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 But that's kind of an image from another time, and what's also outdated are the leadership development programs that are based on success models for a world that was, not a world that is or that is coming.
Kaj dandanes dela voditelja izjemnega? Mnogi od nas imamo v glavi sliko vsevednega superjunaka, ki stoji in vodi in ščiti svoje privržence. A to je slika iz drugega časa, in kar je prav tako staromodno, so programi za razvoj vodstvenih kadrov, ki temeljijo na vzorcih uspeha sveta, ki je bil, ne sveta, ki je ali prihaja.
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.
Izvedli smo raziskavo 4.000 podjetij in jih vprašali, če lahko vidimo učinkovitost vaših vodstvenih razvojnih programov. 58% podjetij je navedlo veliko pomanjkanje talentov za ključne vodstvene funkcije. To pomeni, da kljub skupnim izobraževalnim programom, kratkim potovanjem, ocenjevanjem, treniranju, vsem tem stvarem, več kot polovica podjetij ni uspela vzgojiti dovolj izjemnih voditeljev. Mogoče se boste vprašali, mi moje podjetje pomaga, da se pripravim biti izjemen voditelj 21. stoletja? Verjetno ne.
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.
Preživela sem 25 let poklicnega življenja in opazovala, kaj dela voditelje izjemne. Delala sem znotraj 500 najboljših podjetij svetovala sem več kot 200-tim generalnim direktorjem in razvila sem več vodstvenih napotkov, kot si lahko zamislite. A pred nekaj leti sem opazila skrb vzbujajoč trend v pripravi vodstva. Opazila sem, da kljub vsemu trudu, so obstajale znane zgodbe o posameznikih, ki so ponovno prihajale na dan. Ena zgodba je bila o Chrisu, voditelju superzvezdniku z visokimi potenciali ki je šel na nov oddelek in mu je spodletelo in je ustvaril nepopravljivo škodo. In tu so bile zgodbe o Sidney, generalni direktorici, ki je bila tako razdražena, ker je bilo njeno podjetje pohvaljeno kot najboljše podjetje za voditelje, a je samo eden od 50 najboljših voditeljev pripravljen voditi njihove odločilne pobude. In tukaj so bile tudi zgodbe, kot je zgodba o glavnem vodstvenem timu nekoč uspešnega podjetja, ki je presenečeno nad preusmeritvijo trga in je primorano velikost podjetja vsaj za polovico zmanjšati ali pa opustiti posel.
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.
Zaradi takšnih ponavljajočih se zgodb se vprašam dvoje. Zakaj se luknje v vodstvu širijo, ko pa se vedno več investira v razvoj vodstva? In kaj delajo izjemni voditelji izrazito drugače, da uspevajo in rastejo? Kar sem jaz storila, ker sem bila tako prevzeta s temi vprašanji in tudi razdražena s temi zgodbami, da sem pustila svojo službo, da sem lahko to nenehno raziskovala. In vzela sem si eno leto in potovala v različne predele sveta, da bi se poučila o učinkovitih in neučinkovitih vodstvenih praksah v podjetjih, državah in neprofitnih organizacijah. Zato sem potovala v Južno Afriko, kjer sem imel priložnost doumeti, kako napreden je bil Nelson Mandela v predvidevanju in vodenju svojega političnega, družbenega in ekonomskega konteksta. Spoznala sem tudi veliko neprofitnih voditeljev, ki so kljub zelo omejenim finančnim sredstvom zelo vplivali na svet s pogostim zbliževanjem dozdevnih nasprotnikov. In žrtvovala sem nešteto ur v predsedniških knjižnicah in skušala razumeti, kako je okolje izoblikovalo voditelje, njihove poteze in nato vpliv teh potez prek njihovih mandatov. In nato, ko sem se vrnila in delala polni čas v tej vlogi, sem se povezala s čudovitimi sodelavci, ki so se prav tako zanimali za ta vprašanja.
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.
Sedaj sem, iz vsega tega, povzela karakteristike voditeljev, ki so uspešni in kaj delajo drugače in potem sem še povzela pripravljalne prakse, ki omogočajo ljudem razviti njihov potencial. Nekaj teh praks hočem danes deliti z vami.
