Leadership Is About to Get More Uncomfortable
Employees used to know just your name, your face, your business reputation.
Now they know your salary, your hometown, your connections on LinkedIn, how much your house is worth. They know more than ever, and you're under pressure to share more than ever, too – 76% of global executives think it's a good idea for their CEO to be on social media.
And along with this increased transparency, you're held accountable for areas you know less about: new technologies, new markets, new cultures and geographies representing new stakeholders. It's no wonder CEO tenure is declining.
Good leaders have always stepped out of their comfort zones, but converging global megatrends are putting more pressure on those at the top to navigate a faster, more complex, more integrated, and more transparent business world.
In our recent book, "Leadership 2030: The six megatrends you need to understand to lead your company into the future," we examined the repercussions of the convergence of major forces like globalization, climate change, increased individualism, and accelerating digitization.
Among our findings is that leadership in the future will involve increased personal and business-level discomfort. Leaders will have to cope with the blurring of private and public life – and they will have to forge new relationships with competitors and employees. This requires new skills and mindsets. Ego is on its way out.
Technology alone offers several sources of discomfort. Leaders will increasingly be called to evaluate and implement new technologies they don't always understand and can't control, from the cost-benefits of data automation to balancing consumer concerns with data mining opportunities to gauging the commercial value of bitcoin and other new concepts. As connectivity-enabling technology and virtual workplaces change how people interact, leaders must engage employees across cultures and business roles through new mediums. Leaders must acquire digital wisdom, even if they lack digital knowledge.
The combination of digitization with globalization and consumer demands for personalized products will complicate the usual processes and relationships. Competitors will be recast as allies, as rival companies will have to work together to achieve more complex technical innovations. Such "co-opetition" will require leaders to maintain a difficult dual perspective – rivals must be simultaneously seen as both vital partners and market threats.
But possibly the biggest adjustment for leaders of today is a power shift that is requiring major changes to how they think and work. Many are accustomed to command-and-control, to fear over love, and to "lead, follow, or get out of the way." But hierarchies are flattening as power moves away from top internal management and toward employees and a proliferation of external stakeholders. Companies must now appeal to a plethora of global consumer markets, each with distinctive attitudes and desires.
Leaders motivated by power over others will not thrive in this new world.We will see more "altrocentric" leaders, who understand that leadership is a relationship and will therefore primarily focus on others rather than themselves. Adept at engaging rather than commanding, they see themselves as just one integral part of the whole. Altrocentric leaders will be capable of long-term vision encompassing both global and local perspectives.
David McClelland points out that both emotionally intelligent leaders and their egocentric counterparts tend to be motivated by power; they enjoy having an impact on others.The difference is in the type of power driving them: Egocentric leaders tend to be concerned only with personalized power – power that gets them ahead. Altrocentric leaders, on the other hand, derive power from motivating, not controlling, others.
The altrocentric leader who is intrinsically motivated by socialized power, and who draws strength and satisfaction from teaching, teambuilding, and empowering others, will be able to handle the increased pressure of tomorrow's business environment. They understand that they need not "have all the answers" themselves, and this mindset and willingness to turn to others for help better equips them to handle the stress of the uneasy chair.
All leaders will see life become more chaotic and overwhelming, and their struggles and management will be more visible than ever. Egocentric leaders will have a difficult time evolving, if they even can, and will be unable to thrive in such discomfort. Organizations need to develop leaders who are motivated by altrocentric leadership. They will be better prepared to succeed in 2030 and beyond.
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