Effective Leadership for 21st Century Organizations

Traditional leadership styles from the 19th and 20th Centuries tended to involve strict hierarchies, superiority, winners and losers. To lead, people felt the need to prove they are better than everyone else. Leadership was about “power” and its abuse. In the latter part of the 20th Century, there was a gradual decline in hierarchies which is evermore the case in the first decade of the 21st Century.

So how does this impact business? What does it suggest about leadership and success in the 21st Century?

Successful businesses recognize new values essential to their success. Here are a few of those new values:

Flat Structures

• Openness and transparency
• Genuinely equal opportunities, regardless of race, ethnic origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities etc.
• Committed to empowering each and every member of the team.

Enlightened Leadership

21st Century leadership is not about bullying and high-handedness or even intellectual or financial superiority. It is about playing to strengths, working around or minimizing weaknesses, authenticity and not being unsettled by challenges. Above all, it is about being straight in communications both internally and externally.

Walking the Talk

Last but not least, leadership in the 21st Century is about “walking the talk” of the organization. However, the organization first needs to be clear about what it is “talking” about before it can walk it and then it needs to make sure that it is consistent in everything it does. This is anything from internal relations (with colleagues) through to external relations with customers, suppliers and the public.

Making it “Real”

A leader has to make sure that all of his/her relationships work. Where the relationships are recognized as being important to the organization, special attention needs to be paid to making sure that all documented relationships are consistent with the values of the organization and the style of leadership. Are your communications straight, open, honest and fair? When did you last look at your employment contracts, shareholder’s agreements, terms of business, web site terms, partnering agreements and purchase contracts? Are they consistent with who you say you are?

Every culture eventually changes. The changes in company culture are bound to effect leadership. The fact that you’ve read to this point in the article means you do care about what type of leader you are. Which of these areas do you and your company need to work on?