For a take-charge optimist like me, the financial crisis was a brutal experience. Although it’s hard to know exactly what’s ahead, for certain, we are close to a recovery. What we have yet to grasp is how different the future will be.
Many economists are expecting a new normal – extensive regulation, a much bigger, intrusive government, and a changing mix of businesses and jobs. How important it is to be on the right side of the new opportunities. How satisfying it will be to make the right moves in business and our careers.
The debate about leaders and the economy ramps up to a roar. Many believe that America is living in a crisis of leadership…measured by plummeting political polls, concerns about the actions of business executives, and incessant questions about the sustainability of capitalism. There is little consensus about what makes a good leader, and what we need to do to stay in-demand in a world that’s ever changing.
In these uncertain times, we need objective information and great insights about leadership and business to pursue our goals with confidence. The big winners will do business differently, create new capabilities, exploit connections across markets, professional disciplines, and sectors – and that’s only part of the picture. The new heroes in business will innovate to build value.
Leadership Pundit is a blog that candidly explores what to do to achieve success now in the new economy. Do we understand how the consumer or buyer of our services is thinking and making decisions? How should we lead and operate, not for the purpose of rising to power, but to satisfy our want for achievement and meaning?
To capture the secrets of great leadership, we need to focus on the ideas and actions that separate the best leaders from all of the rest. Our perceptions of leaders are distorted when we make them celebrities or rock stars. Charisma and admirable intensions are not sufficient to make a leader great. Results matter, as well as what a leader does and how the leader does it.
The new heroes in the private sector will get to the right solutions in an inclusive way, because diverse opinions and talent generate better results. They will anticipate the unintended consequences of their actions. They will demand transparency, not as an ideal, but as an operating norm. They will lead without arrogance to build stakeholder value. They will be accountable for great execution, nothing less. And these same standards should also apply to our elected officials.
In economic downturns and upswings, there are striking patterns in how executives produce impressive results regardless of the difficulties. These new guard leaders think, act and are different. We need to look for them, and learn from them.
You are invited to join this conversation on Leadership Pundit.com. Our topics will cut across the business world, the shocking events and the less obvious, lessons from the news, and more.
For example, what’s most exciting about business today? What’s next for women leaders, the Baby Boomers, and those derailed by the current economy? Are Gen Yers an asset or a bother in the workplace? Whart are the biggest mistakes most people make in a job search or transition? What can we learn about effective leadership from the current turmoil in the political arena?
Great leadership is a mindset, an approach to growth and change that evolves over time. We can accelerate this kind of learning – building self-confidence and moxie – through focus, discussion, and interaction with the best. As leaders ourselves, we can do incredible things without asking for permission, playing politics or making our superiors feel good, even when they are dead wrong.
This I know from experience: working with talented leaders of all kinds and ages is exciting. The wildest aspirations are doable. I also know that people who are wed to old ways miss how fast the world is changing. They become the old guard, the entrenched protectors of convention.
Leadership needs to change, and is changing as we speak. We need organizations packed with leaders, not just those at the top.
The new guard, the new heroes in business, will lead differently – engaging, supporting, and following simultaneously – leading beyond the defined boundaries, hierarchies, and conventions of the old school. Let’s ask the relevant questions. Let’s learn from what’s going on to find and define success in the new economy.
