"Ambidextrous leadership driving strategic innovation" is a Master's dissertation in Innovation Management. The work explores the necessary duality that organisations need to maintain in order to be able to drive innovation initiatives, as well as maintain the profitability of core business. Operational activities require fundamentally different skills, mind sets and frameworks in contrast to innovation efforts. Where core operations can be characterised by needing to maximise efficiency, minimising risks, ensuring scalability, predictability and short term profitability - innovation requires space for exploration, slack, failure, and long-term perspectives. This dissertation looks at the difficulties leaders have in juggling those two, radically different efforts.

Maria Potoroczyn: born 1987, in Poland; lived in US, UK, and Norway. With a BA in Social Anthropology and Media & Communication from Goldsmiths College and an MA in Innovation Management from Central Saint Martins, Maria bridges a human-centred approach and creativity with business acumen, in her current role as an Innovation Consultant.