Reviews and Views

Successful Leaders

What must successful leaders do today?

Focus on values.
Today leaders should be able to quickly answer the following question:  “What is your organization’s core value?”  The core value is what permeates every aspect of life in the organization.  The core value will help to foster and to sustain a sturdy cultural foundation during times of rapid and dramatic change.  The kind of change that we are in the midst of right now.  Without a core value, the organization will wander aimlessly.

Plan strategically on a continuous basis / not once a year.
Today, leaders…

• Must have a relevant plan.  This will be a plan that has a significant and clearly demonstrable bearing on the problem or solution to the challenges facing the organization.
• Must have a clear vision – it has been said that without a vision everyone perishes and your organization will probably go into a long-term decline without a clear vision.
• Must communicate that relevant plan to everyone in the organization.  Therefore the leader must have sharp communication skills; the message must be very clear and consistent.
• Must get everyone in the organization to be on board with the relevant plan.  This step will require a strong ability to persuade others.

Act with integrity – become virtuous.
Clearly exhibit, express, and behave according to the agreed-upon organizational values.  By doing so, you will cause the development of more trust within the entire organization and its staff.  As the pace of change ratchets up all around us, the leader’s role has been elevated in terms of providing structure and direction and meaning.  Everyone wants to know in what and in whom they can trust.

Refer to the Baylor Business Review article at http://bbr.baylor.edu/exploring-leadership/

April 15, 2013 - Posted by Bill Wyler | Uncategorized