The Next Generation Leader

We talked about how a collaborative, consultative leadership style will be favored in the Next Generation Workforce, as we emerge into the Age of Personalization, but what does that mean? What should you select for in the hiring process and whom should you groom? How do you know that you have the right person in the right role and entice the right people to join up? Below are our thoughts.

1. Collaborative – The world will be filled with a wide range of stakeholders working within a dynamic ecosystem. It’s hard to know all the players and their motivations. Collaborating with a range of stakeholders and aligning on objectives and goals is an essential ingredient for successful leadership and management.
2. Consultative – Consulting with the range of stakeholders to understand their motivations and perspectives will help you better collaborate with all, and get the engagement of all.
3. Ethical – Leaders will be ever more in a fish bowl, under a microscope. Doing the right thing, having values that matter, advocating for customers and others, etc., have to be part of who you leader is, day-in and day-out. It’s not a mask you can put on, a costume you can don. It’s who they are inside, shining out. Select someone who is truly ethical, not just someone with a great veneer.
4. Tech-Savvy – The world and the people in it will be driven by tech, as it’s the only way to deliver what the customers demand. Being tech-savvy enough to get-the-tech and how tech will drive the business are an essential ingredient for success.
5. Customer-Focused – It’s about the customer – knowing them well and serving them well. There is no room for debate.
6. Other-Focused – Ever putting others first is a path to growth and learning, no matter which chair you’re sitting on.
7. Experienced – Look for a leader who has depth in at least one specific area, and exposure to a range of areas – technologies, products, markets, businesses, etc., Depth and breadth of experience will help leaders integrate the input and message from all the data sources and make measured, data-based decisions.
8. Flexible – Pivoting will be part of all business models in an Age of Personalization, so leaders who are flexible enough to pivot, and intelligent enough to know why it needs to be done and how it should be done will prevail.
9. Self-Aware – Knowing your strengths and weaknesses as well as the needs of the company, and constantly overlaying one with the other by being self-aware will help ensure that you’re right for the company and vice versa.
10. Outspoken – Speaking your mind in a way that respects the input and rights of others will help set a direction that all can buy into – an essential leadership quality in the new age.

These are our thoughts on the qualities of a next-generation leader? Share your thoughts by e-mailing us at info@whenshespeaks.com.

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Tags: leadership