Why 21st Century’s Leaders need to Redefine?

Is the best way to head to the future to tie ourselves to ideas of a distant past?

What are the traits that a 21^st century leader requires to succeed? The time is not to model yourself on leadership characteristics applied in the past. The 21^st century leadership requires a strong role model with abilities of conceptual thinking, innovation, challenging resolutions, and the ability to adopt new direction when required. Leadership development has been shifted from individual-centered to collective-centered.

 

How do you define an organization? 

An organization is a group of people, purposefully structured to attain a common set of goals. The group shares collective vision, values and general strategies to meet the set level of expectation.

To redefine an organisation, you must start by redefining its part. Teach your employees to look at the organisation under a different light: what is obstructing their line of sight? 

Go back to the vision of the founder, most likely it was to solve a problem or answer a need. What problem are you solving? 

"Unless you can begin with an interesting problem, it is unlikely you will end up with an interesting solution." Bob Gill

Successful organisations set standard strategies for themselves to follow, reflect and reevaluate to measure appropriate and inappropriate course of actions. They keep their vision clear and redefine their course of action where necessary, with a critical focus on upcoming business trends and developments.  

 

What happens if you cannot redefine your course of action?

The following is the transcript of a radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and the Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. 

• Canadians:  Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid collision.
  
• Americans:  Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
  
• Canadians:  Negative.  You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
  
• Americans:  This is the Captain of a US Navy ship.  I say again, divert YOUR course.
  
• Canadians:  No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
  
• Americans:  THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET.  WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE  DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT  VESSELS.  I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15  DEGREES NORTH--I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH--OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
  
• Canadians:  This is a lighthouse.  Your call.
  

Why to Redefine?

Innovation and novelty has always played a vital role historically as well. Today, Information Technology has brought numerous drifts enfolding every aspect of life specifically encompassing new business trends; and has compelled small business to compete with a more global market.

The concept of a new global workplace, gives entrepreneurs and job seekers a new vision to seek or offer services from the global market. Consequently, each organization has met a challenge to redefine itself to pace with 21^st century’s business world for competing with international market.

How to Redefine?

Conker & Green Shoes are two British companies that produce handmade shoes. In this practical example of innovation, Noam Kostucki explains how these companies can maximise the uniqueness of their product so that their customers cannot help but become their best marketers.

Redefining starts by asking challenging questions:

• What would happened if you fired all your employees and re-hired them as freelancers?
  
• If you company went bust, where would your customers go?
  
• How would your company look like if you doing good was the best way to make money?
  

With globalization, innovation is about much more than new products. It is about redefining business processes and building entirely new markets that meet untapped customer needs. Most important, as the Internet and globalization widen the pool of new ideas, it's about selecting and executing the right ideas and bringing them to market in record time as stated in a Business Week report on “The World's Most Innovative Companies”

When is the last time your challenged the way your company thinks, acts and communicates?

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