Leadership opportunities for a new generation

We are living in a world of change where a multitude of shifts are happening concurrently, creating an unpredictable environment.

We just lived through a pandemic. The interconnected nature of the world became clear across all parts of society in a short space of time: a virus that broke out and brought the entire world to a standstill.?Our collective resilience and willingness to act in cooperation with each other has been unprecedented.

Geopolitically, the world is at its most fragile in decades with a deadly and costly war in Europe. At the same time, an increasing populist sentiment in communities leading to polarizing political leadership(s) that failed to mobilize for the good of all parts of society.?

Climate change is a reality and we are at the heart of it in Asia. Almost 60% of the world’s population live in Asia and more than half of these communities live in the most rural parts of the region. Solving the energy crisis through a just transition, whilst addressing sustainability and circularity in mind, is still our biggest challenge. Biodiversity is the main loser when the climate changes, especially evident in Asia which is home to a third of the world's forest, and has the most marine diverse seas of the world. Rural communities are the inheritors of the land in our region and its resources, and should have an increasingly vocal and catalytic influence on environmental, social and economic well-being.?

Inequality continues to worsen and divide us. A world where 1% of humanity controls as much wealth as the bottom 99% will never be stable,” said President Barack Obama in 2016 at the UN.?An uneven world is also an unsustainable world, as inequality and climate are inextricably linked. Oxfam has calculated that the annual carbon footprint of the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires is equivalent to the carbon emissions of France, a nation of 67 million people. This represents an average of 3.1 million tonnes per billionaire, which is over one million times higher than 2.76 tonnes– the average for someone in the bottom 90% of humanity.

Our lives are getting longer. In 1950, the average life expectancy in Asia Pacific was only 42 years old. In 2020, in Singapore, the average life expectancy was 84 years old - an effective doubling in 70 years. At this rate of growth, from a purely analytical perspective, you can assume that someone born in 2000, the average life expectancy could rise well beyond a 100 years old! This implies massive social, economic and political changes will be needed, more than what is being done today. It also means that education needs to be seen in the context of lifelong learning. People in their 80s should still be learning and gaining new skills and working in new environments.

Creating a future where we can all thrive.

So what is critical for this new future? Well, it’s certainly not “Business as Usual”, it is more like, “Business is Unusual”.?Early in my career in Procter & Gamble, Paul Polman was my VP in sales and his journey has been transformational. He is known to have said:

We have long known about the many challenges we are facing - inequality, poverty, youth unemployment and climate change, just to name a few – and I have always believed that everyone - including business – has a role to play in addressing them. Business needs to be part of the solution, not the problem. We cannot be bystanders. We need to be a giver, not a taker in a society that gives us life in the first place. It is – after all - not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing inequality, poverty and climate change. The good thing is that, next to our moral obligations to address the global challenges, it is also an enormous business opportunity. That's the equally exciting part.

So, in this new Future where we can all thrive, PEOPLE and HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS MATTER. There are five distinctly powerful relationships that you can argue will be critical as leaders.

The first is your “Relationship to Self”

Work and life tends to get exceptionally busy, and the temptation is to stay with the head (or the ‘thinking mind’) and the "doing world" with work and play.

In a world of change, what other opportunities lie ahead? The emerging opportunity is to create space and time to shape the type of leader you want to be known for. This requires a deeper journey within yourself, with curiosity to better understand who you are in order to serve others well.

In roughly 30 years of our careers, we have noticed that successful leaders - men and women - have taken extraordinary amounts of time doing the inner leadership work necessary to navigate this complex world of change, to better serve self, business, community and society. This can unlock a more conscious person who leads with empathy, compassion, ethical decision-making and ultimately deep love and compassion for self, community and humanity.?

Responsible, world-class leaders need to have new ways of seeing, thinking and doing. How does this show up for you, and what will you act on right now?

The second is the “Relationship to your family, your children, and your own longevity”.

Your life is more than success in your career. The world today, while it may still have its inherent biases around the role of women and men in business, is more open to engaging in conversation around personal and family choices and their impact on your professional life.?