("What makes a great leader in the 21st century?")
("Kaj naredi voditelja v 21. stoletju izjemnega?")
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.
21. stoletje, ki je bolj globalno, digitalno usmerjeno in pregledno, s hitrejšimi hitrostmi toka informacij in inovacij, in kjer se ne naredi nič velikega brez neke zapletene osnove, bo zanašanje na tradicionalne vodstvene prakse oviralo vašo rast kot voditelj. V bistvu vam bodo tradicionalne ocene kot 360 skromnih anket ali zastareli kriteriji zmogljivosti, dale napačne signale in vam zbudile lažen občutek, da ste pripravljeni bolj, kot v resnici ste. Vodenje v 21. stoletju je definirano in dokazano na podlagi treh vprašanj.
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.
Kam gledate, da bi predvideli naslednjo spremembo vašega poslovnega modela ali življenja? Odgovor na to vprašanje je na vašem koledarju. S kom preživljate čas? S kakšnimi temami? Kam potujete? Kaj berete? In nato, kako to povzamete za razumevanje potencialnih prekinitev in kako se odločiti, da nekaj storite prav zdaj, ko ste pripravljeni in voljni? Obstajajo vodstveni timi, ki delajo vaje, kjer združijo vse člane in zbirajo trende, ki vplivajo name, trende, ki vplivajo na druge člane tima, in te trende delijo, in nato sprejmejo odločitve, da popravijo smer strategije ali, da predvidijo novo potezo. Izjemni voditelji ne sklanjajo glave. Vidijo izza vogalov, se ne samo odzivajo na prihodnost, ampak jo tudi oblikujejo.
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 vprašanje je, kakšna je mera raznolikosti v vaši osebni in strokovni mreže kontaktov. Veste, pogosto slišimo o mrežah dobrih starih prijateljev in zagotovo so žive in zdrave v mnogih ustanovah. A do neke mere imamo vsi mrežo ljudi, s katerimi nam je prijetno. Zato je to vprašanje o vaši sposobnosti razvijanja odnosov z ljudmi, ki so popolnoma različni od vas. In te razlike so lahko biološke, fizične, funkcionalne, politične, kulturne, družbenoekonomske in vendar kljub vsem tem razlikam, se povežejo z vami in vam dovolj zaupajo, da lahko sodelujejo z vami v doseganju skupnega cilja. Izjemni voditelji razumejo, da je bolj raznolika mreža vir vzorčne povezave na višjih ravneh in tudi vir rešitev, ker imaš ljudi, ki mislijo drugače kot ti.
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.
Tretje vprašanje: Ste dovolj pogumni, da opustite vajo, s katero ste v preteklosti uspeli? Obstaja izraz: Strinjaj se in dobro se boš razumel. A če sledite temu nasvetu, so možnosti za vas kot voditelja, da boste nenehno delali to, kar vam je znano in prijetno. Izjemni voditelji si upajo biti drugačni. Ne samo govorijo o tveganju, ampak dejansko tvegajo. Eden izmed voditeljev je z mano delil dejstvo, da najučinkovitejši razvoj pride, ko si zmožen oblikovati čustveno vzdržljivost, da se lahko upreš ljudem, ki ti pravijo, da je tvoja nova ideja naivna ali lahkomiselna ali preprosto nespametna. Zanimivo pa je, da ljudje, ki se vam bodo pridružili, običajno niso najbolj očitni osumljenci v mreži. Pogosto so to ljudje, ki razmišljajo drugače in so se vam zato pripravljeni pridružiti in narediti pogumen preskok. In to je preskok, ne korak. Bolj kot tradicionalni vodstveni programi, vam bodo odgovori na ta tri vprašanja določili vašo učinkovitost kot voditelja 21. stoletja.
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.
Torej, kaj dela voditelja v 21. stoletju izjemnega? Mnogo sem jih spoznala in izstopajo. So moški in ženske, ki se pripravljajo ne za prijetno včerajšnjo predvidljivost, ampak tudi za današnjo realnost in za vse neznane jutrišnje priložnosti .
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplavz)