LEADERSHIP IN CONTEXT – The Coach’s View
The
morale all over the world is low as a result of leadership disappointments
experienced by the people. The leaders and people have lost each other. Even
though the citizens of the world vote for the leaders, the leaders behave as if
they are not accountable to the people. The civil movements that used to hold
the leaders accountable are more than ever before, compromised. We are
living in a fast changing world, dictated to by the new technologies. The
Artificial Intelligence and 4th Industrial Revolution are the orders
of the day. At the same time organizations, companies, communities, citizens
and the countries are threatened by cyber crime. The governments are not
investing enough in research to up the cyber security and develop experts to
take cyber criminals head on. We require situational and proactive leadership
that will function effectively in the digitalised world. That is the new
leadership competence that the authors of leadership curriculum are slow to incorporate
in the leadership development programmes.
We are
experiencing emergence of new economic powers and more failing economies of the
world. These failing economies cannot claim not to have known that they are on
a downward spiral. Their leaders chose to be selfish and focused on personal
interests at the expense of their citizens and countries. Now it is too late to
reverse the trends. They opt for easy way out, and that is subjecting their
countries to long-term debt that will burden many generations to come. That is
how nations of the world have and continue to fail. From coaching perspective,
the leaders must be trained and assisted in dealing with complex and fast changing
context under which they are expected to lead, irrespective of the size of
their organizations and/or countries.
The old
tradition of resorting to development aid to resolve resources shortages in
developing countries is now being rejected in favour of meaningful trade
relationships. This is augmented by the desire to invest in local economic development
to the benefit of the citizens of the regions in which businesses are
operating. Whereas this appears to be the best solution to the local communities,
some leaders see this as the opportunity to become economic participants in the
enterprises in the name of the local communities. Corruption at the largest and
sophisticated scale is on the rise. The foreign direct investors cannot ignore
these local challenges. They cannot only focus on the profits and return on
their investments. They must hold their local representatives to the same
standards of governance, ethics and compliance applicable to all other representatives
globally. We have seen great global brands being tarnished at local levels.
There no longer small and negligible markets in the world. Digitalization and
social media makes new travel at a lightning speed that brings share prices
tumble like tons of bricks at world stock exchanges in seconds.
The
emergence of protectionism is a confirmation that globalisation has failed in
equalising trade between small and big nations. There are countries that took
advantage of globalisation and developed export driven economies. Those that
failed to keep manufacturing and research houses home now want to reverse the
situation. This is not going to happen overnight. Countries have become so
interdependent that some cannot exist on their own. There is a phenomenon of
protectionists versus new reconfigured regional trade blocks initiatives.
Countries are regrouping themselves regionally, looking for new friends to
replace old formations. This is a new dynamic that every leader of an
organization or country must understand. For us, students of leadership in
context, there is nothing new. It is just a reconfiguration and the new
complexity that must be understood. The leaders cannot afford to panic. They
must stand up, walk tall and lead.
We are
experiencing the reality of a degrading world environment as a result of global
warming. The plundering of the world’s natural resources, its flora and fauna
continues. New industries in response to environment degradation are emerging
and those who woke up late are trying to fight it. New clean and green technologies
are researched and are being pushed through. So, it is new vs legacy
technologies contest. Once again countries that are proactive, like those who
introduced export driven industries during the globalisation pick, will take
the lead in introducing clean technology industries. Leaders are once again
called in to lead the way by being futuristic in their leadership practices,
especially those in emerging and developing economies.
The
world’s traditional institutions appear to be failing in keeping the status
quo. They are reactive to events of failed economies and states. The lessons for
the leaders are that the leadership is about anticipating the future scenarios;
applying realistic and strategic thinking in preparing their organizations and
countries to cope with the uncertain future. This is done not for personal and
selfish interests, but for the generations to come. Leaders must be preoccupied
with achieving the nations’ destiny and leaving the legacy for the generations
to come.
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