LEADERSHIP IN 21ST CENTURY

Sandeep Kumar Rai

Research Scholar,
Faculty of Commerce,
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi – 221005
(U. P.) India
Email: raisandeep2006@gmail.com
Cell no.: 09839072725

Address for Communication:

Sandeep Kumar Rai
B – 37, Teacher’s Residence
Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith
Varanasi – 221002
(U. P.) India
 Abstract

Companies need new techniques to train their professionals for the challenges of the 21st

century. Organizational leaders have been struggling with the same challenges in various forms

for the last 10 or 20 years and have yet to find generalizable solutions. The biggest challenges

for business leaders of the next century are going to revolve around coming to understand fully

how global business practices have evolved - based on advances in the use of technology as well

as the ability to connect with others and to be contacted by others, almost anywhere and

anytime. The present paper explains the key principles of leadership and major leadership

challenges for the 21st century, grouped into two categories: market forces, and people issues.

Traditionally people viewed leaders as the few people who are the most talented, who

achieved success in their organizations and who were rewarded with positions of responsibility.

Many people still have this view. If they don't see themselves in the category of the 'few highly

talented people', they are not interested in the topic of leadership. Leadership development

accordingly is seen as further training for the privileged - enhancing their already wide range of

competencies and knowledge with more theory, models and techniques to help them in their

leadership positions. The result is however that organization might get better managers equipped

with more techniques, models and theories - but not better or more leaders.

The most important thing you do is LEAD your people. Every productive activity on

your daily agenda is leadership, regardless of what you call it. You manage advice, teach, decide,

and direct. The list goes on but it's all leading.

The man had a dream, a mission – a burning all-pervasive sense of purpose. He

transformed the odds against him by the force of will and effort. The world started to take notice
and give his people shelter and recognition. Through five turbulent decades he has successfully

disseminated the message of peace and tolerance. In a world torn by strife, his message has

reverberated with hope – the hope for a better world. To me, he exemplifies benchmark strategic

leadership and superb public relations skills.

“What is the connection between strategic leadership and public relations?” I had once

been asked. Well, in my belief, the two are discrete but complementary. There can’t be good

strategic leadership without the back-up of a good public relations machine and vice versa. It’s

akin to the relationship between music and rhythm. Good leadership without equally good

accompanying PR doesn’t become effective and self-sustaining. Let us dwell on each of these

concepts one by one. First, strategic leadership.

What is strategic leadership? Very simply, a strategy is a plan of action for accomplishing

a goal. A leader is someone who has the quality to enthuse, energize and integrate a mass of

people and direct their efforts for accomplishing a common goal in any situation.

The US Airforce Field Manual has very aptly defined a strategic leader as “an

experienced person who has the wisdom, vision and ability to plan and execute consequential

decisions in volatile, uncertain and complex environments.”

The 21st century has begun to see a different brand of leadership – strategic leadership.

A strategic leader does many things. He learns, he plans, he innovates, he motivates, he

multi-tasks, he “walks the talk” and, through all these, he creates and transforms all the time.

And since the aim of all strategy is to link aims, ways and means, the aims of strategic leadership

are to:

• Determine the ends

 • Choose the ways

• Apply the means

In the corporate context, today’s strategic leader is a far cry from the glass-walled CEO

that we’ve grown up seeing. He’s a hands-on ‘people’ person who learns before he leads. He is

connected with the grassroots and he doesn’t believe in detaching and distancing himself from

the people he works and lives with. He is an Information Age man who has effectively imbibed

and integrated the best leadership attributes of the Industrial Age. Speed, objectivity and

measurability characterize his functioning.

As Theodore Roosevelt said, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss.

The leader works in the open, the boss in covert. The leader leads, the boss drives.”

A strategic leader has some basic characteristics: passion, decisiveness, conviction and

integrity. He has a high level of emotional tolerance and toughness. This gives him the added

strength to influence human minds by connecting at the emotional level and the skills to convert

conflicts into healthy relationships. A strategic leader is also called a transformational or creative

leader. He transforms minds. He transforms adversity to opportunity, and dreams to reality. He

uses his unique qualities to percolate his dream in hundreds and thousands of other people. He

instils and ignites passion in them and ensures that everyone together reaches a shared goal.

