The Modern Leadership

Be Genuine

Leadership is often viewed as a sort of indefinable aura or born-to-it talent. But the truth is that leadership is a skill like any other – it can be learned, and improved, through practice.

It’s also a skill that has had to adapt with time, just like the rest of the modern entrepreneur’s repertoire.

Successful leaders are empowered, but there’s more to power than having a C-suite. Many leaders may feel that they are powerful in their positions however, it's about time that we realize the most important sources of this power. Expertise, information, and relationships. Formal authority, on the other hand, can often be as much liability as asset

Effective leadership is most apparent – and its lack most strongly felt – during times of change and crisis. The most important behaviors from corporate management during times of change are inspiration, defining of expectations and rewards, challenging assumptions while encouraging appropriate risk-taking, and most important of all, communicating. Research says that more than 25% leaders are reluctant to share updates with employees during a crisis.

Adaptation remains the key to success in the swiftly changing tides of the modern business environment. Usually change initiatives in an organization fails due to employee attitudes and management behavior. Successful leaders will recognize that many of workforce's motivators are different from their own. Good leaders will listen to employee input, link compensation to expectations, and personally thank and reward employees. In addition, it is important provide opportunities for employees to practice what they’ve learned during a major change.

Learning and Development plays a vital role in this process however, we have to do things the modern way. After facilitating a training program and leaving the employees fend for themselves, retention is just 10% after 3 months and in order to enhance the retention of learning we have to continue teaching on the job and most importantly provide opportunities for what they have learned to practice at the workplace for several weeks. We will see a near 100% retention after 3 months.

Good leaders will take this knowledge to heart and provide sound, rational, and ethical leadership to their employees and their companies. Leaders set the tone for company culture, and there’s no doubt that culture and performance are directly linked.

Constant Learning

Dedicating yourself to continuous learning can help you achieve ever higher levels of consciousness, a goal of every great leader: awareness of your inner power, the connectedness of everything and therefore your ability (actively or unconsciously) to affect a situation and people just by “being”. 

It also means learning to use this power responsibly: if you are committed to personal growth and increased consciousness, power will not corrupt but serve - both you and the common good. As never before, we need a change in the paradigm of leadership, to move beyond autocratic and dictatorial leadership styles and closer to spirit-driven leadership.

To be a conscious leader is to be growing and learning every day. Personally, I try to read at least a chapter or two a day of books on a range of subjects from leadership and success to psychology and emotional intelligence and from neuroscience to history. This goes beyond increasing knowledge, it brings about new insights, which as we become more aware and open to new ideas becomes ever more common and the insights more revealing. 

The opposite brings about complacency and hubris (arrogance/conceit) - a “know-it-all”, “my way is best” attitude that inevitably alienates us from people around us, especially those we wish to lead. As hard as it can be after years of experience, we must constantly be wary of the trap of thinking we know it all.

This closes our minds to the infinite possibilities that exist, often hidden, and is the opposite of innovation, which questions everything to spark quantum leaps in how things are done.

Leadership and learning, therefore, seeks to balance humility - in this case the recognition of how much there is still to learn - and self-confidence, a leadership trait that is key to gaining the trust of those under you. As long as these two are in balance, you will be a good role model for your organisation, community and family.