What it takes to be a great leader | Roselinde Torres | TED
Summary
TLDRThe speaker challenges traditional leadership models, highlighting a study revealing 58% of companies struggle to develop leaders for critical roles despite training efforts. With 25 years of experience, the speaker identifies leadership gaps and explores effective practices globally. The essence of 21st-century leadership is distilled into three key questions focusing on foresight, diverse networks, and the courage to innovate, emphasizing the need for leaders to anticipate change, connect with diverse perspectives, and embrace bold, transformative actions.
Takeaways
- 🦸 Traditional leadership models and development programs are outdated and often fail to produce effective 21st-century leaders.
- 📊 A study of 4,000 companies revealed that 58% had significant talent gaps in critical leadership roles, despite leadership development efforts.
- 🤔 The speaker's 25 years of experience in leadership observation and advising CEOs revealed a concerning trend in leadership preparation.
- 🌐 The 21st-century world is characterized by globalization, digitalization, transparency, and rapid information flow, requiring a new approach to leadership.
- 🔮 Great leaders are proactive, looking ahead to anticipate changes and shape the future rather than just reacting to it.
- 📅 Leaders should be aware of where they are looking for insights and who they are spending time with to understand potential discontinuities in their business model or life.
- 🌈 The diversity of a leader's network is crucial for pattern identification and problem-solving, as different perspectives foster innovation.
- 💪 Courage is essential for leaders to abandon past successful practices that may no longer be effective and to embrace new, potentially risky ideas.
- 🤝 Building relationships with people who are very different is a key capability of great leaders, as it leads to a more robust and diverse network.
- 🛑 Emotional stamina is vital for leaders to withstand criticism and maintain conviction in their new ideas, especially when they challenge the status quo.
- 🚀 Answering the three key questions about anticipating change, network diversity, and abandoning past practices will determine a leader's effectiveness in the 21st century.
Q & A
What is the outdated image of a leader that the speaker mentions?
-The speaker mentions an outdated image of a leader as an all-knowing superhero who stands and commands, and protects his followers, which is a concept from another time.
What did the study of 4,000 companies reveal about leadership development programs?
-The study revealed that 58% of the companies cited significant talent gaps for critical leadership roles, indicating that despite corporate training programs, more than half the companies had failed to grow enough great leaders.
What is the speaker's professional background regarding leadership?
-The speaker has spent 25 years observing what makes great leaders, having worked inside Fortune 500 companies, advised over 200 CEOs, and cultivated numerous leadership pipelines.
Why did the speaker leave their job to study leadership preparation full time?
-The speaker was consumed by questions about why leadership gaps were widening and what great leaders were doing differently, and was frustrated by recurring stories of leadership failures, which led them to leave their job to study this full time.
What did the speaker learn from traveling to South Africa about leadership?
-In South Africa, the speaker learned about Nelson Mandela's ability to anticipate and navigate his political, social, and economic context, which was ahead of his time.
How do great leaders differ in their approach to change according to the speaker?
-Great leaders are not head-down; they see around corners, shaping their future and not just reacting to it. They anticipate changes to their business model or life and make decisions to prepare for them.
What is the importance of a diverse personal and professional stakeholder network for a leader?
-A diverse network is crucial as it serves as a source of pattern identification at greater levels and provides solutions, as it includes people who think differently and can offer unique perspectives.
Why is it important for leaders to abandon practices that made them successful in the past?
-It is important because sticking to familiar and comfortable practices can hinder growth and innovation. Great leaders dare to be different, take risks, and build emotional stamina to withstand criticism of their new ideas.
What are the three defining questions for leadership in the 21st century according to the speaker?
-The three defining questions are: 1) Where are you looking to anticipate the next change? 2) What is the diversity measure of your personal and professional stakeholder network? 3) Are you courageous enough to abandon a past successful practice?
How can leaders ensure they are prepared for the realities of today and possibilities of tomorrow?