In the eternal words of the great Albert Einstein –

To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, people do not notice their

existence. The next best, they honor and praise. The next, they fear. And the next, they hate.

When the best leader’s work is done, people say, “We did it ourselves!”
 And that, now, brings us to the wheels on which strategic leadership runs – public

relations, and it’s more expanded and glamorous avatar – corporate communications. None of

the success stories that I’ve talked of, from Lee Kuan Yew to Jack Welch to our very own

management team, would have really happened without the foundation of sound, scientific and

rigorous communication. I had said in the first part of this lecture that strategic leadership and

communications are complementary. Let me explain. Strategic leadership happens in the mind. It

is a faculty, ability. In an organization having hundreds and thousands of people, this ability

needs to be seen, heard and touched by everyone in order to be effective. That’s where PR or

corporate communications comes in. It is the voice and vision of strategic leadership.

Public relations or corporate communications, today, is at the cutting edge of the rapidly

changing corporate scenario. With the shifting sands of takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, the

rise and fall of the IT and dotcom sectors and the hi-tech bowing down to the bio-tech, the scope

and relevance of public relations have significantly changed. Ed Bernays, the grandmaster of PR

stated that “PR is the attempt by information, persuasion and adjustment to engineer public

support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.” Since then, the “consent engineering”

aspect of public relations has gained considerable ground. According to none other than Sanat

Lahiri, the first President of the IPRA, “PR is essentially about negotiating changes with the

minimum of friction.”

A critical factor in the exercise of leadership is the adaptability of the person in charge.

Whenever any of the variables change, the necessarily "right" style must change. The leader

must then adjust his or her approach. The style that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow--

but the leader will adapt. It takes time for a new leader to identify the "right" style of leadership.

By the time that leader discovers the correct approach he or she may have damaged his or her
credibility. The leader may then have established a pattern of behavior that will stick with him or

her for the rest of their lives.

Another component of good leadership is caring. Good leaders care about and take of

their people. They help them deal with stresses that arise both from the job and from external

sources. Leaders never let the pressure of their job interfere with taking care of their people.

Quality of leadership must be assessed by looking at where the irritants lie. If they focus

instead on internal issues at a higher level such as company or corporate headquarters, there is a

chance your people are satisfied with your leadership.

A good senior leader can do things to overcome poor leadership below them. The

converse is not true. Even the most inspired junior leaders cannot compensate for the "wrong"

style imposed upon them and their team from above.

Key Principles of Leadership

Leadership is an organization’s lifeline, the critical bridge that spans all organizational

levels to cross over from the ideal world of vision to the real world of making it happen. Forming

the bridge, leaders throughout the organization define, communicate and clarify the vision. They

then provide clear direction and consistent support for the people attempting to realize the vision.

The mantle of leadership carries the great responsibility of building trust and meeting the

expectations of people throughout the organization.

Being an effective, vital leader demands skills and knowledge in critical areas such as

coaching and reinforcing, building strong relationships, developing organizational talent,

encouraging initiative, and delegating and sharing responsibility and authority. The effectiveness

also depends on specific communication skills and relationship behaviors that will motivate
people to do their best, support them through difficult situations, build mutual trust and inspire

commitment to organizational objectives. They relinquish and delegate tasks others can do and

encourage people to take appropriate risks without penalty. These leaders make people feel

important, valued, and respected. They inspire full commitment by practicing the following key

principles:-

• Maintain or enhance self-esteem

• Listen and respond with empathy

• Ask for help and encourage innovation.

• Share thoughts, feelings and rationale.

• Provide support without removing responsibility.

These key principles address the personal needs. When leaders use them effectively, they

support people through difficult situations, build trust and inspire commitment to actions and

ideas.

• Maintain or enhance self­esteem

Self-esteem is defined as having a good opinion of oneself. People who feel good about

themselves are motivated, productive, cooperative and committed.

