Leadership effectiveness is less about controlling via command and status quo, more about influence via expertise, innovation, empathy.
Leadership is about change and direction. Leadership is a principle, but often you have to break down the outdated rules in order to lead forward effectively. Far too often the term “leadership” is thrown around loosely and without any regard to true meaning.
Leadership really is a character and personal development, you must continue to learn and improve, adding more ingredients to build differentiated leadership capabilities.
Leadership & virtue: Leadership is an influence. There are those who seek the justification of leadership via virtuous qualities such as benevolence, value, understanding, morality, etc. The virtue-based, value-driven leadership requires a thoughtful mind, right attitude, and consistent good behavior; enhances guidance, and achieves collective advantage.
There are incremental values; transcendental values; some values are long-lasting; other values are intermediate. To perceive and preserve “value,” identify stories on the basis of value proposition, have a very clear idea of the overall “value proposition”. So, collectively, deepen understanding of common issues that need to be taken care of, boost morality when meeting frustrations or difficulties, and generate value ultimately.
Leadership & uniqueness: There is no “one size fits all” leadership formula, every leader is unique, with their own differentiated capabilities and styles. Character and competency are two-sides of the same coin to reveal an authentic leadership. When people are authentic, being who they are, they can explore their innate talent, get out of their own comfort zone, share unique viewpoints of crucial issues, listen to a wide range of opinions, deepen quality understanding, develop leadership strength and build unique competencies. Leadership is a journey, business leaders and professionals need to continually build core competencies, which are unique, not easy to replicate; with personal learning and experiences in it.
Leadership & assimilating: We are at the intersection of knowledge economy and creative economy. The Internet becomes an enormous hub to connect diverse minds, facilitate various dialogues, drive meaningful collaboration; but it also spreads misinformation, causes confusion or conflict. Thus, leaders today must be able to bridge the difference and amplify their influence via boosting social engagement, encouraging open conversations that galvanize inspiration and gain traction on a powerful theme of organizational growth and renewal. Assimilating leadership is knowledge savvy, learning agile, enhancing the healthy cycle of knowledge management which involves assimilating the existing knowledge, updating knowledge, creating new knowledge, for catalyzing innovation and reaching the next level of leadership fluency.
Leadership now becomes more open and interdisciplinary, influential and innovative. Leadership effectiveness is less about controlling via command and status quo, more about influence via expertise, innovation, empathy. Leadership “hard” competency can and should be defined and refined continually.
