(courage into it all)
My true belief: ‘Leadership should not be isolated at the top. Leadership should be outlived through the entire organisation’.
Tomorrow‘s winners will be the ones able to combine the best intentions with the best leaders. This combined with a professional Board operating mostly as input givers facing normative matters.
Business cycles (whether up or down) has become more dynamic. What is good/solid today might not be the case by tomorrow. More and more will be demanded from the customer side, not at least ‘total flexibility’ – even on pricing.
Leadership is about getting things done. Done under accelerated change and intensified competition. That’s why ‘exchange and knowledge sharing’ should be constantly on the agenda. It’s about a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and a sense of true fulfilment. This kind of attention must be the intrinsic part inside every Company.
Modern Leadership is also allowing for constant Q&A sessions. Do not hide in an ivory tower. Be visible. Combine this way of living with ‘mentoring gifted people’. Let people TALK (and listen to them) and allow them to ask questions and implement their visions. By doing so they will take real ownership for their performance and development if they get the allowance to act that way. Create an environment outspelling ‘freedom to act’. Influence must be felt. I truly believe that this will lead to a constant high performance culture. To strenghten this way of working go forward via the involvement of Facilitators – especially on specific tasks – in order to hold the things on track.
The next generation of leaders should be rewarded the chance to flourish. Go down that route and ‘dedicated candidates’ will go the extra mile. All this will be needed facing a more and more complex World. Do not fear any of this. Just go with it all and embrace change. Do it: ‘Make Leadership everybody’s business’. Just grow with it all. The outcome will be great.
Finally: ‘True Leadership should not simply pop up in a moment. True Leadership should pop up over the entire lifetime’.
By: Jens Sørensen, The Wide View
