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Leadership In The Next Decade: What are the Trends?

Pat Schally
Editor

Leading into 2011 and beyond will likely be a challenge with many obstacles along the way, but we think lessons can be learned by looking at the past decade. In this issue, we have selected a few topics from our blog www.leadershipinthemoment.com and juxtaposed them with leadership trends we see emerging.

What’s a trend, actually? We like this definition of a trend and trend watchers. One source defined it as, “A trend is a description of a change taking place long term or short term. A trend can be short term manifestations, e.g. a fashion, design, assumption. A trend can also be a long term megatrend, which typically has a minimum of 30-50 years relevance, e.g. globalization, individualization, digitalization.”

Can I be a trend spotter? Yes, we can add that our job title. The good news is that it appears we’re all trend spotters. “The role of a trend spotter is to tell persuasive stories about the present and the future to influence others.” That is our intention in this issue of The Leader’s Almanac.

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Jeni Nichols
Founder and President, Sonoma Leadership Systems

We believe in the power of a good story. In fact, we are committed to what we believe to be a trend in business today—strengthening our brand and message by telling our clients’ success stories. In the process, we do the same for our clients. We strengthen their brand and message. It’s symbiosis in action. We interview clients and make the connection between their stories and their experience with The Leadership Challenge®, our flagship program. We then showcase these stories to help build our business but more importantly, to give voice to our clients’ personal story of success.

By staying close to our customers and inquiring about their experiences, we build stronger, lasting relationships. That’s a trend we think has staying power.

To read a few of our clients’ stories, visit our results page.

Our Blog Post, August, 2009: “Tell me a Story—A Formula for Sucess”
This posting was relevant as it commented on the way in which a major network producer valued a good story:

"Don Hewitt, who passed away last week at 86 was instrumental in shaping a new tone for television journalism by creating ‘60 Minutes’, still a force in American TV ratings. ‘The formula is simple,’ he wrote in a memoir, ‘it's reduced to four words every kid in the world knows, Tell me a Story’"...

Read More or comment on our blog at: www.leadershipinthemoment.com

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Transport yourself by taking a look at this fascinating clip on You Tube: “Is Social Media a Fad?” It's a dizzying look at social networking, the way we communicate today, and where we’re headed. We learn about the power of “word of mouth” advertising when blog postings (there are currently 200 million blogs) can help or hurt a company’s image. Only 14% of us trust advertising but 78% trust peer recommendations.

An equally compelling and opposite trend is gaining momentum because of this fast moving technology. It may drive some to non-tech, in-person methods of communications. Remember High Tech/ HighTouch by Naisbitt? He said we’re “Intoxicated by technology.” The fact remains that the need for employees to hear the vision of their CEO and business unit leaders has increased exponentially. With global corporations trying to engage people in a wide geographic range, it will be challenging to stay connected on a personal level. It will be challenging but it is also an opportunity to flex our “leadership muscle.”

“How do we have impact in the world where we seldom see our constituents but must engage them in the vision and values we hold?” This was one of the questions posed by our facilitator, Beth High. She recently presented a webinar on the topic, “L.I.V.E. Leading in a Virtual Environment.” (See her slide presentation at LeadingInTurbulentTimesLIVEWebinarDec09.pdf)

Regardless of the location of groups of people, there is growing trend for communicators (that’s all of us) to increase the amount of time to stage, orchestrate and manage effective communications—face-to-face or virtually.

Direct communication from leaders is one of the top ways for an organization to achieve its financial and “people engagement” goals.

Our Blog Post, August, 2009: "Are You Using Your Turn Signals?"
This blogger took her passion for turn-signal use and turned it into a metaphor for expressing our intentions. “At one time I was committed to (well more like fixated upon) solving the problem of people not using their turn signals while behind the wheel. I even fashioned my own bumper sticker with the question, “Got Turn Signals?” What happens if we don’t use our turn signals? People can only guess our next move. Making a quick turn or stop draws frustration or even anger from observers. At best, they’re confused. It’s the same reaction when a leader is not broadcasting his/her plans, vision or values. One of The Leadership Challenge® Practices, Inspiring a Shared Vision, encourages leaders to enlist others in a common vision. As leaders, we need to be consistently pointing to, articulating, and yes, signaling our vision.
Read More or comment on our blog at: www.leadershipinthemoment.com
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Here’s what two professors have to say about innovation today: Professors von Krough and Raisch (Harvard Business Review, Oct., 2009), uncovered what we think may be a future trend for leaders to notice—a strategy related to innovation. Global companies “most successful at achieving growth through innovation tend to devote their energies to a small number of breakthrough ideas.” They “put innovation on the top of the agenda, work across functional and divisional boundaries, and empower employees with an entrepreneurial mind-set.”

That’s quite a “to do” list but the companies they highlight (Proctor and Gamble, Nestle, GE and BMW) are examples of champions in which their shareholder returns were nearly double those of other Global 500 companies.

How does this trend trickle down to leaders in small and large companies? Conservative thinking as it relates to breakthrough ideas seems to oppose the business plan of many leaders who believe that they must have a large inventory of creative ideas to succeed. To stay competitive, they find comfort in a constant pipeline of innovation. According to the professor’s research, however, reducing the number of initiatives, and cutting costs to redistribute dollars to R&D results in greater rewards and profits. Apparently, no matter the size of an organization, when it comes to innovation, the trend seems to be that leaders need to think “less is more” in order to grow.

Our Blog Post, June, 2009: "They Put the NO in Innovation."
This posted blog entry commented on an ad campaign that was humorous and anti-trend but factual. It’s a good example of a company staying with their original brand that had staying power.

"Next time your breakfast consists of Post’s Shredded Wheat, consider the CEO’s message from their recent ad campaign: “Progress is Overrated”. He takes a jab at the idea that progress has taken us to a better place. He explains that by stating, “Throughout the years our product has not changed since it was introduced over a hundred years ago. It’s natural, 100% whole wheat and free of additives."
Read More or comment on our blog at: www.leadershipinthemoment.com

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