In an article I read in a recent issue of the Sloan Management Review, Warren Bennis of the Leadership Institute of the University of Southern California best described the business environment we are in. He speaks of a situation we have never seen ourselves in, when younger people know more than their seniors, where experience do not count much as a prescription for success, when the foundations of success are shifting from natural resources to human capital, and a very volatile economic and business environment. More and more, we find ourselves placed in a situation we cannot anticipate and control. As what was said of a CEO that was fired - “He didn’t get small; the world just got bigger.”

Today’s leaders are confronted with very different conditions from their counterparts of not too long ago. Rapid change characterizes the situation they are in. No longer are the leadership truisms of the past an assurance of success. The leaders of today are often thrust in a position that they have to learn faster than they have the time to do so. Global businesses and the interplay of competitive forces require leaders to change at a dizzying pace. To successfully lead the organization, the CEO must possess a new set of traits adapted to the current conditions otherwise, his world will gobble him to oblivion.

A large multinational company I know of is a good example of global change mandate. In less than three years, they have had to right size more than a third of the organization. During the same period, they have had to move high flyers with limited time for leadership development and exposure to positions of responsibilities learning on the run. The company continues to struggle with fast tracking the development of its leaders to lead the business to succeed.

What characterizes the leader in the new order? If we look at the leaders of some of the more successful organizations like GE’s Jack Welch, Asea Brown Boveri’s Percy Barnevik, Xerox’s Barry Rand and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, we would find a common thread in the way they led their organizations.

Keep the entrepreneurial juices flowing and keep your ears close to the ground. The leader of a small company is characterized by being adaptable, agile, intimate with the customer, involved hands-on, daringness and egalitarian. The CEO is willing to “drive the truck” if necessary to deliver the goods. As the business gets bigger, it loses these traits with leadership becoming detached from the frontline action. Policies and directives coming from those uninvolved cause morale to break down. Leaders must be actively involved, pay attention to the details and be visible to its customers and people.

The frontline people are correct all the time, the rear guards are wrong unless proven otherwise. The drivers who deliver the product to the customer, the salesperson who has to deal face to face with the customer and the sales engineer who has to put up with quirks of the customer are the ones who have first -hand knowledge of demand patterns. The leader must be willing to shift power and business accountability to the frontline managers where the action is.

Don’t be afraid to make people even some of your customers angry. The true leader is concerned with the well being of the whole organization from the standpoint of its customers, shareholders and employees. The fact is he will make tough choices that will not please everybody. Otherwise, he will end up making mediocre decisions and avoid confronting stakeholders that need to be confronted. He will reward everybody equally regardless of performance. Ironically, he will only antagonize the most productive and creative people in the organization.

Keep it simple stupid. Leaders have the knack to break down complex situations and ideas into its essential components. They are excellent simplifiers who can cut through the crap and offer straightforward solutions. They are able to express the company’s strategies and directions that drive behavior in clear, crisp and unambiguous terms. GE’s Jack Welch was able to succinctly put his strategy in a few words that everybody in the organization understood - “Be number one or number two in every industry in which we compete or get out”. Similarly, Wal-Mart’s strategic intent was expressed in simple terms – “Low prices, everyday”.

Be a perpetual optimist. We should never underestimate the overwhelming effect of optimism. Colin Powell once wrote: “Spare me the grim litany of the realist, give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.” Ineffective managers have the notion that if he hasn’t been explicitly told “yes” he can’t do it while the good ones say “if I haven’t been explicitly say “no”, I can do it. This is the kind of “can-do” attitude that brings the organization to greater heights. However, just like optimism, pessimism is contagious. Leaders must be conscious of this. I have seen many organizations fail because the so-called leaders expressed doubt on the course of action the organization has to take. Leaders who complain and are cynical engender the same behaviors among their people.

Challenge the status quo. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat. The true leader will not emerge by blind obedience to the status quo. Blind obedience breeds mediocrity and complacency. And this leads to organizational decay. Barry Rand of Xerox once told his people that if you have a “yes” man in the organization, one of you is redundant.

It is pretty much lonely at the top. You know the expression “The buck stops here.” It’s true. A leader can encourage participative management and involve everybody in the decision-making process but in the final analysis, he will have to make the tough choice that will determine the fate of the organization. Even if there is openness, participation, informality and collaboration, making the tough choice is a lonely place to be in. But that is why you are at the top – there is no one else to pass the tough choices. In the book by T.E. Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom, he speaks of the loneliness of being on top when he writes: “Wounding and killing seemed ephemeral pains, so very brief and sore was life with us. With the sorrow of living so great, the sorrow of punishment had to be pitiless.”

Email: rbo811@yahoo.com