Leaders who maintain other’s self-esteem demonstrate sensitivity to people’s self-worth,

especially in developmental or problem discussions. Effective leaders make these types of

discussions productive and enhance self-esteem in the process by focusing on facts, not people

and by specifically acknowledging others and their good ideas. They express confidence in

people’s abilities and treat them with respect.

 Leaders who use this key principle get:

• Open lines of communication

• Inspire commitment to action

• Reduce defensiveness

• Increase cooperation among team members

• Listen and respond with empathy

Leaders, who talk the time to really listen to people, then convey understanding and

empathy have grasped the heart of open, two-way communication. Responding empathetically

and acknowledging people’s concerns and feelings as well as the situations builds trust and

promotes cooperation.

Leaders’ using these key principles helps to defuse negative emotions, such as anger,

resentment, frustration, and embarrassment, before they cause significant problems.

Leaders who use this key principle effectively get:

• reduced defensiveness

• enhance self esteem

• encourage cooperation

• share ideas, solutions and actions.

• Ask for help and encourage innovation

Involving people in day-to-day activities and decisions is the key to discovering effective

solutions to problems, gathering ideas, and getting the job done. Asking people for help in

solutions ranging from major cultural or technological changes to small, but important
improvements allows leaders to tap people as valuable resources, while inspiring commitment

and maintaining others self-esteem.

Leaders who ask for input gain buy-in and make people feel valued. When people “own”

an idea, they give their best effort. And, when solutions are not feasible, it is still to maintain

other’s self esteem by explaining why and following up by seeking additional ideas.

Leaders who use this key principle help others to:

• Encourage people to become involved in making work solutions.

• improve teamwork and collaboration

• Enhance self-esteem

• Encourage brainstorming

• Share thoughts, feelings and rationale

Leaders who sincerely use this key principle demonstrate confidence and trust in people

by sharing issues and problems, rationale behind decisions, personal vision, information that

might not be a common knowledge. Having information that is not available to others put leaders

in a position that demands good judgement and sincerity. If people perceive insincerity or a

hidden agenda they will feel manipulated and the value of disclosing will be lost.

People who do not share their thoughts, feelings or rationale in matters that affect others

might be perceived as untrustworthy. Sharing or disclosing prevents misunderstandings and

reduces resistance.

Leaders using this key principle help to:

• build trust

• communicate openly
 • express concerns

• Provide support without removing responsibility

People want and need leaders support effective leaders support people’s efforts without

taking over, particularly in difficult or risky situations. Support comes in many forms, coaching

people to overcome resistance, paving the way to build working partnerships, or encouraging

people to see a job through in challenging circumstances.

Coupling responsibility with support encourages people to take ownership of their work

and creates a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem. People with ownership are enthusiastic

about taking on new responsibilities and helping to determine how work is done.

Leaders using this key principle help to:-

• Provide job ownership

• Enhance work satisfaction

• Increase participation and commitment.

Difference between Leadership and Management

It is a common belief that management and leadership are the same role. While it is

common that a manager also plays the part of the leader, these two roles are truly separate in

function and in the way they add to the success of an organization. By understanding the

difference between management and leadership you will become more effective in helping others

see the road ahead.

To understand the difference between management and leadership, consider the

construction of a new road. To build that road there are workers, machinery and tools which are
all vital in the road's construction. Managers help ensure those workers, machinery and tools

work together in the most efficient way possible. A manager makes sure those workers are well-

trained, motivated, rested and that they know what they're supposed to do next. The manager

does the same thing with the tools and the machinery to make sure that they're working correctly

and that the workers are able to use them efficiently and safely. This is the role of management.

On the other hand, a leader makes sure that the road is going in the right direction before the

construction begins. That leader also monitors conditions in new situations to ensure that the

road under construction is still the correct one and is still going in the right direction.

How does this affect you as a leader? Are you spending your time managing people when

you should be making sure that the road ahead is the one that you want to be on? To expect to be

an effective leader you must present a clear vision and a trail you are willing to walk on first.

