Authenticity, Empathy, and Modesty: The Key to Effective Leadership in Today’s Fast-Changing World

A CRUCIAL IMPETUS - Chapter 9, "The Leadership of the Future"

"Independently of their playing field, whether it is a large or small private company, an administration, a political party, a startup or a government, modern leaders must stand out through their mindset, their energy, their humility, their responsiveness, their empathy, their truthfulness, their fairness and their capacities to transmit values to others in order to involve them in a project.

The leaders who’ll succeed are those capable of extracting the essence of the past to keep its value, but without any nostalgia or determination to restore it. Those capable of focusing on the present and the future with energy that is renewed each day.

They must show as much efficiency in a coaching conversation with one individual as on a stage in front of thousands of people.

They must be proactive, visionary, transparent and authentic in their approach.

They must be capable of motivating the people who work around them, independently of any hierarchical connection, just through a sense of commitment, the determination to initiate a project, to find a solution, an initiative, to together define a path to success.

They’ll push others to expand their capacity and their actions to the highest level of play, without constantly being on people’s back to force them to do a given task.

They won’t be afraid of managing a conflict by making their wisdom available to a group to ease tensions, grasping the stakes without making people feel guilty, understanding positions without compromising on the ultimate common good and succeeding in making a solution emerge without any fractures.

Their judgment will be respected if it isn’t based on prejudices and preconceived ideas, but if it is based on discussion, negotiation, values, the final objective and a sense of responsibility.

They’ll know how to have a contact with each individual by being sincere with them in their interest and capable of adapting to each person opposite them. There is no “one size fits all,” which is a universal approach applied in a trivialized way. On the contrary, they’ll have a real, personal, aware and attentive human relationship with others.

They’ll succeed in instigating the production of results with agile, simple and adapted mechanisms without anything superfluous, without any superimposition or embellishments, without adding weight where it isn’t necessary.

They won’t stop at the fact of being exemplary in their behavior regarding the organization’s values. But they’ll constantly and proactively try another subject, another principle, another balance to constantly bring the group to a higher level of impartiality and fairness.

They’ll be capable of attracting and surrounding themselves with the best talents without being afraid of the shadow cast by the people around them. They’ll let each individual express her/himself with a real sense of inclusion and respect.

They’ll succeed by making decisions without imposing them, but by having them emerge as being the best solution to reach the final goal.

They’ll encourage risk-taking and will be patient about failure or imperfection.

They’ll want a dynamic organization that knows how to passionately make a commitment over the long term by inventing what doesn’t yet exist. By constantly learning, even from mistakes, and not reproducing a static organization that tries to do what has already been done, they’ll inspire teams to invent new practices and always do better.

They’ll be capable of organizing the work of a group of talents by capitalizing on different and complementary visions by spreading the desire to see the world from different angles to broaden each discussion before arriving at specific conclusions. Their humility will be clearly visible.

They’ll be a “role model” in their determination to keep constantly developing their knowledge, their capacities, their understanding of the world, by showing respect and an appetite for feedback.

Do you think that perhaps all this doesn’t exist in a single person? You’re right! Hence this last, fundamental point: we all need and have the magical opportunity to work on lots of subjects to improve ourselves."

"LO SLANCIO DECISIVO" by EGEA EDITORE

"L'ELAN DECISIF" by LE CHERCHEMIDI