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 But that's kind of an image from another time, and what's also outdated are the leadership development programs that are based on success models for a world that was, not a world that is or that is coming.
Što čini dobrog vođu danas? Mnogi od nas u glavi imaju sliku sveznajućeg super heroja koji stoji, zapovijeda i štiti svoje sljedbenike. To je slika iz davnih vremena, a ono što je također zastarjelo su i programi za razvoj rukovoditelja i vođa zasnovani na modelu uspjeha u svijetu koji je nekad postojao, a ne u svijetu kakav je danas ili kakav će postati.
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.
Ispitivali smo 4.000 poduzeća i proučavali učinkovitost njihovih programa za razvoj rukovoditelja. 58% poduzeća navelo je da imaju velik manjak ljudi sposobnih za kritične rukovoditeljske funkcije. To znači da, usprkos treninzima u poduzećima, na terenu, procjenama, podukama, svemu tome, više od polovice poduzeća nije uspjelo stvoriti dovoljan broj dobrih rukovoditelja. I vi sebi možete postaviti pitanje: Priprema li me moje poduzeće za velikog rukovoditelja 21. stoljeća? Velike su šanse da ne priprema.
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.
Provela sam 25 godina profesionalnog života proučavajući što čini dobrog rukovoditelja? Radila sam s poduzećima s Fortune 500 liste savjetovala sam više od 200 CEO-a i radila na više procesa za stvaranje novih rukovoditelja nego možete zamisliti. Međutim, prije nekoliko sam godina primijetila zabrinjavajući trend u pripremanju rukovoditelja. Primijetila sam da bez obzira na sav trud, postoje priče o pojedincima koje su se stalno ponavljale. Jedna je bila o Chrisu, omiljenom rukovoditelju velikog potencijala, koji je prešao u drugi odjel i podbacio, nepovratno uništivši ugled. Bilo je i priča poput ove o Sidney, CEO, toliko frustriranoj jer je njeno poduzeće glasilo za najbolje za razvoj rukovoditelja, a samo je jedan od 50 najboljih sposoban predvoditi njihove najvažnije inicijative. Zatim imamo priče o višem rukovoditeljskom timu u nekada uspješnom poslovanju koji je, iznenađen promjenama na tržištu, doveo sebe u situaciju da odlučuje o otpuštanju polovice radnika ili prestanku poslovanja.
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.
Ove priče koje se stalno ponavljaju navele su me da postavim dva pitanja. Zašto su praznine u rukovođenju sve veće kada se sve više ulaže u njegov razvoj? I, što veliki rukovoditelji rade drugačije, a zbog toga su sve uspješniji? Jedna od stvari koje sam napravila je, jer su me ova pitanja toliko mučila i ove priče me toliko frustrirale, da sam napustila posao, kako bih mogla svo vrijeme proučavati problem. Putovala sam godinu dana u razne dijelove svijeta i proučavala uspješne i neuspješne rukovoditeljske prakse u poduzećima, državama i neprofitnim organizacijama. tako sam npr. otputovala u Južnu Afriku, gdje sam imala priliku shvatiti kako je Nelson Mendela bio ispred svog vremena u predviđanju i upravljanju svojim političkim, društvenim i ekonomskim kontekstom. Također sam upoznala puno rukovoditelja neprofitnih organizacija koji su, usprkos nedovoljnim sredstvima, imali veliki utjecaj u svijetu, često okupljajući naizgled ljute protivnike. Provodila sam sate i sate u knjižnicama pokušavajući shvatiti koliko je sredina utjecala na rukovoditelje i njihove poteze a zatim i utjecaj tih poteza izvan njihovih radnih mjesta. A onda, kada sam ponovo počela raditi, u ovoj ulozi, udružila sam se s divnim suradnicima koje je, također, zanimao ovaj problem.
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.
Iz svega ovoga, izdvojila sam karakteristike uspješnih rukovoditelja, ono rade drugačije, kao i prakse koje te ljude pripremaju i omogućuju im nadogradnju potencijala. Podijelila bih nešto od toga sa vama.
