21st Century Leadership Skills - The Power To Reinvent

Strategies for success in today's world

We once heard a CEO of a technology operations company say, “I want people to innovate as long as they come up with the right answers”; by which he meant “the same ideas that I have”. He followed with, “let me tell you what some great answers would be.”

It is natural for leaders to mobilize from the top down - this is what almost every organization is optimized to do. They create and direct with structure, and this works, to a point. This is what leaders are comfortable doing. But it doesn’t solve the people challenge.
 

Work today isn’t working for most people. Loneliness, isolation, hybrid work, constant transformation, and change fatigue. Results for organizations: quiet quitting, active quitting. Results for people: not happy.

An alternative - open innovation - can let loose energy and ideas in ways that feel scary for most organizations. Empowering people amid disruption feels like it works against structure. A few can make this work - organizational unicorns - but many can’t. They end up like the story “yes, great, innovate as long as you come up with the right (that is, leadership’s) ideas.”

But there is a third way: empower your people by supporting them in looking inward and being stewards of their professional growth and development. Enable them to reinvent themselves and this can unleash the human potential in your organization. Organizations today have the opportunity to guide and embrace reinvention at scale.

2023 data tells us the challenges to achieving this are significant: Employee disengagement is soaring: 59% of the world’s employees are “quiet quitting”. Resignations are growing: 26% plan to change jobs in the next 12 months, up from 19% in 2022. In other words, the number of employees who plan to quit in 2023 is greater than the ‘great resignation of 2021-22. And job seeker activity is high: 51% of currently employed workers say they are watching for or actively seeking a new job.

What are employees looking for in the workplace? Getting recognized for their contributions, more approachable managers, more autonomy and creativity, giving everyone a fair chance to be promoted, and clearer goals and guidance.

While we are still early in our journey of navigating this decade’s challenges, what is emerging is leadership must be people-focused: Organizations know that they can’t compete and succeed without building and holding on to their workforces, and leaders need to guide the way. Leaders and organizations need to nurture and support human potential - it is people who bring strategy and ideas to life, who infuse it with energy and drive. It is people who innovate. Organizations need to support and enable continuous reinvention.

In our research, we found there are distinct skills leaders need today to reinvent themselves and their organizations. These are the 21st-century skills that lead to a culture of modern-day excellence and resilience:

• Wisdom - Ground yourself in your purpose and your values, and leverage the power of ongoing self-reflection.
• Focus - Commit to the next steps, and believe in the power of your goals, hopes and dreams to move you forward. Take action.
• Persistence - When you meet challenges (it's guaranteed), grow by tackling them, building your resilience and ability to adapt.
• Courage - Embrace risk, knowing it is a key part of growth, and ground yourself with your inherent deeper knowing.

Excellence today comes from within. It is more human and more humane. While we still look outward to identify bars we can reach and exceed as organizations, we must spend as much time looking inward, into who we are - and across into how we relate with others - to achieve our organizational goals and purpose. Imagine what might be possible if all of today’s organizations were enablers of wisdom, focus, persistence, and courage.

Author Bios

Julie M. Jungalwala Ed.M. is a keynote speaker, leadership coach, advisor, and author. She is the President of the Academic Leadership Group where she focuses on leadership coaching, leading through complexity and change, and helping organizations unleash the potential of their people. Julie is also an instructor at Harvard Extension School where she teaches authentic leadership. Her book, The Human Side of Changing Education, was published by Corwin Press in 2018. She is a certified CliftonStrengths coach and a certified Stakeholder-Centered Coaching coach.

Jennifer K. (Jenny) Stine, Ph.D. is a leadership coach, Harvard instructor, and innovator. She is Vice President of the Academic Leadership Group where her consulting work spans organizational development, leadership development, coaching, and program innovation. Jenny is also an instructor at Harvard Extension School where she teaches organizational behavior, leadership, and teamwork. She is an expert in the development of world-class executive and professional programs, with over a decade of leadership experience at Harvard and MIT, and she has worked with Accenture’s global HR organization to support its university-corporate partnerships.