Leadership Skills for 2030

There are five leadership skills that will be essential in the fourth industrial revolution. Stay ahead of the curve and lead your organisation into a successful future with these skills!

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• A New View Of Power: With the fall of the command and control manager, there has been a significant shift in the building of power bases in organisations. The command and control manager (and traditional leaders) historically depended upon sources of power inherent in their position within the formal hierarchy. These leaders built capacity based on legitimate, coercive, and reward power. This does not work as effectively today.
  
  The key to building practical power bases in the current environment experienced in business is founded on personal power. Expert and referent power are the two individual power floors. These are the keys to be an effective leader today. Relying on personal power bases (expert and referent power) fits better with the current environment in today's organisations. 

• Today's leaders genuinely empower people:  This is achieved by leaders giving up power themselves. There is an old saying suggesting you get by giving. This is true when it comes to leadership. The leaders certainly get a great deal in return for giving and this means giving control to those with whom they surround themselves. Responsibility and accountability must come with this control and power. And what is returned to the leader is ten-fold. Loyalty and respect are given to the leader.
  
  

• Moulders And Creators Of Culture: Leaders today have a tough job. The traditional leaders had only to maintain or reinforce the organisation's culture. Visionary founders often created the culture, and the firm's leaders performed simple maintenance. It was a question of strengthening the founding values.
  
  Organisations today need more than routine maintenance of their cultures. Leaders, therefore, are given the responsibility of creating and shaping culture. As the world changes, the culture of organisations must sometimes be reshaped to fit better the environment and the organisation's overall strategy.
  
  Leaders today must understand the culture-strategy fit and be prepared to help create cultures that support new strategies for the business. An adage suggests it is possible to lead a horse to water, but it is not possible to make him drink. So too, it is with leadership.
  
  

• Thinkers vs. Doers: Leaders today must be doers. Historically, leaders have been viewed as thinkers. They thought while everyone else implemented (playing the role of doers).
  
  There are said to be four kinds of people that can be plotted along the two axes of thinking and doing. One quadrant is occupied by those that are neither thinkers nor doers. We may wonder if these people are even alive.
  
  The second quadrant is occupied by thinkers but not doers. They are the people who constantly daydream but can't seem to follow through and never seem to get anything done. But they can talk a good game until others get to know them.
  
  The third quadrant represents those people who are doers but are not thinkers. These are characterised as the "ready-fire-aim" personality. They should have thought before they fired. Others seem always to be cleaning up their messes after them.
  
  The final quadrant houses the thinker and the doer; the person with true leadership potential. Leaders today must have the ability to think conceptually, analytically and strategically. But they must also be able to follow through to do. They serve as role models and show others how things can be done.
  
  

• The Leader as Role Model: Leaders today are more sensitive to the diverse workforce. They can interact effectively and understand the needs of everyone within the organization, not just a select few who are like them. Their sense of fairness also applies to everyone.
  
  The true leader provides a role model to everyone, not just one ethnic or cultural group. All groups recognise this leader for what they do and the example set not for what they are.
  
  And this leader has high values and ideals. These values are shared with all. A vision of a future state with these values, these high standards are communicated to all the followers. Through this clear articulation, the followers can buy into these values and then learn what they need to do to contribute to this future state's achievement.
  
  Leaders then lead by looking forward not backward. They learn from their mistakes to incorporate this newfound knowledge into their future endeavours. These people are not wed to the past but seize change as an opportunity for the future.
  

   
  Summarised from Eduyush Team