Leadership in a changing world

28Apr07

Organizations are the bases of human interaction and financial activity in our society. We have know as far as we could remember the concept of leaders and followers since the early days of man. The evolution of small hunting groups to village systems, cities, nation states, state communities were due to people getting things done together and more importantly following a certain vision, mission, goal with an intention in mind.

What is the driving source behind people working together to achieve a particular goal, or even when following a random path to enjoy a common day trip? This is where the leader steps on to the stage. If you have more than 1 person, you sure will have a person that will be the wiser one at times of decision making and giving a clear or subtle direction to others.

The concept of leadership has grown popular as capitalism and corporations started to shape our world, literally becoming a subject that is taught at schools, seminars, companies. It is being aspired by millions to be learned and whole-heartedly practiced to get ahead of the crowd, as “true” leaders would live the most meaningful life followed by the fortunes, if coupled with financial success, goes the common belief.

If it is something to be learned or something to be born with has always been a topic a topic of discussion. Management professors, gurus and professionals, who earn their daily bread through teachings of leadership understandably support the mantra that says “leadership can be learned”. We are not going to discuss and engage ourselves in a dialectic discussion, but instead explore some undiscovered paths to leadership.

There are many characteristics of a good leader; as we all know, bad leaders can lead their followers into obscurity and even destruction. A management guru named John Crupi states that the learning through practicing the character building stones of a typical leader is not the most effective way to understand where you stand as a leader. He has a simple framework:

• Know yourself
• Know your elements
• No tolerance when certain rules are broken
• Give freedom and expect responsibility afterwards
• Know that you have a direct impact to people’ s lives
• You either become the one that is revered and followed, or the one that others do not want to have anything to do with

Leadership is actually nothing more than making the best out of any situation for the people and with the people, by having them share a common goal, motivating them to give their best all along till the end and when the victory is achieved, giving them back all the credit, as they have done a great job.

Good leaders have very strong self discipline with a relentless integrity, they work harder and smarter, they have above average intelligence and physical energy, they are natural good communicators and have exemplary relationship skills, most interestingly they have been this way since their childhood.

Now given that the expectations from the leaders of today are above and beyond the call of duty, it has become vital to carry most of the characteristics listed above; even to be performed in multi-cultural working environments, with followers coming from all walks of life and from widely different cultural backgrounds. What needs to be done to develop such character dimensions and people that will lead the next generation of followers to the next level?

The task starts in the family and at school, where the fundamental pillars of character is formed and shaped. Our children need to go to the basics. Responsibility, working discipline, rigorous reading and physical activity as opposed to virtual play, socializing outdoors vs online, going to next door and talking face to face and not utilizing the ease of SMS. Harder conditions, physically and mentally challenging experiences are leader makers.

We are living in a world of ubiquitous technology providing seamless connectivity, endless flow of information, unlimited ways of online interaction and sharing. Yet the requirements of leadership has not changed. We need more focused and self-disciplined leaders more than ever, as our world has become very complex, chaotic and global. For centuries the leaders led their folks in their close vicinity and now they need to see beyond the boundaries of Internet and technology to solve world’ s problems, seek opportunities and let their diverse constituents achieve that has never achieved before.

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Tags: business life, followers, Leadership, management, success