-Leaders can ensure preparedness by focusing on the three defining questions, which help them to anticipate changes, build diverse networks, and take courageous steps away from past practices.
What does the speaker suggest is the key to impactful development for leaders?
-The speaker suggests that impactful development comes from building emotional stamina to withstand criticism and taking courageous leaps in ideas and practices, rather than just incremental steps.
Outlines
🌟 The Changing Face of Leadership
This paragraph discusses the outdated concept of the all-knowing leader and the ineffectiveness of traditional leadership development programs in today's rapidly changing world. The speaker highlights a study revealing that 58% of companies face talent gaps in critical leadership roles, despite extensive training. The speaker's 25 years of experience in observing and advising leaders is mentioned, along with the observation of recurring failures in leadership preparation. The paragraph ends with questions about the widening leadership gaps and what sets successful leaders apart, leading into a personal journey of the speaker to understand effective leadership practices globally.
🔍 The Three Pillars of 21st Century Leadership
The second paragraph outlines the three key questions that define 21st-century leadership. The first question addresses the need for leaders to anticipate changes and have a proactive vision, which is achieved by being aware of trends and making informed decisions. The second question emphasizes the importance of a diverse network of stakeholders, which provides a broader perspective and innovative solutions. The third question challenges leaders to abandon past successful practices that may no longer be relevant. The speaker argues that answering these questions is more critical for leadership effectiveness than traditional programs. The paragraph concludes by recognizing the qualities of great leaders who prepare for the uncertainties of today and tomorrow.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Leadership
💡Talent Gaps
💡21st-Century Leader
💡Globalization
💡Digitally Enabled
💡Transparency
💡Innovation
💡Diversity
💡Stakeholder Network
💡Courage
💡Complex Matrix
Highlights
The traditional image of an all-knowing leader is outdated.
Leadership development programs are not keeping up with the modern world.
58% of companies reported significant talent gaps in leadership roles.
The need for 21st-century leadership preparation is not being met by current corporate training.
25 years of professional experience observing great leaders.
A disturbing trend in leadership preparation was observed.
Leadership gaps are widening despite increased investment.
Great leaders are doing something distinctly different to thrive.
A year-long journey to understand effective leadership practices.
Insights from Nelson Mandela on anticipating and navigating change.
Nonprofit leaders making an impact with limited resources.
Leadership is defined by three key questions in the 21st century.
Great leaders anticipate change and shape the future.
Diversity in networks is crucial for identifying patterns and solutions.
Courage to abandon past successful practices is essential for leadership.
Emotional stamina is vital for enduring criticism of new ideas.
21st-century leaders prepare for today's realities and tomorrow's possibilities.
Transcripts
What makes a great leader today?
Many of us carry this image
of this all-knowing superhero
who stands and commands
and protects his followers.
But that's kind of an image from another time,
and what's also outdated
are the leadership development programs
that are based on success models
for a world that was, not a world that is
or that is coming.
We conducted a study of 4,000 companies,
and we asked them, let's see the effectiveness
of your leadership development programs.
Fifty-eight percent of the companies
cited significant talent gaps
for critical leadership roles.
That means that despite corporate training programs,
off-sites, assessments, coaching, all of these things,
more than half the companies
had failed to grow enough great leaders.
You may be asking yourself,
is my company helping me to prepare
to be a great 21st-century leader?
The odds are, probably not.
Now, I've spent 25 years of my professional life
observing what makes great leaders.
I've worked inside Fortune 500 companies,
I've advised over 200 CEOs,
and I've cultivated more leadership pipelines
than you can imagine.
But a few years ago, I noticed a disturbing trend
in leadership preparation.
I noticed that, despite all the efforts,
there were familiar stories that kept resurfacing
about individuals.
One story was about Chris,
a high-potential, superstar leader
who moves to a new unit and fails,
destroying unrecoverable value.
