Question

What leadership skill or trait do you think is essential for leading a global organization? Explain why you think this way. Support your position with references.

Are there any leadership skills or traits that a global leader could do without and still be effective? Explain your response and support it with references.

Answer 1

Talking of 21st century leadership and management, substantial strides have been made by the top management of companies to essentially move away from a top-down approach to an inclusive leadership approach in terms of intelligence and wisdom.

Brief discussion on leadership skills required:

In a constantly changing business landscape where a disruption is just round the corner, the 21st century CEOs must be proactive and give substantial responsibility to employees, thereby they have reduced the downtime caused by the chain of commands that were initially needed to make decisions. This again adds to employee engagement and motivation and they feel more positive about their leadership which again improves efficiency at each level of hierarchy. The new age CEOs should operate like flat organisations even though there is considerable hierarchy in place. This comes from the belief that the highest paid positions don't always come up with the best business strategies. The employees who are more involved in the actual business can sometimes come up with great insights and new age CEOs must tap onto that potential. There should be a major shift from the traditional practice of top management driven decision making approach to an inclusive decision making approach.

Another big change that should be adopted by CEOs are cross functional teams. Finance, marketing and operations do not work in silos anymore. There is substantial interaction and knowledge transfer and this is translating into better productivity and efficiency.

The most prominent aspect in 21st century is the spirit of entrepreneurship which must be inculcated into organizations by these new age CEOs. They are substantially investing in ideas and it is safe to say that the effort is paying dividends. By allowing people to define their own paths of success, companies are trying to get the most from their employees.

Can a global leader do without any leadership skills

Ideally a 21^st century CEO must be a jack of all trades even if he is a master of none. He must have the above mentioned leadership qualities and skills to effectively run his organization. Having said that the context of each organization differs and the qualities needed also could vary.