Emerging markets struggling for Good Leaders

Good leaders mean the ability to comprehend economics, markets, your business and also your competitors . Those that look like your competition and even those that don't. It demands equal fiscal cleverness as it needs people management skills. Most of which are over and above what is taught in management schools. It is also the innate ability to read patterns, connections, projections and stories from insipid reports. A strong leader can bring out a valid story of facts usually lost amidst numbers and charts. And with that we come to accept good leadership as being a little of many things, getting the most out of it.

A practical leader looks through the dog and pony show of fancy presentations and professional data make overs, to be seriously focused on the story line of data. Such people rarely care if the deck was plain vanilla or came with snazzy visuals but will not flinch to pull down weeks of PPT dramatics if there was no story to tell or numbers dint stick. They are tuned in to the market and competition as much as they are in synch with what is happening within the organization. Simpler leaders are myopic and at best stretch sight to their own industry to stay relevant. Leaders who bring excellence have a birds eye view of business, of talent, of scope and movement of all variables. This is also why they move beyond just execution and delivery of the expected to do something different and out of the ordinary. Great leaders change the environment, the understanding of work ethics and the engagement of people by just being themselves and knowing what to say and do to inspire everything around them. It takes years of understanding, leading, watching and learning to be such exemplariness, naturally. 

 Countries that emerged into the global markets in the mid 19th century after wars subsided and got independent, took 20 - 50 years to stabilize and find new identity. Making countries like Africa, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea etc really come into their own only in the late 90’s . The telecom boom and the internet blast did shrink the world and allowed all to peep into other geographies for their potential. The world has always been curious about the east and even as business grows the east continues its lure. But the investors and mother companies of the west have a legacy of 100 -200 years in operation in many cases. They have had stable, established laws, corporate governance, policies on trade, people management skills for centuries. Having seen through many fiscal hills and troughs, the West hold masters in survival - no matter whatever the condition of the tide.

The scene of leadership is far too different in emerging markets that saw many companies from the west come in to change careers and worklife for its talent. Parent companies from the west invest through FDI into countries in the east provide a cushion during the phase of business establishment that usually has a window of 3-5 years depending on the level of investment the parent company makes and its vision on creating a foot print in the emerging market. Now it is important for us to realise that the Gen Y or the people born from 1960’s to 70’s in large majority are the current leaders of this space. They are in most cases the first generations at formal corporate work houses with no role models and examples to follow or learn from. They came with an education that prepared them more for local jobs and career managed by state and country.

The education system in the 60-70’s did not foresee how the world will come together and expansions will bring companies from the US, UK, AZ or anywhere else towards the East. When people were not groomed in fundamentals to be global citizens and leaders of magnitude it is indeed a challenge for them to have arrived in the last 90’s and see the workplace no longer needs TASK people - it wanted THINKERS. The typist went out and a strong mind behind the computers would lead the way. Gen X have been the generation that bore the brunt of all newness while the Gen Y who were born between 80's and 2000's had it much easier with every modernization as part of their education and childhood. Education systems changed vastly in the 90’s to accommodate a more wide view of the world, knowledge from exposure, debate and learning as groups. This helped Gen 

 Leaders who are at the helm of business in the emerging markets are testimony that man can change, watch, learn and evolve. But to expect a generation of emerging market leaders to be on par as equals with leaders of the west is not fair. The economic realities are stark, their availabilities and options not the same, their breeding grounds not ready for the today we live in. While the western leader is finesse focused most eastern leaders are survival focused. When needs and security is met is when man moves up the Maslow's ladder to work on self and be selfless. For as long as survival is on shaky ground and acquisitions new, the ability to think beyond is limited. New age leaders in the East are learning the importance of Finesse in Leadership. But it takes enormous personal interest and commitment to really move that needle. This also explains why more leaders in emerging markets are great task masters and people equipped to handle abnormal levels of pressure but still get it done. It also goes to explain why long work hours and crazy shifts don’t shake them. Their demand out of themselves is not limited by 40 hour working weeks or 35. Their innate need to give all of themselves to sustain, survive and gain security rules the mind.

 The philosophy of worship your work is common to the east. Gratitude for what feeds and provides finds its extension to jobs and companies. The subservience at times leads to an over focus on business deliverables attaching it to being the provider. But in these changing times what makes a leader stay and grow is some parts business and many parts culture, values and people orientation. This does not mean the East does not have or produce world class leadership. There are several who given the same circumstances outshine, outdo and catch up with the best leaders anywhere in the globe but because they are too few and wide apart we need to look the general mass. Leaders in emerging markets are fantastic technically, functionally and also with driving performance. However usually strategy is devised elsewhere off shores and few leaders get holistic leadership roles to play in MNC's . Actual rights to deliver PNL or designing the strategy end to end often stay with parent hub. Therefore in a working world where 95% of the times the job is to understand the strategy and execute it, they do struggle when jobs and roles change putting them in a place where greater demand form leadership is made.

 Communication and presentation inclusive of executive presence is at times a difficult subject for leaders from the East and they do sometimes fall off the cliff on assessments as potential global leaders owing to deficits in the realm. It is important that companies create a different instrument or calibration for leaders in emerging markets and seriously invest in them for at lest 5 consecutive years to polish them on all that global leadership requires. But if the leadership transformation is made then this part of the world could offer some of the most veritable leaders to experience.

Managing people is an area where many are still learning and being accountable for HOW business is done through fair practices, conversations, mentoring, feedback, influence, engagement are way softer than the hard skills they learnt. Ask for a report, a design, a tool, a result and it will be done but to get to changing environment and peoples experiences is what the leaders of this part of the world are still sharpening their axes on. We need  more experts dedicatedly working on raising the bar for leaders here and more companies recognizing leaders and talent in emerging markets are different from parent companies in the west so a cut copy paste of expectations, standards and practices will not work. It will demotivate the people and slower their progress.

There is Hope for development where there is Awareness and hunger for Speed. The East has always been most adaptive and this growth with change will come. Some comprehension of the Leadership dynamics in emerging markets is a MUST for the WEST if the world has a desire to see more Eastern Leaders arrive.