loe introduction

8/2/2019 LoE Introduction

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European Centre for Best Practice Management

The purpose of launching the Leadership of Excellence (LoE) series is to present the subject of

leadership in a more meaningful way and leaning on the various schools of thought that have been

scrutinising the topic of leadership but also reflecting on the requirements of modern work

environments and the challenges that leaders are most likely expected to encounter and deal with

in the future. There has been so much written about what makes leaders, what are the secrets of

successful leadership and whether leaders are made or born. As a baseline it is perhaps important

to accept the fact that great leaders are only great because they are acknowledged widely by their

disciples, their followers and the wider community. In a sense great leaders are those individuals

that subscribe to the highest standard of ethical conducts and are believers in sets of values that

drive their behaviours. Very often great leaders are those individuals that can be trusted and they

can command respect in all quarters. Through ethical behaviour and ensuring that the code of

conduct is based on the principles that leaders believe in this will ensure that even if mistakes aremade which are outside the control of those individual leaders the trust is not broken and

followers will continue to believe firmly in the power of the leaders that have inspired them

hitherto.

If we are therefore to contemplate the subject of leadership in the 21st

century we have to

acknowledge that the baggage that leaders have travelled with in the 20th

century may not be

adequate for dealing with unprecedented change and also radical changes in social, economical

and political boundaries that define the arena within which leaders perform and prove

themselves. In a modern business context the challenge is speed driven by changing expectations

and the pace of innovation that is shrinking considerably on a continual basis and also a borderlessworld where the criteria for competitiveness are changing all the time. Furthermore the

technological component of modern business environment dictates how decisions are being made

and how organisations are being managed internally and compete externally. The digital

revolution has created a new phenomenon where modern leadership must be at least able to

cope with the evolution and development of technological opportunities but also they must make

the right decisions and guide their organisations in the right way so as to ensure a sustainable

business performance and also continuity of purpose. The borderless competitive world through

political changes and economic paradigms that are more global in nature means that leaders have

to be aware of the dynamic aspects of the competition externally and they have to have wider and

more comprehensive understanding of the forces of competition and deal with those effectivelyand for the best interests of the organisations that they lead.

How would we therefore characterise the leadership of the 21st

century and how can we ensure

that it remains effective and continue to guide, to mentor, to impact and to inspire in a desirable

manner. The capacities for great leadership in the 21st

century in many ways have to rely heavily

on personal traits and individual attributes that characterise great leadership. For instance great

leaders are always those that are recognised to have the ability to influence others and get them

to do the extra mile and optimise the potential of the individuals that they are responsible for and

inspire them to perform at the highest standard possible. Great leaders are also those that look

beyond the needs of the short to medium term in terms of developing a compelling vision andmission but also they are those that can depict the future requirements and therefore apply the

principle of shooting ahead of the duck. They are those who are conscious about the need and


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importance of creating immense capacity for absorbing change and adapting to future challenges

but also they are those that can enable organisations by building capability in all the critical

elements of their organisations value chain. Furthermore great leaders are those that can definesuccess not from the point of view of the end of the journey but also by mapping the progression

paths of their organisations against the requirements for endurance, durability and sustainable

performance. Great leaders are those that drew from the energies of everyone around them and

they are the ones who make people believe in themselves and get them to perform through

synergy, through focus, through unique and innovative contributions, through injecting in them a

belief system that is enduring.

Individuals who become great leaders are those who always have a considerable number of

followers, they are those who can inspire through their style, their message, through their vision

and mission and through their passion for creating legacies and preserving a constancy of purpose.

Those leaders are individuals who know how to command respect, they do so by leading by

example, by inspiring people and by assuming their role and exerting their authority in such a way

that it enables the organisation to achieve what it needs to achieve and a style that unleashes

potential in everyone and also they are the ones who can create total competence and they fight

limitations and they eradicate negative attitudes and create seamless cultures where the energy is

abundant and where the synergy process is continually growing to create bigger impacts and more

value for the external customer and the wider stakeholder community.

There is a Chinese saying derived from the Taoism philosophywhich says:

Of those great leaders when they have gone we say we did it ourselves.

