Business Leaders of the Future
Over the last few weeks I’ve spent a bit of time talking to business people - both entrepreneurs and seasoned corporate managers - about how leadership is changing and what the next generation of business leaders is likely to look like.
In the 90’s and early 2000’s the Jack Welch school of management focused management almost singularly on increasing shareholder value. Since then many books have been written about Welch’s successes with many aspiring leaders subscribing to it’s ideology
The recent economic crisis have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works and have got people thinking that there’s got to be more to business than the bottom line.
I subscribe to the belief that organisations serve three, inter-connected constituencies - their customers, their employees and their shareholders. These three constituencies need to be carefully balanced to achieve the right business and societal outcomes. Social media is a great example of how business is becoming more ‘socially’ focused.
So if business is changing then how does business leadership need to change?
The Welch days were focused on specialisation; but over time we have moved to lower costs of production and access to capital which has leveled the playing-field to unprecedented levels. Where businesses needed specialist leaders before to grow in strong-hold markets they now need more generalist leaders - able to bring value from experiences in other organisations and sectors to the table.
This brings a unique set of opportunities for leaders experiences in different operating models and business - an attribute commonly associated with ICT leaders. Few other roles are more generalist than that of a senior ICT leader who has worked in a number of organisations.
The next generation of business leaders will be generalists who know how to bring experience and knowledge to the table to either diversify organisations or join organisations together to create more value for employees, customers and shareholders alike.
When considering your executive succession plans you overlook the ICT organisation at your peril - it’s unlikely that any other functional leaders have had the depth and breadth of business experience that the ICT leaders have had.
