Characteristics that Cultivate Effective 21st-Century Leaders
To lead an organization into the future successfully in our rapidly changing world, leaders need a range of skills essential to overcome fragmentation and specialization, break down silos, look beyond short-term business cycles, and face nuanced challenges in all their complexities. The future is unpredictable, and the challenges leaders will face will differ from those of the past. When I talk about leadership, I am not just referring to leadership at the top. You can be a leader from wherever you are in your organization. To excel in a rapidly changing world, what else will you need to lead successfully?
Over the years, I have asked myself this question as a C-Suite executive in academia. Higher education at all levels is experiencing a lot of upheaval and disruption, “from broadening student access, to achieving better learning outcomes (especially higher completion rates and reduced time-to-degree), to increasing productivity and lowering costs.”1 I have had the privilege of working with and/or learning from leaders in a range of industries who are navigating these and other challenges with great success. Below are four characteristics they have in common, characteristics I believe help them cultivate a courageous capacity for change in a world where change is the only constant. These leaders become catalysts for progress, driving innovation and creating a transformative and successful future.
1. Effective leaders are agile and adaptive.
In today’s fast-paced world, being agile is essential for success. Effective leaders focus on what they are trying to accomplish and what the end game might be, but they are also open, creative, and ethical about how they reach their end goal. Ronald Heifetz, Marty Linsky, and Alexander Grashow combined their decades of experience helping people and organizations create cultures of adaptive leadership to write their book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World. They write, “Leadership is a difficult practice personally because it almost always requires you to make a challenging adaptation yourself. What makes adaptation complicated is that it involves deciding what is so essential that it must be preserved going forward and what of all that you value can be left behind.”2 The best leaders I know in higher education are able to articulate for themselves and others the enduring values of their institution while simultaneously using those values to embrace and navigate change. They embody their institution’s mission, understand its legacy with clear eyes, and separate—as Heifetz et al. suggest—areas for constancy and those ripe for change. These leaders do not only ask themselves: What don’t I know? And, what is no longer relevant? They also ask: Who do I need to become to make this change?
Change requires that leaders challenge their existing ways of thinking and operating, embrace new perspectives and approaches, and cultivate a learning culture that prioritizes personal development within themselves and others. Influential leaders reflect on their own values and leadership practices and balance constancy with growth to effectively navigate complexity and change. By making challenging adaptations themselves and engaging in ongoing learning, leaders learn to anticipate and embrace change as an opportunity for growth rather than resisting it.
2. Effective leaders are intentional and trustworthy partners.
Leaders must be worthy of their stakeholders’ trust. Passionate and influential moral leaders must know themselves, including their limitations and blind spots. None of us can know everything from our own limited perspectives. We must build reliable partnerships on a foundation of integrity, honesty, and candor. In her booklet, Trustworthy Leadership: Can We Be the Leaders We Need Our Students to Become?, Diana Chapman Walsh, a long-time leader in higher education, asserts that effective leaders must be intentional and trustworthy partners. She states, “Enlisting others—and not just loyal insiders—in these mutual relationships becomes a major part of the leader’s task: inviting a mutual exploration of what happens when things go awry, coming together to assess behaviors that may be undermining the alliance, taking explicit steps to reinforce shared commitments, and revisiting the inspiration from which the collaboration draws its meaning.”3 By enlisting others and tapping into the wealth of knowledge and creativity of diverse partners, leaders can facilitate a synergistic impact on company goals, create a more inclusive work environment, and drive better outcomes for their organizations.
Integrating the principles of partnership, equity, and shared accountability into your leadership style will bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and skills to the table. By doing so, you will build effective partnerships that allow you to catalyze a more innovative and creative work environment better equipped to address the complexity of contemporary challenges.
3. Effective leaders have cultural intelligence.
An effective leader understands the culture of their organization, at any place and any point in time. To create a trajectory for an organization that is culturally responsive, a leader must also understand the culture of the populations they serve and with whom they work. American businessman and leader, Reginald F. Lewis, described this need: “It’s a fact of life that progress is almost exclusively generated through people. If you’re not sensitive to the needs of people within your organization or with whom you have to deal, you’re not going to be effective.”4 Good leaders are particularly sensitive to the needs of their employees because they recognize that their employees are their most valuable asset. When leaders are empathetic and responsive to the needs of those with whom they work, they can create a more positive and productive work environment that benefits everyone.
More and more companies prioritize cultural intelligence when hiring employees and offering professional development. Starbucks is one company that builds bridges and creates environments where all are welcome through its initiatives and programs. In 2004, Starbucks inaugurated its initial Farmer Support Center in San José, Costa Rica, in tandem with the launch of its C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices verification program. These centers deliver training and provisions to coffee growers across different nations, focusing on understanding local cultural customs and environmental conditions. As Dennis Brockman, Starbucks’ chief global inclusion and diversity officer, aptly stated, “Actions that nurture and embrace our exquisite cultural intricacies provide proof that we are committed to real change, not an award-winning performance.”6 Through close collaboration with farmers and a deep respect for their cultural expertise, Starbucks endeavors to elevate farming methods, foster sustainable agriculture, and fortify local communities.
4. Effective leaders are conscious narrators.
Human beings and the organizations we create are deeply affected by the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell about ourselves and other people, and the stories we tell about our organizations. An institution’s origin story, the narrative about key events in its history, and the current narrative about institutional life shape our sense of our organization’s values and principles and undergird company pride. We truly are our predominant narrative.
John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and author of Leading Change, wrote, “Over the years, I have become convinced that we learn best—and change—from hearing stories that strike a chord within us… Those in leadership positions who fail to grasp or use the power of stories risk failure for their companies and for themselves.”7 Shaping communal narratives is a powerful tool for inspiring and engaging others. For leaders to shape the communal narratives about the organizations they run, they must take an active role in shaping the stories that define their organizations’ identity, purpose, and direction. The best leaders create a culture where storytelling and dialogue are encouraged and valued. They provide platforms and opportunities for employees to share their stories, ideas, and experiences, facilitating a sense of community and collective ownership. Strong leaders actively seek out and incorporate different voices and stories, promoting inclusivity and fostering a sense of belonging.
Just as individuals and organizations grow, so do stories. They evolve and change with each new telling. As leaders, we must embrace every storytelling moment as an opportunity to reimagine, reexplore, and redefine what’s possible. By actively shaping our narratives, we can foster a sense of identity, purpose, and connection—ultimately inspiring and engaging others to work toward shared goals and aspirations.
Bravable Leadership
The modern world is evolving at a rapid pace. Leaders who embrace agility and adaptability forge trustworthy partnerships, demonstrate cultural intelligence, and harness the power of narratives. Their characteristics show their capacity for changes necessary to evolve not only themselves and their organizations, but society itself. Thankfully, many of these leaders are active within higher education, which gives me great hope for the future of our mutual work.
Sources
