ABSTRACT
As previous chapters have made evident, an individual generative leader is not usually in a position to influence the course of events directly. As has also become evident, generative leadership is an interdependent and reciprocal process, a combination of strategic, interpretive, institutional and network leadership, focusing on giving birth to something new and especially on creating conditions for the stimulation of innovation in knowledge cities. Generative leadership is about searching for future directions for knowledge city development, bringing relevant actors together and constructing new thinking patterns. It is not a specialised role but a diffuse force that works over time, embedded not only in the respective governance system but also in a specific social and evolutionary setting. Generative leadership is inspired by transformational leadership that reminds us that in its attempts to bring about change, leadership has to (a) respect the identities of the many actors in a city, (b) act as a role model and inspiration to other actors and make them interested in issues related to the knowledge city development, (c) challenge other actors to take ownership of some aspects of knowledge-city development, and (d) understand the strengths and weaknesses of not only the city they work for but also the people living in it (applying Bass, 1991; Bass and Riggio, 2006).
