The
future of leadership in a knowledge driven world
- Our
primary image of the leader comes from the military.
- Great
leaders have always been heroes, especially military heroes.
- Hero
worship is OK if it inspires us to greater heights.
- But
bad if it disempowers us, making us dependent on heroes.
- Military
heroes know where to go and how to get there so can lead from
the front.
- Organizations
today need everyone thinking about new directions to pursue.
- No one
person can now lead from the front without a crystal ball!!
- Future
leadership depends on complex knowledge and innovation from all.
- 21st century
leadership is not dependent on position. Leadership now means
promoting a better way. This is an ACT not a role. Front line
employees can show leadership without even being seen as informal
leaders in the sense of taking charge informally of the group.
The role of innovation
- Innovators
lead by showing us where our industry is likely to go next.
- The implication
is that your leaders do NOT need to be inside your organization!
- We already
speak of "market leaders" -- so leadership can come
from anywhere.
- Leadership
is too often confused with the question of how people in positions
of
AUTHORITY influence employees to pull in the same direction.
- Why is
it then that entrepreneurs do not need (internal) leaders? They
look to industry leaders for inspiration and role models to beat.
- Such leadership
is about innovation - not using influence skills to motivate employees.
- Why develop
leaders to be nice instead of fostering real leadership through
innovation?
- Some leaders
have good people skills, others are too self-absorbed, too focused
on their own ideas or on beating competitors.
- Who would
follow such leaders? Opportunists who know a good thing when they
see it, who are ready to jump on a bandwagon with little or no
persuasion. People who are likely to be leaders themselves in
other words.
- As knowledge
workers become empowered enough to think like entrepreneurs they
will look outside for leadership if you can't provide it. But
does it matter?
- See also
Organic Leadership and Bottom-up
Leadership
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Are
you ready for a complete shake up of leadership theory? Then, you
should buy this book!
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