Effective Leadership for Twenty-first Century Organisations

Traditional leadership

Traditional leadership styles from the 19th and 20th Centuries tended to entail rigid hierarchies, superiority, winners and losers. To lead, people felt the need to prove they are better than everybody else. Leadership was about "power" and its abuse, loneliness and affectations. In the latter part of the 20th Century, there was a gradual decrease 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 twenty first Century? Facets of leadership in the 21st Century. From our experience, successful businesses (be they high quality start-ups or companies searching for rapid growth), recognise new values important to their success.

It's "out with the old" and in with:

"flat structures";

inclusive management style that entails all individuals in the organisation, not just senior management;

openness and transparency;

genuinely equal opportunities, regardless of race, ethnic origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, handicaps etc.;

empowering - i.e. dedicated to strengthening each and every member of the group.

Enlightened leadership

21st Century leadership is not about bullying and high-handedness or even mental or financial superiority. It's about playing to strengths, working around or reducing weaknesses, authenticity rather than being irritated by challenges. Above all, it's about being direct in communications both internally and externally.

Powerful language

The new design is about "can-do" mentality and about avoiding disempowering language. Words such as "I'll try to" or "I need you to..." and other indirect language undermine the conversation: "trying" to do anything is preparing to fail, not taking personal responsibility for causing something to occur. Using language that suggests there is another reason behind why somebody ought to do something rather than simply that you want them to do it tends to make people look weak thus, "needing" someone to do something is actually rarely authentic - and should normally be replaced by "I want you to do X please" or some equivalent straight communication.

"Walking the talk"

Last but not least, leadership in the 21st Century is about "walking the talk" of the group. However, the group first must be distinct about what it's "talking" about before it can walk it and then it must make sure that it's consistent in everything it does: this is anything from internal relations (with colleagues) through to external relations with customers, suppliers and also the public at law.

Making it "real"

We believe that law is the "glue" of society, the structure behind relationships that either has them work or not. A leader has to make sure that all of his/her relationships work. Where the relationships are accepted as being important to the group (and we can't conceive of an organisation where they are not), special attention needs to be paid to making sure that all documented relationships are consistent with the values of the organisation and the type 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 buy contracts? Are they consistent with who you say you are?

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