Modern leadership can be defined by these 3 questions:
1.Where do you anticipate the next change to your business model or life will come from?
The answer to this question is on your calendar. Who are you spending time with? On which topics? Where are you travelling? What are you reading? Distill this into understanding potential discontinuities, and then make a decision to do something right now, so that you’re prepared and ready! Share trends to correct strategies and anticipate future moves.
Great leaders don’t keep their heads down. They see around corners and shape their future, not just react to it.
2.How diverse is your personal and professional network?
We often hear about “good old boy” networks. They’re definitely alive and well in some organizations. But to some extent, we all have a network of people with whom we are comfortable.
This question is about your capacity to develop relationships with people that are very different from you. Those differences can be biological, political, physical, functional, cultural, and socio-economic. Yet despite all these differences, they connect with you and trust you enough to cooperate in achieving a shared goal.
Great leaders understand that having a more diverse network is a source of pattern identification at greater levels and also of solutions, because you have people that think differently and have more diverse ideas.
3.Are you courageous enough to abandon a practice that has made you successful in the past?
There is an expression that says: “Go along to get along.”
It’s useful enough, but if you as a leader follow this advice; chances are you’re going to keep doing what’s familiar and comfortable. Great leaders dare to be different. They don’t just talk about risk taking. They actually do it.
The most impactful development comes when you’re able to build the emotional fortitude that can withstand criticism: people telling you that your new idea is naïve, reckless or just plain stupid.
Interestingly, the people that will join you in your endeavors are not in your usual network. They’re often people that think differently and therefore are willing to join you in taking a courageous leap. And it’s definitely a leap, not a step.
What makes a great leader in the 21st century?
I’ve met many great leaders, and they definitely stand out. They are men and women who are prepare themselves for both the realities of today and all of those possibilities of tomorrow.
Where do you start?
You need to identify where you are in your own leadership journey. How do you see yourself? What’s your journey when faced with new situations? Our model is proven to liberate the leader within. Are you ready to achieve the extraordinary?