And then there were stories like Sidney, the CEO,
who was so frustrated
because her company is cited
as a best company for leaders,
but only one of the top 50 leaders is equipped
to lead their crucial initiatives.
And then there were stories
like the senior leadership team
of a once-thriving business
that's surprised by a market shift,
finds itself having to force the company
to reduce its size in half
or go out of business.
Now, these recurring stories
cause me to ask two questions.
Why are the leadership gaps widening
when there's so much more investment
in leadership development?
And what are the great leaders doing
distinctly different to thrive and grow?
One of the things that I did,
I was so consumed by these questions
and also frustrated by those stories,
that I left my job
so that I could study this full time,
and I took a year to travel
to different parts of the world
to learn about effective and ineffective
leadership practices in companies,
countries and nonprofit organizations.
And so I did things like travel to South Africa,
where I had an opportunity to understand
how Nelson Mandela was ahead of his time
in anticipating and navigating
his political, social and economic context.
I also met a number of nonprofit leaders
who, despite very limited financial resources,
were making a huge impact in the world,
often bringing together seeming adversaries.
And I spent countless hours in presidential libraries
trying to understand how the environment
had shaped the leaders,
the moves that they made,
and then the impact of those moves
beyond their tenure.
And then, when I returned to work full time,
in this role, I joined with wonderful colleagues
who were also interested in these questions.
Now, from all this, I distilled
the characteristics of leaders who are thriving
and what they do differently,
and then I also distilled
the preparation practices that enable people
to grow to their potential.
I want to share some of those with you now.
("What makes a great leader in the 21st century?")
In a 21st-century world, which is more global,
digitally enabled and transparent,
with faster speeds of information flow and innovation,
and where nothing big gets done
without some kind of a complex matrix,
relying on traditional development practices
will stunt your growth as a leader.
In fact, traditional assessments
like narrow 360 surveys or outdated performance criteria
will give you false positives,
lulling you into thinking that you are more prepared
than you really are.
Leadership in the 21st century is defined
and evidenced by three questions.
Where are you looking
to anticipate the next change
to your business model or your life?
The answer to this question is on your calendar.
Who are you spending time with? On what topics?
Where are you traveling? What are you reading?
And then how are you distilling this
into understanding potential discontinuities,
and then making a decision to do something
right now so that you're prepared and ready?
There's a leadership team that does a practice
where they bring together each member
collecting, here are trends that impact me,
here are trends that impact another team member,
and they share these,
and then make decisions, to course-correct a strategy
or to anticipate a new move.
Great leaders are not head-down.
They see around corners,
shaping their future, not just reacting to it.
The second question is,
what is the diversity measure
of your personal and professional stakeholder network?
You know, we hear often about good ol' boy networks
and they're certainly alive and well in many institutions.
But to some extent, we all have a network
of people that we're comfortable with.
So this question is about your capacity
to develop relationships with people
that are very different than you.
And those differences can be biological,
physical, functional, political, cultural, socioeconomic.
And yet, despite all these differences,
they connect with you
and they trust you enough
to cooperate with you
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 are thinking
differently than you are.
Third question: are you courageous enough
to abandon a practice that has made you successful in the past?
There's an expression: Go along to get along.
But if you follow this advice,
chances are as a leader,
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.
And one of the leaders shared with me the fact that
the most impactful development comes
when you are able to build the emotional stamina
to withstand people telling you that your new idea
is naïve or reckless or just plain stupid.
Now interestingly, the people who will join you
are not your usual suspects in your network.
They're often people that think differently
and therefore are willing to join you
in taking a courageous leap.
And it's a leap, not a step.
More than traditional leadership programs,
answering these three questions
will determine your effectiveness
as a 21st-century leader.
So what makes a great leader in the 21st century?
I've met many, and they stand out.
They are women and men
who are preparing themselves
not for the comfortable predictability of yesterday
but also for the realities of today
and all of those unknown possibilities of tomorrow.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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