Yesterday’s leadership theories are not keeping pace with the velocity of today’s disruptive marketplace. Organizations are seeking a new model for the age of agility. Many companies have spent decades trying to identify and clone the mythical “perfect leader.” But it turns out there is no such thing. Businesses today face a virtually unprecedented variety of challenges, from harvesting profits in mature economies with flat or declining growth, to establishing toeholds in emerging countries, to creating the next wave of disruptive innovation, to working through the complexity of changing regulations—and everything in between. Each of these unique challenges requires a unique kind of leader. One size does not fit all. It wasn’t long ago that mature markets were the ones that really mattered. And while those key markets might have been on different continents and separated by thousands of miles, from a business perspective they were more alike than different. Not anymore. Today, companies should find ways to operate successfully in markets that are worlds apart in every way—socially, technologically, and economically. This requires a new type of leadership. Companies used to operate in a relatively stable and predictable business environment where the future looked a lot like the past. But in an increasingly complex and fast-paced business world, businesses know that the future is unknown—and unknowable—and design their leadership strategies accordingly. Today, disruptive innovation is the rule, not the exception. Virtually any company could be weeks or months away from facing potential breakthroughs and new competition that could make its entire business obsolete. Leadership styles that worked well in the past simply aren’t good enough to cope with this dynamic environment. Organizations have arrived at a turning point in the evolutionary arc of leadership, where yesterday’s theories struggle to keep pace with the velocity of today’s disruptive marketplace. Although many companies continue to pursue a singular vision of the ideal leadership style, the humbling truth is that tomorrow’s leaders should be able to thrive across multiple complex environments including: hyper-growth in emerging economies; value-harvesting or turnaround in mature markets and product segments; entrepreneurial innovation in start-up categories; and enterprise re-engineering for end-to-end value chain optimization. These are just a few of the business contexts that form the playing field for the 21st century—a jagged landscape that forces companies to launch multi-prong strategic plans in order to gain competitive advantage across a diverse array of contrasting market spaces. Different situations require different kinds of leadership. For example, capitalizing on hyper-growth in emerging markets requires leaders who embrace chaos and have a high tolerance for risk and failure. In fact, some businesses are pursuing a deliberate strategy of “fast failure” to rocket up the learning curve and accelerate their success. Leaders in this kind of environment must be willing to shun conventional thinking about which markets are worth targeting. They also should be obsessively committed to operational efficiency and execution to squeeze profits from even the smallest opportunities, and should be able to adjust their strategies and goals on-the-fly in response to lessons learned and rapidly changing market conditions. By contrast, a turnaround in a mature market requires leaders who are practical and realistic, yet also inquisitive and adventurous. They should be able to make deliberate choices that help the company extract the most value from existing assets; yet they must also be able to drive disruptive innovations that can take a business in entirely new directions. Curiosity and a willingness to learn are key, so is the passion to engage employees and bring them along on the journey. Dr. Terry Jackson
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:11:55 +0000
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