This characterises perhaps what a great leadership is all about which is to make people believe

that they can conquer challenges and they can achieve beyond anybodys expectations. This is

done through the discipline of belief and through learning and also through making decisions that

impact positively on others. This is also by ensuring that great adherence to good practice and the

avoidance of deviating from the shared values and the guiding principles of the organisation is

really the deciding factor for creating a sustainable success.

As the late Peter Drucker said:

Leadership is not a magnetic personality that can just as well be a glib

tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people that is flattery.Leadership is lifting a persons vision to higher sights, the raising of a

persons performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality

beyond its normal limitations.

So the challenge for a great leadership is to exhibit great determination by remaining strong but

not acting rudely, by empathising and motivating others but not becoming weak, by becoming

focused but not by being a bully and by being considerate and thoughtful but not being crazy.

Great leadership is also about being humble but not by being timid and by being proud but not

arrogant. Great leadership is about acknowledging success of the past but looking at the future

with anticipation but not with fear.


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The Leadership of Excellence (LoE) series is therefore launched to cover a wider perspective on

this important topic and moving the debate beyond what the previous schools of thought have

illuminated us with. The debate is no longer valid in so far as defining what leadership is about orwho great leaders are. Furthermore the debate is no longer about whether leaders are made or

born and what key competencies they must have. The new debate is really looking at dynamic

leadership and evolving leadership and a leadership new paradigm that blends all of the previous

labels that have been covered extensively in the various schools of thought. For instance the

following list of leadership that has been described and scientifically studied will still be applicable

in the context of the 21st

century:

Servant leadership

Gutsy leadership

Transformation leadership

Collaborative leadership

Passionate leadership

Inspiring leadership

Visionary leadership

Democratic leadership

Figure 1: Leadership of Excellence A Holistic Approach


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AsFigure 1, illustrates what is proposed for the 21st

century is a leadership style that encapsulates

various requirements akin a living cell that needs to remain healthy and which can grow and

multiply to give a strong body.

The nucleus, which is referred to as the Qualifiers is represented by four critical attributes that

represent the following:

1. Being This means that leaders are individuals who want to be leaders. Whether they areborn with the confidence to be a leader or whether they are individuals who are wanting to

be leaders, the issue is that leadership is not an imposition rather a desire of being a leader is

not a dedicated task but it is rather something that individuals can aspire to become and can

feel within themselves that they stand a good chance of being excellent leaders.

2. Believing This means that leaders will continue to have their own personal convictionsabout their abilities, their passion and most importantly about the values that they subscribe

to and the guiding principles that they would like to inject in their organisations and makeothers follow.

3. Behaving Good leaders are leaders who are self aware and they have the moral compassand more importantly they demonstrate the highest standard of role model behaviour.

4. Building Good leaders are those who build dreams for others, they build success for theirorganisations, they build capabilities for sustainable competitiveness and more importantly

they build human talent.

Figure 1 also illustrates a list of what is referred to as Essential Attributes, these include the

following:

1. Ability to Inspire Means that leaders are those who stretch the thinking, and createvisions and dreams for their organisations that gives them a big leap in performance and

make them grow stronger with time.

2. Having Courage Modern leadership is about making tough decisions and dealing withdifficult issues not only are they expected to have consciousness but also they have to be

decisive and they have to face adversity with courage.

3. Learning & Reflecting In a knowledge-based economy there are thousands of decisionsthat leaders make all of the time and of course not all of them can be the right decisions or

can lead to the right impact. By taking time to reflect on achievements and on the lessons

learnt from mistakes leaders can learn and grow and replenish their knowledge and their

capabilities for steering their organisations in the best directions possible. Without the

capacities to learn and unlearn and replenish knowledge leaders cannot be trusted to makethe right decisions in knowledge based context.

4. Mentoring & Guiding One of the key tasks for modern leadership is to influence thegrowth and development of others and to constantly make them believe that they can grow

and can achieve more and they can take huge challenges and deliver the right momentum for

their organisations towards a sustainable performance and a bright future.

5. Believing in Talent Growth Modern leadership is concerned first and foremost with thepeople. Unless there is evident growth and development of human capital and its

involvement in all facets of organisations then leaders cannot be judged to be successful.