With increasing life expectancy, intergenerational relationships will increasingly matter.

What does your immediate family look like? What will be your role in caring for this family? What about your wider family system, including your ageing parents - how will your chosen path today impact them and how can it improve their lives in the future? Will your business look at changing retirement ages beyond 65+? How do we lead purposefully in a 100-year life span?

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The third is your “Relationship to your community and friends”

Every day, every year, you have the potential to build the most powerful friendship and allies for life. As we live longer, with multiple life stages, these friendships can be very powerful and pivotal. I had wonderful experiences with faculty members from INSEAD, such as the Late Patrick Turner, who supported me in the start-up phase of my own organization.??

As leaders of the future - this network of support is critical and important for growth and leadership development. Early friendships can evolve to much more - as partners, coaches and mentors for our journey of life. This can be seen as a lasting gift, one that will welcome you and that you can continue to cultivate through the many engagements and events ahead.?

Which relationships will you invest in now? Which relationships will you nurture in the immediate future, or in the long term? Why? What do you hope to achieve with these investments in relationships?

The fourth is your “Relationship with the private and public sector”.?

What seemed like an easy issue, has been a source of inspiration and furious debate in the last few years.?

In my recent past, I have worked in a global capacity at Ashoka, the fifth largest NGO extending our reach to entrepreneurial leaders of companies, private equity, venture capital and their foundations to foster a culture of changemaking that is focused on acting for the good of all, rather than just shareholders-only. The goal is to unlock a culture of innovation in companies, building a community of thriving employees and allowing for positive outcomes for people and planet.?

The tensions between the role of public and private sectors should continue to inspire you to keep pushing for more just and equitable outcomes in the future. Your approaches and initiatives to address the gaps between public and private sector will be different as time moves on, becoming more mature and progressive, but you can be proud to keep pushing new, experimental techniques.

The question to you is, how can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained thus far in your life to enact broader change? For example,?if you are interested in reading and learning about power and politics, will you focus on the theoretical exploration of the subject matter, or will you question who actually wrote the theory and through what lens of power was it written in the first place?

In the supply chain course, will you study purely the costs and service delivery lead times or will you consider the impact in communities as you select your vendors even in sustainable business?

The last is your “Relationship to nature”.?

We find many leaders seeking deeper and more significant connections to nature, especially in the last 10 years. Our fragile ecosystems are a source of wonder and admiration and your education as engineers and business leaders can be important to put to good use and solve some of the major problems emerging in the natural world.

The interconnected nature of people and planet is more complex than ever. When we were recently in New Zealand, we were impressed to see policy makers, business and communities, in empathy with the indigenous Maori people, taking an ecosystem-led approach to preserve the natural habitat, flora and fauna. My family and I found ourselves on Christmas day uprooting conifers from the ground. In a world where planting trees has become synonymous with reducing the impact of global warming, this was counter-intuitive. Surely, we should be letting more trees grow? But we were taught that the conifers multiply so rapidly, they will destroy the unique balance in nature. They do this by reducing the number of other plants in New Zealand, providing habitat for natural pest plants and animals, acidify the soils and consume vast amounts of ground water. In summary, planting a tree isn’t a simple solution to solving global warming as protecting and enhancing biodiversity matters. This example is important as it illustrates how our planet is a web of complex, interconnected and delicate ecosystems. Simplified approaches proposed by governments and companies, as a way to market and sell their ideas to the mass market, can be dangerous.

What will you do about that?

Forging ahead.

Five pivotal relationships we summarise above will be critical for success and perhaps you may feel some of it is unconventional! With these thoughts, we are hopeful of seeding a space for a new conversations. This is the first step to building awareness and change to create a pathway to a more sustainable and purposeful career. We firmly believe our collective future requires new leadership with a stronger world-view that is exceptional and Business can authentically be a “Force for Good”.

Our current leaders and their impact on the future generations are pivotal to our future. You have the opportunity to create a future we all want that is good for our children, communities and business. Now more than ever, there is a calling for human ingenuity to step up and make a difference!?