Given the unfolding events following the Brexit outcome this past week, we could all forgive ourselves for asking is there such a thing as leadership?
After all, what we have witnessed is one politician after another posturing for political power seemingly oblivious to the needs of a Nation and cut-throat politics demonstrated through the use of venomous vitriol. Leaders who demonstrated styles running the gauntlet from self-aggrandizing, dishonesty and lacking in integrity, through to scheming, duplicitous and backstabbing behavior all underscored and driven by narcissism, hubris and ego. A scenario that has been truly Machiavellian in nature.
Both the 'Leave' and 'Remain' campaigns chose to engage with their public through fear and negativity and to polarize rather than unify. The question is why would they choose to amplify an atmosphere of fear? Well, for the best part, in the past it is a recipe that has worked! Rather than focus on building a positive dynamic they reverted to focusing on the negative. Even sadder, now that it's all over and a decision has been made to 'leave' the EU, it seems as if the Nation has been left to deal with the commercial and racial fallouts without its leaders. In the aftermath, rather than lead from the front to bring the Nation together, to rebuild trust and to address our political, commercial and social realities, our leaders seem to be shrouded in a cloak of invisibility.
Brexit has been a fascinating spectacle of how NOT to lead. It has demonstrated how the overriding feature of leadership, in the majority, is driven by short-sighted individuals who fail to realize that the world and its deepening and burgeoning complexity is far more interconnected and interdependent more now than ever.
Brexit has been driven by leaders who it seems have limited cognitive capacity as they were unable to manage competing views and coalesce key factors towards building an inclusive society. Leaders who were calculative and free from moral sentiments of what was right or wrong and whom were incapable of behaving ethically. Leaders that will use you for so long as you are perceived as useful as opposed to serve you regardless of your usefulness.
Further, as a Nation, our inability to distinguish between confidence and competence continues to grant permission to our leaders to behave in ways that demonstrate a lack of value-based attributes. For now, it seems that good leadership is the exception rather than the rule. Their lack of introspection and accountability for their behaviors is why is it almost seemingly impossible for our leaders (be it political or business) to lead with veracity and clarity and to communicate simply, consistently and transparently.
So is there such a thing as leadership? My four year research on global leadership and diversity conducted across seven different sectors and 22 countries (LEAD³), identified six leadership competencies: Business and cross cultural competencies, connecting and building relationships, practicing rigour, stakeholder satisfaction, value-based professional and positive influence.
Additionally, leadership is not one-dimensional. Leadership is multi-dimensional. A leader has to be equipped with cognitive capacity, social intelligence, behavioral complexity, business acumen, strategic insight and global focus.
- Cognitive capacity assumes that cognitively complex individuals process information differently from, and perform selected tasks better, than cognitively less complex people.
- Social intelligence is the ability to appropriately apply interpersonal skills such as empathy, motivation and communication within a thorough understanding of one's social setting.
- Behavioral complexity is the ability to vary your roles and/or performance according and relative to the range of stakeholders you interact with.
- Business acumen is to have technical command of the areas that you are dealing in.
- Strategic insight is the capability to pursue a big picture perspective and having explored and interrogated differing options and outcomes extracting applicable data and putting together a plan.
- A globally focused individual is comfortable working cross culturally with the unknown. They have an inbuilt curiosity about others 'ways of working and being'
These competencies and dimensions were not manufactured from a vanilla palette but present a mosaic of leadership that can be tessellated globally and on which rests the future of how our global leaders attributes are shaped and perform.
The competencies and dimensions also characterize the wealth of diversity that leaders have to contend with. When most people speak of diversity they often are referring to identity. That is individuals' from different demographic, economic and social backgrounds. However, diversity of thoughts and diversity of behaviors need to be equally explored and valued as the make-up of people consists of a whole package of interlocking attributes. We all have differing thoughts, opinions and perspectives and it goes without saying that as human beings our nature is prone towards self-serving interests and egotism that leads to behaving differently.
So what? I hear you ask. Where does this leave us? What next? Well, bringing together my critique and the leadership competencies and dimensions, leaders and followers alike can make a number of choices and take action. For instance:
When we hold our leaders accountable for their actions and not just for what they say they will do; When we are able to criticize our leaders without fear of retribution; When leaders commit to serving others as opposed to serving self; When they practice introspection versus exhibition; When leaders put purpose ahead of short term profits; and, when leaders engage actively and listen to their followers, then and only then can leadership be truly practiced.
As I have previously written, in our ever-changing world where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are the lexicon of our lives, good global leadership practice tied to an appreciation and respect for diversity and inclusion must be the Velcro of our collective consciousness. It is time for behavioral change and to see the evidence of that behavioral change.
Leaders need to lead with courage and hold on tightly to reality. Leaders need to take stock of the words of Chuck Yeager, the first test pilot to travel faster than sound: "Just before a breakthrough the cockpit will shake". That is, they may experience testing times whilst they go through change but hold fast, a breakthrough will occur. Leaders should have the courage to layout their stock on the table. Followers will navigate through stormy waters with their leaders and respect individual thinking styles and behavioral differences if they understand and know what their leaders stand for and see that they have our best interests at heart.