("What makes a great leader in the 21st century?")
("Što čini dobrog rukovoditelja 21. stoljeća?")
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.
U svijetu 21. stoljeća, koji je globalan, digitaliziran i transparentan, s velikom brzinom protoka informacija i inovacijama, gdje se ništa značajno ne može završiti bez neke vrste složene matrice, oslanjanje na tradicionalne prakse razvoja onemogućit će vaš rukovoditeljski napredak. Zapravo, tradicionalne procjene, poput "360 stupnjeva" ili zastarjeli kriteriji učinka, će vam dati lažne pozitivne rezultate, i vi ćete se opustiti, misleći da ste pripremljeniji nego zapravo jeste. Vodstvo u 21. stoljeću je definirano i dokazano trima pitanjima.
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.
Na koji način ćete predvidjeti narednu promjenu u svom poslovanju ili životu? Odgovor na ovo pitanje nalazi se u vašem kalendaru. S kim provodite vrijeme? O kojim temama razgovarate? Gdje putujete? Što čitate? Na koji način proćišćavate informacije i prepoznajete potencijalna odstupanja, i zatim donosite odluke da napravite nešto upravo sada i budete pripremljeni i spremni? Postoji tim rukovoditelja koji prakticira okupljati svoje članove kako bi predstavili trendove koji utječu na njih ili na ostale članove tima te tako dijele znanje i tada donose odluke kojima ispravljaju postojeće strategije ili predviđaju nove poteze. Veliki rukovoditelji hodaju uzdignute glave. Vide iza ugla, oblikuju budućnost, umjesto da samo na nju reagiraju.
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.
Drugo pitanje je, kolika je raznolikost vaših privatnih i poslovnih veza? Znate, često slušamo o dobrim, starim poslovnim vezama, one svakako još uvek postoje u mnogim institucijama. Iako, donekle, svatko od nas ima poslovne veze s osobama s kojima se o sjećamo ugodno. Pitanje se odnosi na vlastite sposobnosti razvijanja veza s ljudima koji su različiti od nas. Te različitosti mogu biti biološke, fizičke, funkcionalne, političke, kulturne, ekonomske. Pa ipak, usprkos svim tim razlikama oni su povezani s nama i vjeruju nam dovoljno da surađuju s nama u postizanju zajedničkog cilja. Veliki rukovoditelji razumiju da je postojanje različitosti u mreži izvor za prepoznavanje obrazaca na višim razinama, kao i rješenja jer imaju ljude koji misle drugačije od njih.
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.
Treće pitanje: jeste li dovoljno hrabri da odbacite postupke koji su vas učinili uspješnima u prošlosti? Postoji izreka: Budi dobar sa svima. Međutim, ako poslušate ovaj savjet šanse su da ćete, kao rukovoditelj, i dalje raditi ono što stvara ugodu i što vam je poznato. Veliki rukovoditelji se usude biti drugačiji. Osim što pričaju o preuzimanju rizika oni i preuzimaju rizik. Jedan od rukovoditelja mi je rekao da najznačajniji razvoj dolazi onda kad postaneš emotivno jak da možeš podnijeti kad ti ljudi kažu da je tvoja nova ideja naivna, traljava ili jednostavno glupa. Ono što je zanimljivo je da su ljudi koji će biti na vašoj strani obično oni od kojih to najmanje očekujete. To su vrlo često ljudi koji razmišljaju drugačije i zbog toga su vam se i spremni pridružiti u skoku sa litice. A to je skok, a ne korak. Više nego tradicionalni programi razvoja rukovoditelja odgovori na ova pitanja će utvrditi jeste li sposobni biti rukovoditelj 21. stoljeća.
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.
Dakle, što čini dobrog rukovoditelja u 21. stoljeću? Upoznala sam mnoge i svi su iznimni. To su žene i muškarci koji se pripremaju ne za ono što je poznato od jučer već za realnost sadašnjosti i sve one nepoznanice koje donosi sutra.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)