The Leader of the Future Essay Example

justify;">The blueprint for dynamic planning is how a leader assesses external and internal analysis on opportunities and threats facing the organization environment. For an organization to have success, a leader needs to complete a SWOT analysis. Completing a SWOT analysis will enable a leader to focus on the organization strengths and weaknesses, spot opportunities, and lastly analyze any threats. The SWOT framework is a powerful planning tool that helps a leader understand the organization nice in the market and distinguish the company from their competitors.

Monitoring the external environment requires a leader to understand opportunities for the organization and threats that will hurt the organization growth. These external elements include customers, government, economy, competition, and public perception. The importance of customer relationships can help a company find ways to influence their customers to buy products and to improve sales. Government regulations are important to monitor because new laws and regulations can affect a company profit margins and determine if a company can ship their products into foreign markets.

The external business environment can also exert the pressures of the economy. A leader should play close attention to the economy growing or collapsing. Monitoring the state of economy is crucial for leaders in the ever changing business world. For example, companies might need to lower prices during recessions. Because of the various economic shifts, leaders of the future will need to adapt their marketing strategies. Competition has a significant effect on an organization external environment because competitors are continually differentiating their products and service from its competitors.

Monitoring the competition will allow a leader to have a competitive advantage in the market. Lastly,

a future leader should monitor any scandals or negative perceptions about the company. While a negative image can hurt company sales, it can eventually hinder growth and success. Areas of focus for leaders of the future If future leaders want to be effective they need to increase their focus on new technologies, appreciation of cultural diversity, and learn how to share leadership. Because of the rapid technological changes in the world, future business leaders need to be technology savvy.

Having the ability to know the importance of technology, gives the future leader a competitive edged. Technology as we know it continues to evolve. Bennis (1992) suggest that leaders of the future need to embrace technology, if not they are sure to be unsuccessful on “capitalizing on the opportunities that arise in this fast-evolving competitive arena” (Bennis, 1992, p. 189). The business world is becoming global. Leaders of the future should focus on cultural diversity because a cultural diverse workplace promotes several advantages for an organization.

If leaders don’t respect the differences in other people’s cultural background they may risk falling behind as an effective leader. Understanding other people’s culture is considered a good business practice. If future leaders want to succeed in the business world, they need to implement motivational strategies that will inspire people in different cultures. To achieve a positive and collaborative environment, leaders have to embrace mutual respect amongst their diverse colleagues. Leaders of the future should understand that sharing leadership is not an easy task but quite possible.

The following are ways leaders can share leadership:

• Give power away to the most qualified individuals to strengthen
  

their capabilities (Goldsmith, 2010, p. 1).

Lessons from past leadership To be successful, a leader must learn lessons from past leadership behaviors. Many past leaders have engaged in negative and positive behaviors that can affect the organization. Following positive leadership behaviors will allow a leader to practices a leadership style that involves building an empowering workplace. Future leaders should strive to develop integrity. Having integrity means building trust with your followers. Most importantly, a leader who leads with integrity means sticking to their word.

Past leadership has shown that integrity requires a leader to have self-awareness. Self-awareness means that a leader is conscious of their strengths and weaknesses. For example, if a leader pretends to know everything and doesn’t acknowledge their mistakes, this creates the perception of lack of integrity from their followers. Leadership without integrity can have drastic consequences for any organization. Unfortunately, the Enron scandal is great example on how Enron leaders compromised integrity with their desires for wealth and power. Enron executives’ unethical practices left a scar on corporate America.

Enron’s lack of integrity results in thousands of jobs lost, pensions lost, public disgrace, and felony convictions. The Enron fiasco should teach leaders of tomorrow

that a true leader has the responsibility to be honest and open with their followers, have good character, obey the law and to transmit truthful data at all times. From a personal perspective, my core beliefs are solid and promote a positive leadership in the workplace. Having core values like integrity defines who I am as an authentic leader. I model integrity by being honest and making the right choices.

Blanchard (2010) suggests that, “integrity is the most essential element of leadership” (p. 180). I believe that having integrity results in a leader being seen as credible to others. Without it, a person will fail as a leader. Leading by fear and intimidation are negative behaviors that future leaders should avoid. The problem with leading by fear is that it kills creativity in the workplace. Sadly, these tactics has been used by many leaders in organizations. Future leaders need to understand that leading by fear can have negative several repercussions.

Leaders who lead through such means will find that this leadership style is not an effective approach for motivating, inspiring, and empowering their followers. As a result, this behavior creates uncertainty and high turnover among employees. Many will argue that this tactic can be beneficial for an organization. Apple Inc. , CEO Steve Jobs is a prime example on past leaders who lead by fear. Steve Jobs has been described as a complex and unconventional leader. His tyrannical leadership style created an atmosphere that employee received verbal lashings and fear of making mistakes.

Steve Jobs successfully implemented innovation and provided success with Apple Inc. However, his style is worth learning so leaders

of the future can avoid the pitfalls of leading with authoritarian leadership. Future Generational Workforce According to researchers by 2020 the future generational workforce will be led by three generations attempting to coexist in the US economy (Nahavandi, 2010). Currently, the workforce is comprised of baby boomers born between 1946-1964, Generation X born between 1966-1980, and the workforce of the future Generation Y also known as “Millennials” born between 1980-2000.

Because Baby Boomers are approaching retirement, employers are looking to the Millennial generation to bring in valuable new perspectives that will cater the organization mission and goals. The Millennial generation will approach their expectations and beliefs from an entirely new way that goes beyond traditional behaviors. What sets this generation apart from their older counterparts is that they are not afraid of the change. Therefore, their attitudes towards work are different from their parents because they prefer flexibility.

Generation Y has high expectations from their employers and the direction of their career path. They are consistently seeking new and innovative challenges that will allow them to effectively lead others. Millennials leaders are very different from their previous generations because they rely heavily on the internet as a form of resource, communication and networking. This generation will overtake the majority American workforce by storm and their leadership style will be influenced by leaders before them.

These leaders will have no problem attracting and retaining followers because they are motivated to understand their subordinate’s perspectives. Conclusion In conclusion, as the workforce changes so does the look of leaders. These future leaders have to be prepared for the unexpected and unexplained challenges. Therefore, as the

next generation enters leadership roles they will have to know more than traditional business practices seen by generations before. For an organization to survive, these future leaders should have a set of core values that followers will trust and respect.

References

1. Bennis, W. G. (1992). Leaders on Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Books.
2. Blanchard, K. H. , (2010) Leading at a higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations, Upper Saddle River, N. J. : Pearson/Prentice Hall.