What Leadership Skills in the 21st Century Leaders Need?

Future leaders must emphasize people, the planet, and profit to lead successfully in the 21st century.

“The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker.” ―Peter F. Drucker 

The 21st-century organizations need a different set of leaders and a unique leadership style ― soft leadership coined by me. The challenges encountered in the 20th century are different than the ones being faced in the 21st century. The 21st-century organizations need leaders who treat their employees as partners rather than as followers. It calls for valuing people as people, not as workers. It must emphasize the concept ― of employees first, customers second, and shareholders third. 

When you look at global organizations including Google and Virgin group, they adopted this philosophy. Only when the employees are treated and valued well, they will be able to work well to meet the rising customer expectations and aspirations. When customers are happy with their goods and services, they refer to other customers through word of mouth, and on social media to get more customers. Increased customers add increased value to 21st-century organizations to improve organizational bottom lines. It ultimately adds value to the shareholders. Hence, 21st-century organizations need leaders who treat their employees as partners, and who value employees more than customers. 

Explore Soft Leadership

What worked in the past might not work in the present and future. Hence, there is an urgent need for 21st-century organizations to have leaders with a unique mindset, toolset, and skillset. Hence, we will explore soft leadership which is an innovative leadership style.  Soft leadership is a blend of both soft skills and leadership. In this style, people skills are adopted to lead people. Gen Y is very smart, intelligent, and ambitious. They are more career-oriented and ready to sacrifice their family to fast-track their careers. They prefer partnership to leadership and followership. They appreciate soft leadership. 

Leadership Skills, Tools, and Techniques for Future Leaders

The 21st-century leaders must have several skills and abilities and adopt various leadership styles, tools, and techniques to lead from the front. Here are some of them:  

Build trust. Trust in business has been on a steep decline since the beginning of the Great Recession and before. There is a lack of trust in leaders and CEOs globally because of the collapse of global companies such as Enron, Tyco, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom, and Global Crossing. Leaders must build their trust and confidence among all the stakeholders globally. They must be transparent to build trust, and walk their talk to lead from the front.  

Overcome VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). The global business environment is highly dynamic and challenging. The competition is cut-throat. You must run a little faster than everybody else to keep your lead. It is tough to predict the very next moment because there is uncertainty everywhere, and there is no guarantee that the decisions that you make will definitely deliver fruitful results.  

Emphasize innovation.  The global business environment is highly competitive. Hence, leaders must follow the road less traveled. It is essential to emphasize innovation to beat the competition and stay ahead of the game. When you look at Steve Jobs he was an amazing example of innovation. When the entire technological world got into the so-called PC wars, Steve Jobs took the path less traveled and became a trailblazer and a legend.  He started as a small fish in a big pond and ultimately became a big pond of innovation and excellence. He rewrote the rules of business and changed the way technology worked. He made a big difference in the lives of people with his technological innovation and contribution.

Embrace change effectively. Change is the only thing constant in this world. Organizations must change with the changing times and technologies, and leaders must be ready to lead the change. Charles Darwin quoted, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”  

Acquire soft skills. Leaders must understand and apply soft skills to lead their team members effectively. Soft skills are the people skills connected with emotional intelligence that help communicate with others politely and assertively to get the tasks executed effectively. They help build and lead teams effectively and emphasize interpersonal skills. Since most employees in the 21st century are knowledge workers, leaders must apply soft skills to lead successfully. 

Make decisions with limited and imperfect information.  Anybody can make decisions when complete information is available. Anybody can make decisions when partial information is available. But it requires immense imagination and intuition to make decisions when there is a dearth of information. It has become a very big challenge for leaders currently to make decisions with limited and imperfect information.  Great leaders must be decisive. They must know how to make decisions as it involves not only their survival but also the success of their organizations.

Appreciate diversity. Appreciate the fact that the world is small and getting smaller. Every day there are more ways to connect physically and virtually.  Additionally, rapid growth in technology has become both a boon and a bane for leaders. People from different communities and countries work together to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. There is an urgent need to understand various cultures to develop cultural intelligence and competence. 

Adapt locally to grow globally. Leaders must emphasize growth and expansion both locally and globally. And it is a very big challenge because the expectations and aspirations of local and global customers and clients are often different. It is indeed a tough task to balance both. It is essential to strengthen and grow locally to grow globally with a long view.  That means there is a need for having both short-term and long-term goals for local and global needs. Remember, only when you grow locally will you be able to grow globally.

Coach employees. Leaders must coach their employees and strive for the latter’s career advancement. Gen Y is eager to fast-track their careers and appreciates working under leaders who can coach and mentor them. 

Ask, listen, learn and lead. Future leaders must ask the right questions to the right people, listen to them, and learn the things to lead successfully.  The days of command-and-control don’t work anymore. Hence, listen to others with empathy to understand the grass root challenges to address them effectively. 

Collaborate to find solutions. In the 21st century, no leader will have all the skills and abilities to resolve various leadership challenges. So, leaders need to bear in mind that solutions can only be found through collaborative approaches. They must collaborate with others to leverage the strengths of others to find out multiple solutions. 

Learn, unlearn and relearn. The leaders must learn new leadership tools and techniques regularly. They must be flexible and act as per the situation as there are no tailor-made solutions to problems. They must discard what doesn’t work and quickly relearn new skills and abilities to stay ahead of time and technologies. Alvin Toffler rightly remarked, “The illiterates of the 21st century are the people who cannot unlearn, relearn and learn.” 

Build leadership pipeline. Research shows that baby boomers are retiring globally and there is a leadership vacuum as the Gen Y are not equipped to undertake leadership roles and responsibilities.  Hence, there is an urgent need to provide leadership development programs to leaders at all levels, especially at the entry and middle levels who will be able to bridge the leadership gap.  When leaders are ready, talent is retained within the organizations to encounter challenges and achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness. 

Adopt a soft leadership style. I coined the soft leadership style to lead employees effectively by respecting and making them special. It treats employees as partners. It doesn’t promote leadership or followership. 

Conclusion

The future workforce will be more diverse globally, and leading them needs a unique set of leadership skills. Additionally, the world has changed from manpower to mind power. Hence, there must be a shift in the mindset of the leaders. They must reinvent as per the rapidly changing global scenario and expectations of all the stakeholders.  

Future leaders must be a sophisticated blend of contextual, emotional, and social intelligence. They must be multi-skilled and capable of drawing upon and assimilating academic disciplines seldom considered appropriate for business application. They must work smarter and adapt quicker than ever before. They must raise the bar of their theoretical knowledge and professional skills.  They must explore how to deliver ‘real’ value to communities. 

Future leaders must lead in turbulent times. They must have passion, purpose, and empathy. They must be curious, quick learners, and in a position to take the advantage of the available global opportunities. Above all, they must be soft leaders. To conclude, future leaders must emphasize people, the planet, and profit to lead successfully in the 21st century.

Written by Prof. M.S. Rao, Ph.D.

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