There is a phenomenal change in the leadership we will experience in this century. The entire dictionary and thesaurus of leadership is being re-written. We have already moved into the age of the anti-hero. Heroic leadership was based on the notion that, a leader was expected to have all the answers and fix all the problems. But now the world is changing, a world characterized by complexity, by extreme interdependence, by flattening of hierarchy, knowledge obsolescence, and singularity. In the age of singularity, non-biological intelligence is becoming increasingly powerful and creativity is coming on centre stage. We are witnessing a new dawn of leadership.
The first change, leaders have to be lifelong learners; they have to be empowered. Empowerment starts with you. In the age of lifelong learning, the responsibility for learning and leading must shift from institutions to individuals. You must become your teacher, your guru. Institutions will only facilitate. This is the whole idea of empowerment, namely, you are responsible for your destiny; you become what you can to become.
There is a corollary to this - the second change. Leadership is an art and a science and has to be learnt like any other subject, for example, like medicine, engineering, architecture, business management, and music, whatever. Learning how to lead is more difficult because leadership is mainly experiential - study, practice, feedback, reflection, transformation. And the cycle continues forever.
In the 21st century it is not enough to be an excellent financier, an excellent doctor, an excellent engineer, or an excellent manager. To be happy and successful, you will also need to be an excellent leader. Leadership comes with a heavy price. The training environment is going to be exhausting - leading through chaos and uncertainty, the steady erosion of personal and social and family time, making a difference to the marginalized, finding solitude for reflection, and lifelong learning. Are you prepared to pay this price? Because if you are not, then you will have serious problems in being happy.
The third change is somewhat paradoxical. Organizations will hold an edge not because of strategy, money, and intellect. Although these are essential; the ultimate edge will come from collaboration, from teams. Teams hold the key. So we are going to see a shift from individuals to teams. Like in hospitals, IT Corporations, fire services, and IPL20.
The fourth change. Creativity is the master competency of the 21st century - creativity in your specific profession and creativity as a leader. To survive and to be different one will have to be creative. I wish to remind you that creativity is not just about ideas. Ideas must lead to innovation and transformation. This is not easy as it will place unacceptably high demands on your time and energy. In such a scenario, where excellence is being sought in two domains - your profession and in leadership, the concept of work-life balance is a myth. If you want mediocrity, go for balance. If you desire excellence; then imbalance yourself. Unbalancing yourself is never going to be easy because if you are not able to manage imbalance, you are likely to wreck relationships at home and at work. Now that is not desirable. Thus, future leaders will have to master the art of how to manage imbalance.
There is a fifth change. In a world that is becoming flat and globalized, the increasing challenge of sustainability inevitably leads to more complexity, uncertainty, chaos, and unhappiness. You cannot be creative or a great leader if you are not happy. Leadership is about happiness. Happiness will become the new metrics for measuring the well-being and progress of a nation, an individual, an organization. In the manner we have GDP and GNP; there will also be GNH or Gross National Happiness.
More creative
More productive
More sustainable in performance - personal, social and business
Better in relationships
More focused and improved academic performance
Better health and less burnout
You don't have to go to a guru to learn how to be happy. Remember; you are your guru. Every single day:
Jot down three things you are grateful for
SMS a positive message to a deserving person or friend
Meditate at your table for two minutes thrice a day
Describe in your Moleskine the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours
Being happy is so simple!
(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)
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Date: 04/24/2024