The New Look of Today's Leaders

Source: CPA Success

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Bill Sheridan.

Leadership is changing. This much we know.

Now it's time to take a closer look at how it's changing.

In “Leadership is a simple concept,” Lin Kroeger, a senior fellow with the Business Learning Institute and a management consultant with PWD Consulting, says the basic definition hasn't changed: Leaders are people with followers. The challenge is how to attract and motivate your followers when the world around you is changing radically.

“Leaders today are more facilitators than charismatic pronouncers of direction and reward,” writes Kroeger. “ . . . [T]hey foster achievement of the mission and goals by facilitating the success of individuals and teams. Leaders clarify goals and their significance. Leaders encourage idea sharing. Difference becomes an opportunity. Divergent perspectives increase the understanding of issues and options. Communication becomes the glue keeping people on track, and the track remains flexible while heading in a highly desirable direction valued by all participants.”

New skills for a new world. Does your leader have what it takes? Do you?

Let us know what you think, then check out Kroeger's related BLI programs:

• Build a Team by Teambuilding!
• Challenge Thinking to Succeed
• Emotional Intelligence and Personal Leadership
• Getting Things Done: Engaging People to Execute Effectively
• Leader vs. Manager vs. Facilitator: When, Why, How?
• Leadership and Authenticity
• Leadership in Fast-Moving Organizations
• Leadership in the Midst of Change: What Do I Do Monday Morning?
• Leadership: Alignment and Accountability
• Leadership: Coaching to Develop and Empower
• Leadership: Execution and Greatness: Great Ideas That Work
• Leadership: Motivation: The Power of Needs, Styles and Ownership
• Leading Change: Action Planning to Actual Implementation

For the complete blog entry, read “Leadership keywords: Encourage, empower, clarify.”

From CPA Success, the blog of the Maryland Association of CPAs, www.cpasuccess.com, November 9, 2010.