While there are times when it is appropriate for a leader to fill a management role, it is vital to

understand the difference between leadership and management so you can be effective no matter

which role you happen to be filling at a given time. If you are a leader overseeing managers, it is

important that you provide them with the correct perspective so they may be effective in their

management role. Don't manage the managers. Lead them.

If you are not in a formal leadership role, it is also important that you understand that

when a leadership opportunity arises there is a difference between being a leader and managing

the effort. Even if you end up filling both sets of shoes it's important to understand the difference

in roles in order to fill them effectively. If, on the other hand, you learn how to lead by showing

people that you are walking down the right road, you will become a natural leader and will be

able to help many others find success as your achieve your own.
Challenges of Leadership

Accelerating growth and globalization are forcing organizations to identify and nurture

leaders who can operate effectively across the organization and, in many cases, across borders.

Aging workforces in many countries increase the pressure, as a generation of senior leaders

prepares to retire.

For some organizations, the key challenge is immediate: aligning current leadership with

the business strategy. Other organizations struggle more with “bench strength” issues – finding

and developing the leaders of the future. Many organizations face both of these leadership

challenges, and almost all struggle with ensuring smooth leadership transitions.

Hafsat Abiola said that “Leaders must be prepared to meet all the challenges their

communities face: that which they can see and that which they cannot see.”

It explains major leadership challenges for the 21st century, grouped into two categories:

market forces and people issues. In a quickly changing world, talented human capital will be a

prime ingredient of business success.

• Market Forces

Although political, social, and economic situations vary by region and in their

complexity, there are common challenges that future leaders must be prepared to address. Many

of these challenges are already on the horizon, threatening the quality of life and futures of

communities around the world. Significantly, they are growing in complexity and appear to

require new and innovative approaches for resolution. Helping people from diverse cultures and
interest groups to develop specific and relevant solutions, while at the same time urging people

to seek a common ground, will pose a significant challenge for future leaders.

In many parts of the world, political instability continues to be a major threat to social

progress, economic growth, and the safety and security of communities. Public cynicism about

the ability of political leaders, political parties, and institutions to address problems is on the rise.

To ensure social progress and stability, individuals and communities will have to learn how to

respect and capitalize on the world’s diversity of interests, cultures, perspectives, and people.

The most common social and economic challenge facing leaders is the growing economic

disparity between people. Disease, poverty, and unequal access to resources afflict too many

communities throughout the world. While globalization has brought prosperity to some

communities, many people continue to be left behind. High unemployment continues in some

countries despite global economic growth –– growth that has often occurred at the expense of

natural resource conservation. Balancing environmental protection with sound economic growth

will continue to be a challenge.

• People Issue

The challenge is one of building a value-creation mindset. Organizations need to create

conditions that are conducive to continuous learning. Given that the half-life of knowledge in

every discipline is shrinking, no one can afford to drop the quest for learning at the gates of

graduation. As important as formal learning are tacit knowledge and experience. This type of

knowledge is rarely available in codified form and it cannot be acquired through formal

education or training. Rather, it requires a continuous cycle of discovery, dissemination and the

emergence of shared understandings. Successful firms place great priority on developing

"learning capacity" within the organization — so that the learning that resides within an

individual or group or pocket is proactively transferred to other parts of the organization. This

calls for inter-disciplinary learning and the breaking down of barriers between departments,

businesses and functions.

First, large organizations need to learn much from the way entrepreneurs work. Although

the institutionalized systems, and formal checks and balances do serve an organization well, at

times they do stifle, slow things down, work to reject new ideas, or simply lose out on vital

opportunities. Most organizations reject ideas that threaten to destabilize the status quo.

Eccentrics, mavericks and out-of-the-box thinkers find themselves isolated. We have to charge

the environment in which we work with an entrepreneurial spirit, and infuse our organization

with the passion to excel, the passion to stretch, and the passion that translates into strong

emotional bonding with the organization, and its goals and objectives.

Second, leaders have to grapple with implementing mergers and acquisitions successfully

so that there are no seams dividing the organization. A coming together of two companies is not

about balance sheets coming together, or distribution channels coming together. It is, at the end

of the day, about people coming together, their hearts and minds coming together, their values

and cultures coalescing. The process is full of anxiety, uncertainty and silent suffering. Often, top

management is oblivious to these emotions. Unfortunately, many do not care or lose sleep over

it. The softer aspects of mergers are neglected. To successfully sail through the transition phase,

leaders need to be sensitized to these issues.

