Courage and leadership in 2023

The type of leader who has succeeded in the past is probably not going to cut it in the new economy. The new times demand a high level of innovation that cannot be achieved by alpha leaders. Grace Lordan writes that successful leadership will require a lot of courage to do things differently.

 
In 2022 I began to pay attention to the character traits I most admire in leaders around the world. One theme emerged clearly. The type of leader who has succeeded in the past is probably not going to cut it in the new economy. The leader who will thrive is courageous. However, their courage manifests itself in very different ways as compared to leaders of the past.

Right now, there is a growing demand for a level of innovation in the economy that cannot be achieved by ‘alpha’ leaders who manage their teams in a command-and-control style manner. Nor can it be achieved by high-ego leaders that surround themselves with people ‘like them’ so they can feel protected and engage regularly in confirmation bias. Nor can it be achieved by leaders who simply want to manage people, without actually doing the graft of generating income for the core business.

The leaders who will thrive are redefining what courage means for leadership.

When these leaders bring their team together for meetings, they are careful to speak far less than others. These leaders recognise that they have been given a gift of time with colleagues with perspectives different to theirs. They recognise their role is to actively listen, and to use this information to advance the team’s thinking. These leaders are also careful to make sure that a small number of dominant colleagues do not succeed in being the only ones getting their attention. Rather, they enable all colleagues to give their perspective. The same leaders will also make clear to their team that there is no need to weigh in on every single issue up for discussion. Rather they want team members to contribute unique perspectives and to challenge the status quo. Taking this approach allows these courageous leaders to create a dynamic where meetings are productive, inclusive, and efficient. The courage in this approach is bellied in their willingness to allow colleagues to challenge the status quo, including any of their own ideas. Their courage is also exhibited in their willingness to do things differently based on the feedback of others, if this is a route to better outcomes for their customers, stakeholders and/or shareholders.

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Πηγή: blogs.lse.ac.uk