Recently I’ve been working on a few projects which have made me think a lot about the meaning of leadership today. In particular, what does it take to be a great leader and how has the concept of leadership evolved over the past few years?
I can see that there are many valid, and different, opinions on this subject. In my opinion, however, there are three essential qualities that all great leaders must possess to be successful in today's business world.
1. The decay of operating in abundance – The economic state of the world in which we live in, requires that leaders today need to be closer to the financial operations of their companies than ever before, as well as be extremely and consistently fiscally conservative. They also need to have the tools that enable them to identify the most appropriate areas where cuts need to be made, while maintaining the competitive advantage and effective business operations of their companies. This is a particularly tough balancing act to manage, with a very small margin for error. As a result, effective leaders today know how to put in practice their knowledge of not only finance or accounting, but also of statistics and economics theory.
2. The importance of being emotionally intelligent – Operating in this atmosphere of austerity has also meant that leaders today need to find ways of inspiring their workforce to do more, with much less. This requires a mixture of skills – being able to understand and monitor emotions, as well as to assess and affect situations and relationships with people from different walks of life. Another aspect of emotional intelligence that I want to focus on is the ability to consistently keep an open mind and exhibit flexibility of thought. Effective leaders today understand that being successful is not only about skills, but also about attitude and willingness for continuous learning and progress.
3. Understanding the picture of social media – Social media, and its use internally and externally, is undeniably an important channel for leaders to both understand and manage. Even very traditional organisations, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which recently allowed US-listed companies to use Twitter and other social media services to make key announcements, agree that “companies [need] to seek out new forms of communication to better connect with shareholders.” Indeed, only the other day I read an excellent McKinsey article, which nicely summarises how the growth of social media and the changing habits of people, in terms of content creation and consumption, are adding a new dimension to effective leadership. The article argues that today’s leaders need to not only understand the social media landscape, but also actively get involved through co-creation and collaboration. This touches on the importance of leaders having the ability to cultivate internal cultures that promote constant interaction across physical and geographical boundaries. Of course, social media introduces new risks that leaders have to be aware of and manage appropriately, but that again falls under the new skillset they have to build on to address the challenges of today.
Peter Drucker once famously stated that "management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Doing the right things, however, is a moving target nowadays, with change being the only constant in the business world. As such, the three essential qualities I’ve outlined above can only exist within someone who has the ability to truly understand stakeholders, anticipate their needs and flex approach appropriately: a mindset, which will always remain important for ensuring effective leadership.
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