Entrepreneurs require a distinctive set of leadership characteristics in order to explore new vistas, develop truly novel ideas, and adapt to continuously changing environments. Skills and behaviors such as imagination, creative problem solving, and playful exploration are fundamental to successful innovation and are increasingly important in startups and other high-innovation organizations (McDonald and Eisenhardt, 2020; Mukerjee and Metiu, 2022). More than fifty years ago in his seminal paper Technologies of Foolishness, James March (1971; 2006) called attention to playfulness as an essential instrument of decision-making intelligence. More recently, research in cognitive development and organization studies demonstrate that playfulness fosters imagination, deep learning, and effective teamwork and is therefore recognized as a powerful stimulus for innovation and the exploration of uncharted territories (Gopnik, 1996; Mainemelis and Ronson, 2006). Playfulness is associated with a feel-good quality due to the role of positive affect and intrinsic enjoyment, which, along with other cognitive processes, drive uncertainty-seeking behaviors (Andersen et al., 2022). It is therefore an intrinsically motivating force that leaders can harness to stimulate team cohesion and employee engagement with work tasks (Sutton-Smith, 1979; Zhang and Bartol, 2010). In this seminar, we will explore how playfulness, as an often overlooked form of leadership intelligence, facilitates flexibility, creativity, enjoyment and work engagement in the context of high-innovation entrepreneurship.

Katelyn Sharratt is a PhD Fellow in the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School. Her research interests lie at the intersection of entrepreneurship and organization theory. Using qualitative and experimental methods, she seeks to understand the emergence of novel ideas by developing a theory of creativity within the empirical context of high-innovation entrepreneurship. Specifically, she adopts the lens of play and playfulness to examine the attitudes, skills, and environmental conditions that stimulate entrepreneurial pathways to novel ideas in entrepreneurial teams. Katelyn holds a B.A. degree in Anthropology and M.A. degree in International Business from the University of Melbourne as well as M.S. degree in Marketing Management from Bocconi University.  Before joining CBS, Katelyn was Managing Director at Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship in Melbourne, Australia where she was responsible for the development and implementation of the organization’s strategic direction.