• Would you eat at a restaurant if nine out of ten meals resulted in food poisoning?
• Would you invest in a financial advisor if nine out of ten of their clients lost all their money?
• Would you use a product if nine out of ten reviews warned it was faulty or dangerous to the well-being of you, your friends, and your family?

Of course not. These questions highlight the absurdity of accepting such a high failure rate in other contexts, emphasizing the need for a glow-up of the innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs.

In the U.S., startup failure rates remain strikingly high, with approximately 90% of new ventures failing . Of course, the high failure rate underscores the inherent market risks and challenges faced by entrepreneurs. However, at what point do we acknowledge that a one in ten success rate is also due to a breakdown somewhere in a system that seems to be growing even as its main output seems to be failing? The declining well-being of entrepreneurs is another critical signal that something needs to be improved in how we develop and support them. 

Corporate Innovation Leadership  

Beyond the startup world and into corporate America, the executive leadership development industry continues to expand. The market is projected to reach $216.9 billion by 2034, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 10.3% from its estimated $81.19 billion in 2024. Despite this projected growth, these programs' effectiveness in delivering their core value proposition is being questioned.

Current leadership development models are increasingly seen as falling short, particularly in enhancing innovation return on investment (ROI) and fostering trust in management. The 2024 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report highlights significant gaps between the goals of these programs and their actual impact. Despite heavy investments, many organizations struggle to see a proportional increase in innovation outcomes, suggesting a misalignment between program content and organizational needs. Furthermore, the report underscores that while 89% of executives believe their organizations are advancing human sustainability, only 41% of workers agree, pointing to a disconnect that hampers trust in management and overall effectiveness.

This growing skepticism about the effectiveness of traditional leadership programs emphasizes the need for a fundamental reevaluation. One key challenge with current leadership programs is their misalignment with business's evolving needs, driven by accelerating environmental, cultural, and technological demands.

The human side of technology and the future of work have different drivers and challenges than those of the past. However, many programs still focus on traditional skills and compliance rather than using actionable intelligence from advancements in brain science to foster creativity, emotional intelligence, and collaboration.

Evolution in Strategic Approach

Traditional innovation training systems are inadequate for successfully supporting visionary artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs in their “open road” journeys to find and cross over the frontiers of knowledge. A holistic blend of cognitive, emotional, and spiritual well-being is crucial for the transformational creativity that such journeys demand. 

As we navigate an era of unprecedented environmental, cultural, and technological shifts, we face both a challenge and a unique opportunity to redefine the essence of innovation and human potential.

Adopting a more strategic approach to leadership development in entrepreneurship and innovation is vital. This includes clearly defining and incorporating new success metrics, like Creative Brain Capital , within the suite of traditional business performance indicators and tools we typically use. Too much has changed in the past few years not to do so. 

Finding the intersection of technology with human creativity in our search for awakening and understanding in a world that often feels chaotic and bewildering is a big human side challenge in the Wonder Economy .

With a little help from Dorothy in the land of Oz, that’s what we’ll explore tomorrow in PART THREE: BUILDING STRATEGIC FORESIGHT

Looking Ahead: What’s Next in the Leading Creativity in Business Series?

Over five days, I’m posting a new article each day to provoke unexpected insights for leading creativity in business. Together, we’ll explore the intersection of arts, brain science, and business culture that give life to the Wonder Economy—the human side of technology and the future of work.

Join me in this quest to find unexpected answers for rekindling the lifeblood of American innovation: creativity. 

ACCESS THE FULL FIVE-PART SERIES

PART ONE: QUANTUM CULTURE Beyond the political, JD Vance and I can likely agree on four things about Breathitt County. 

PART TWO: MAKING THE HUMAN SIDE A SHARED VALUE Leadership needs a glow-up to match the boldness of our visionaries, entrepreneurs, and innovators.

PART THREE: BUILDING STRATEGIC FORESIGHT Finding the intersection of technology with human creativity in our search for awakening and understanding in a world that often feels chaotic and bewildering.

PART FOUR: DEVELOPING CO-CREATIVE ECOSYSTEMS. Information goes in through the heart and other things Steve Jobs taught us about moving from the “me” to the “we” of innovation.

PART FIVE: FUTURE-PROOFING TALENT A hope-fueled drive to actively shape a more creative and kind future that pushes us to go beyond old notions of creative economy while reconnecting us to something greater than ourselves.

Theo Edmonds , Culture Futurist® & Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation™

©2024 Theo Edmonds | All Rights Reserved. Please credit the author when using any of this content.  The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.