What kind of leaders will be needed tomorrow? And in 1/5/10 years? It used to be enough for an executive to have professionalism and energy. But today companies prioritize multi-skills, multitasking, and other superlatives.
The leader of yesterday is a heroic individualist
So, the leader of the yesteryear may not, de facto, be on a horse and not with a sword in his hand, but it’s as if he has them. And he also has a lot of energy and a vision of how things should be. He goes forward and it’s impossible not to run after him. He’s a seasoned professional. Experienced in the sense that he has already achieved his goals or similar metrics, and he knows what obstacles will be encountered along the way. And, therefore, will help to bypass them or, at least, meet them with dignity.
In recent years, the number of simultaneous changes in the external context – in life and business – has turned into a qualitative change in the requirements for leaders. Most breakthrough business ideas arise at the intersection of industries or in the blue ocean.
21st-century banks are no longer financial institutions, cabs are no longer transportation, and cell phones are no longer phones. This leads to the fact that companies don’t need leaders with industry experience to achieve their goals. Goals are not just different, they need to be found and revised quickly all the time. It turns out that leader experience is no longer an advantage, but a bad habit and a destructive stereotype.
It turns out that the experience of a leader is no longer an advantage, but a bad habit and a destructive stereotype.
Experience is necessary, but different – “different experiences” are necessary. One person, most likely, does not have them, so it is necessary to combine the experiences of several leaders – a leadership team, a neural network. And here the questions immediately arise.
The first question is:
If there is a team, it must have a leader. But what kind of leader? Since it is a leadership team, it must be a certain mega-leader. Today’s mega-leader allows the team to grow and develop, learn new skills, attract the right talent, is not afraid of competition, and supports the rules of communication and interaction within the team. He is much better than yesterday’s authoritarian leader, but we don’t take him into the future because he also has experience – the experience of leadership in the team, and this limits and slows down the generation of new ideas and goals by the team.
The second question is:
The energy of the leader. How much of the leader’s energy will be enough? If a mega leader, then mega energy. The members of such a leadership team have lower energy levels than the mega-leader. This, too, reduces the efficiency of the neural network.
I See How! But How?
What about leadership motivation and authorization of results – whose are they? No, not “my team’s” results, but the general ones. Communist results.
Tomorrow’s leadership is collective. It is a partnership of different leaders, equal in energy and value of experience. They have developed the collective ability to quickly combine knowledge and experience to synthesize entirely new goals. They can adjust quickly and are flexible to change.
Seems clear. But I want to quote the words of the main character in the cartoon “Kung Fu Panda”: “I see how! But how?” How do you deal with energy if you’ve felt more of a resource than those around you all your life? What about leadership motivation and authorization of results – whose are they? No, not the results of “my team,” but the overall results. Communist results like that. Where does the ego go in the end?
I was recently discussing this leadership paradigm with a CEO I know, an advanced and successful leader of a fairly large company, and suggested: “Imagine that there are several people like you.” And he honestly replied: “I can’t!… But I’ll try”.
Here it is – the zone of leadership discomfort. This is where development happens. Because here there is a place not only for remote work, multitasking, stress, burnout, and other troubles of leadership. So familiar and already tried so many times.
It’s hard to find a mentor on the road to collective leadership – after all, most of us have not been there, in this mysterious land of new opportunities. So first, let’s try to imagine.
Do you agree with the talking points? What do you think of the leaders of the future?
Bio: Rebecca Carter works as an essay writer for an online writing company that provides college essay writing help for students. She has Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and thanks to her company Rebecca can write articles about her experience. In her free time, she enjoys being in the mountains, going to the gym, horseback riding, and volunteering.