Are you an Astute Leader?

Having traversed a wide range of leadership roles over 40 years I am still deeply curious about how to lead more effectively and about the combination of traits and qualities ‘make’ outstanding leaders.

For those of us who aspire to any level of leadership we more often than not look for role model, people with that indefinable ‘something’ (or many things) that they ‘just have’. Then we read books about leaders we admire and perhaps would like to emulate.

You may have read about, been on leadership development programs or been mentored by leaders in your company, industry or peer group.

You may have read/heard about the acronym EQ a morphing of IQ – Emotional Intelligence. By the mid-1990s it wasn’t sufficient for a leader to be smart, they needed to be emotionally intelligent too – self aware, empathetic, an active listener, in touch with themselves and the needs and aspirations of those who worked with them.

Being the boss by being bossy was out (and not before time). The top down, military style directive leadership model wasn’t and is not fit for the fast-paced, digital revolution. And even before this, the old style of leading meant working in an organisation was an environment of power and control.

EQ took over as employees in businesses of all shapes, sizes and industries realised that if the bosses didn’t care, neither should they.

Most aspiring and current leaders have or are working on their EQ. Now, this can be a multi-year project for some, and I’d suggest that it should be approached as a continuous ‘project’ for everyone. You don’t just reach EQ, the very core of EQ is that you are constantly evolving, forever.

EQ, however, is not on its own the intelligence that will take you from one leadership level to another, or underpin a career of outstanding leadership across industry sectors, the community, public life either locally, nationally or internationally.

Which brings me to the concept of XQ – what I call Astute Leadership.

Astute Leadership is the X factor that propels a capable leader into the realm of an exceptional leader.

So, just what are the key traits of an astute leader and why will these skill sets, mindsets and practices be the key to unlocking your future board and leadership potential?

At its simplest an Astute Leader is:

• someone who has the ability to understand and interpret complex situations effectively. They have the insight to recognise opportunities and challenges and the ability to realign employees and company resources to deal with change.
• acutely aware of the business environment and knows when change is necessary – they have foresight and are willing and able to act on this.
• capable of creating environments in which people choose to engage – they deeply value contribution and work with and serve others to solve important problems.
• someone who understands the depths within others. They actively include and shift the dynamics of power to create environments of trust. This facilitates creativity, collaborative risk-taking and performance.
• politically aware, understand the dynamics of business hierarchies (and the different business hierarchies that can exist) and can seamlessly engage across and within these environments.
• connected across multiple works – they deeply engage with different stakeholders and the community with genuine attention and care, aware that they can’t please everyone, but clear on their values, value and communicate this clearly and consistently
• someone who steps up and takes responsibility and has the capacity and clarity to lead through adversity as well as they lead at times of success
• able to balance self and selflessness. The capacity to manage their own health and wellness physically, mentally and emotionally enables astute leaders to serve others with courage, conviction and care.

How many leaders can you think of that have exhibited these traits, consistently over time?

Over the almost 40 years I’ve been in various executive and board roles I’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of leaders and very few are people I’d describe as astute leaders. A couple that come to mind are Sir Peter Cosgrove, Gail Kelly and Roger Federer.

Your list might be different from mine, and that’s to be expected as we all value and respond to different styles of leadership, have different values and expectations.

Can you develop Astute Leadership skills and acumen?

Absolutely.

In researching leadership and personal branding, it became apparent to me that astute leaders have the capacity to bring people together in ways that make a significant impact on their organisations, whether these be businesses or not-for-profits.

Such leaders deeply understand human interactions, how to nurture people and teams, foster positive, dynamic and effective engagement and interaction with stakeholders, build and maintain trust, harness the value of diversity and collective ‘smart’ decision making. They also have the skills to ‘see’ potential areas of resistance or conflict and can take on the role of a mediator, and much more.

Astute Leadership is a dynamic set of skills, insights, self-reflection, action and communication that can be developed over time and that serves you at each point of time throughout your career and life.

It’s not a once-off ‘thing’ you do, it’s a set of core skills, deep connectedness with those around you.

Some leaders – C Suite executives, CEOs and board directors – have some of the skills and attributes of astute leadership but most have not actively assessed their skills across a wider range of inter-personal skills, the interaction between them, and how to progress from where they are to where they aim to be.

This is why I have developed a new program called Astute Leadership.

It took a while to land on the descriptor ‘astute’ as it’s one of those hard-to-define traits that some people just seem to have and others not. However, I firmly believe that anyone can become an astute leader and that business, and the world needs more of them if we’re going to create positive and more cohesive businesses and communities.

I’ll be sharing more of my Astute Leadership insights through my Podcast and monthly Articles.

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