Third, today's leadership is mired in paradoxes and contradictions that one finds usually

in Marxist theses. How to constantly juggle through these contradictions is a tough call. Take, for

instance, while you seek to minimize risk to the organization, you encourage entrepreneurship.
You demand adherence to strict timelines for delivering results, which necessarily entail

gruelling 14-hour workdays. At the same time, you invest in programmes aimed at promoting

work-life balance. You stringently monitor quarter-on-quarter results and engage expensive

consultants to do long-range planning and cost optimization. You spout human resources as your

biggest asset, yet engage in right-sizing and lopping of jobs, resulting in skill losses. I am sure

many of you live through these and more contradictions every day. These ground realities put

enormous pressure, affecting as they do the emotional tenor of the workplace. Not surprisingly, it

creates a crisis of identity and confidence in the best of clear thinkers. There are other areas of

contradiction. Leaders have to perform a similar balancing act in their strategic arena between

customers, competition, company interest and company competencies. You cannot address issues

solely from any one perspective.

Fourth, there is the issue of the leadership gap. Leadership is needed at all levels, and

there just isn't enough of it to go around. So, the key leadership task is to identify and nurture

talent. Leaders must make developing talent a priority at all levels of the organization. Young and

emerging leaders at the workplace must be offered multiple role-models who can mentor them

and enable them to create their own distinctive form of leadership. Leadership in Indian

organizations is mostly premised on functional excellence and is skewed to harnessing superior

technical and managerial knowledge, to the neglect of soft skills and attitudes.

Fifth, leaders must have the ability to "mind your mind", which means quickly

recognizing when one is wrong and changing track accordingly. Also, far from being egocentric,

they should have a great sense of humility.

Above all, there is the challenge of articulating what an organization stands for, what its

purpose is. Values are what lend the organization its "stickiness", with which employees can
identify, emotionally and intellectually. People contribute when they relate to an organization,

and they relate when they understand the organization. People understand an organization

through its values, by experiencing the culture that the values create, and by using the systems

and processes that the values define. In large organizations, such shared understanding cannot be

created through the leadership of individuals alone; it requires leadership of principles, of beliefs,

of conviction — these together constitute what we call the "values".

Conclusion

Finally, the leaders of the 21st century must have a global perspective and be willing to

embrace diversity and cultural differences. Contextual demands on our leaders will require that

they use a wide-angle lens and look beyond immediate borders to solve problems. Effective

leaders will encourage multiple viewpoints and will be comfortable with sharing leadership.

They will know how to identify and nurture emerging leaders among them.

For much of this century, leadership was reserved for the “elite” few. Today, the potential

for leadership is viewed as democratically distributed. In neighborhood organizations, schools,

and religious communities, there are individuals with leadership potential and the inner desire to

lead and serve. Leaders in the future will reflect the world’s cultural diversity, with greater

representation from women and people of all ages and ethnicity.

Companies need new techniques to train their professionals for the challenges of the 21st

century. Organizational leaders have been struggling with the same challenges in various forms

for the last 10 or 20 years and have yet to find generalizable solutions. Barring radical changes in

human nature, the next few generations of managers will probably be found working through the

same issues that they and their predecessors have been struggling with for much of their careers -
only more so. The truly successful managers and leaders of the next century will be characterized

not by how they can access information, but by how they can access the most relevant

information and differentiate it from the exponentially multiplying masses of non-relevant

information.

References

• Koontz, Harold & Weihrich, Heinz; “Essential of Management”, Tata McGraw-Hill

Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi, 2003.

• Leadership Quarterly.

• Leadership Strategies.

• Prasad, L. M.; “Principle and Practice of Management”, Sultan Chand & Sons, New

Delhi, 2001.

• Rao, V. S. P. & Narayana, P. S.; “Principle and Practice of Management”, Konark

Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2000.