6. Customer & Value Orientation Leaders are individuals who are totally convinced thatthe real purpose of an organisation is to render value to the wider stakeholders but more

importantly to deliver primarily to the key beneficiaries of the endeavours of theirorganisations and in most cases it are the customer, consumer or citizen.


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7. Problem Solving Mindset Steering an organisation towards success means in most casestackling issues, dealing with challenges, and solving problems.

8. Motivation & Recognition Taking time to fuel passion within people and ensuring thatthe work climate is positive and the culture is conducive to immense creativity and

innovation is a key critical role of leaders in the modern context. Taking time to also

recognise performance and acknowledge that it is people who make a difference is one of

the distinctive attributes of great leadership.

Asfigure 1 illustrates the third category of attributes is referred to as Credibility Attributes. These

include the following:

1. Obsession with Innovation It means that the fuel for growth and development in the 21stcentury will have to be based on the importance of driving performance through innovation

and refuelling the needs and expectations of customers and stakeholders through novel ideas

and new solutions.2. Passion for Excellence Without having superior standards of performance and without

adhering to the best practices that are available out there and without believing that

sustainable performance can only be achieved through raising the bar and subscribing to the

highest standards by focusing on building excellence leaders cannot be considered to be

successful.

3. Sustainability Orientated The modern corporation is one that is aware of the needs of allof its stakeholders but more importantly it is one that is placed dynamically in the context of

the communities where it operates and also the environment that affects the organisation

directly or affects the community in the vicinity where it is based. Sustainability through

CSR practices is one of the critical ways of judging successful leadership in the 21st

century.

4. Change Driver In the previous schools of thought change was regarded as a challengefrom outside that needs to be handled internally with caution and the test for leadership used

to be on their ability to handle change and absorb it internally, smoothly and without

creating disruption or creating a negative work climate. In the 21st

century change becomes

the enabler and also the catalyst for creating a momentum of excellence and delivering

sustainable competiveness, it is therefore a characteristic that modern leadership must have

through their abilities to inspire through change to innovate with change in mind and to

change the work environment so that better growth is achieved and bigger performance can

be impacted.

5. Agile & Responsive Style It means that leaders are operating with total flexibleperspective and can adapt and adopt things as required by market conditions or demanded

by their stakeholders. This ability to demonstrate agility and responsiveness will be one of

the most critical attributes that modern leadership will be expected to have particularly in the

context of words that move forward through speed and where innovation becomes a

commodity product.

6. Risk Taker Great success can only come through the ability of leaders to weigh risks andtake them with a full knowledge about the likelihood of failing but accepting the challenge

in order to guarantee success.

7. Partnership & Relationship Driven This attribute means that modern leadership in the21

stcentury would need to be entrepreneurially driven in terms of creating smart

partnerships with external partners and stakeholders but also with building long lasting

relationships with customers and key stakeholders.8. Growth Orientated Modern leadership for the 21st century must be characterised by itsability to create growth and by preserving a continuity of purpose. Without growth there is

no clear evidence of injecting the requirements for sustainable performance and for building


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capacity and capability two conditions that must exist in every organisation wanting to exist

and survive in the 21st

century.

The Leadership of Excellence (LoE) series will tackle various perspectives associated with concerns

that modern leadership have but also will focus on best practices and evidence based coverage on

how the aforementioned attributes and characteristics of modern leaderships are being put into

practice.

Being Believing Behaving BuildingQualifiers Attributes Personal Connection

Self Awareness

Moral Compass

Role Model Behaviour

Essential Attributes Ability to Inspire

Having Courage

Learning & Reflecting

Mentoring & Guiding

Believing in Talent Growth

Customer & Value orientation

Problem Solving Mindset

Motivation & Recognition

Credibility Attributes Obsession with Innovation

Passion for Excellence

Sustainability oriented

Change Driver

Agile & Responsive Style

Risk Taker

Partnership & Relationship Driven

Growth Oriented

Professor Mohamed Zairi

Executive Chairman

European Centre for Best Practice Management (ECBPM)

loe introduction

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