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Posted by on Feb 21, 2012 in Business, Future of Leadership, Leadership, Special Series | 13 comments

What Is Important about the Future of Leadership? by Les McKeown

You’ve probably heard the story of Mao Zedong, who when asked in the 1950′s about the impact of the French Revolution 150 years earlier, replied “It’s much too early to tell”.

Apocryphal as the story may be, the perspective it affords on the future of leadership is a useful one: leadership is as leadership was. Little has changed, or ever will change, in the underlying principles of true leadership – there are few leadership principles that can’t be divined from examining the work of say, Alexander the Great, who began his unparalleled (if short) leadership career in 340 BC.

Leadership principles are immutable, and although the tools and techniques we use to teach leadership will continue to evolve, their impact is frankly marginal. New teaching tools will continue to be developed – most poor or bad, some good, a very few excellent. Excellent leaders will utilize excellent tools, and lazy or cowardly HR practitioners will continue to grow the ‘leadership development’ industry by hiding behind the bad or poor tools.

I believe the next generation of great leaders will be just as great as any of the great leaders of the past, and the poor leaders just as poor. I’m not convinced that there are generational shifts in leadership, and I’m wholly unconvinced that changes in teaching modalities make any difference whatsoever in the quality of leadership.

So, looking forward, what is important about the future of leadership? For me, the most pressing issue is this: Where will we see true leadership displayed in the next generation or two? In what fields of endeavor will our next great leaders emerge?

To understand what I mean, consider the environments we primarily looked to for leadership in our (relatively) recent history:

2012: Business, Sports and Politics (the latter in decline).

1912: Scientists and Statesmen.

1812: Generals and Writers.

1712: Monarchs and Merchants.

1612: Religious and Feudal leaders.

1512: Theologians and Explorers.

One thing is clear: our 20th/21st-century preoccupation with business and sports as pre-eminent leadership arenas is relatively new, and their pre-eminence is likely to wane. (That’s not to say they will disappear – we still have leaders who are generals, theologians and scientists, but they’re not currently who we lionize as a society.)

So, what about 2112? If not business or sports, where will those leaders who are making a real difference be working in then? I have one best guess, and one hope.

My best guess is the field of philanthropy. The people I meet today who strike me as potentially great leaders of tomorrow are those who are doing great things in the fields of education, health, housing and energy (just take a peek, for example, at the incredible roster of future leaders who have appeared at the Do Lectures in recent years) – mostly with little or no funding.

My hope? Entertainers. Despite comprising the most well-known, potentially influential people on the planet, with only a few exceptions the entertainment industry has until now conspicuously eschewed adopting any leadership role whatsoever. Fearful of offending anyone and thus reducing revenues, few people in the world of movies, TV, music or gaming display anything that approaches true leadership as we would define it. It may be a vain hope that this will ever change, but I have my fingers crossed.

Our guest Les McKeown is a speaker, author and consultant on the leadership of organizational growth. His latest book is “The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success”. Go here for more information on Les and his work.

Les McKeown (1 Posts)

Les McKeown is a speaker, author and consultant on the leadership of organizational growth. His latest book is "The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success".


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  • http://www.peterborner.com/ Peterborner

    Shawn, Les,

    Interesting post, thank you. I find it interesting that the ability of Politics to deliver great leaders is in decline. My view is that Politics is corrupted by the notion of Power and, as we all know, power corrupts. Perhaps it is this corruption that is the root cause for this decline? After all, leadership is derived from trust and nobody wants to trust the corrupt amongst us.

    Your view that new leaders will be spawned from Philanthropy is very astute. There are a number of organisations that are nurturing the concept of “service above self” and I believe it is from these kinds of organisations that great leaders of the future will arise. An example of such an organisation is @Rotary International. Through the leadership of RI the world is close to eradicating Polio. India is the latest country to have gone for over a year without a case of Polio and there are less than a hadful of countries left to conquer. The leaders of RI, in their own quiet way have affected significant change for the world. It was RI that excited Bill and Melinda Gates in to donating a matching grant of $200 Million towards the “End Polio Now” cause and then went on to convince their membership to raise the funds for the Gates Foundation to match. That is true leadership and it is where philanthropy meets leadership.

    Peter.

    • lesmckeown

      @Peterborner Excellent point, Peter – and a great example. Thanks for stopping by.

    • tedcoine

       @Peterborner  @Rotary Peter, Rotary’s work is simply inspirational. Here in Naples, a Rotary project involves the community in packaging nutritious meals that cost only 11 cents each and store for months if need be. They have made and delivered hundreds of thousands of these meals, both to the hungry in our area and to the starving in Haiti, Guatemala, and elsewhere. Rotary, both internationally and locally, is a terrific example of business leaders who can also be do-gooders.
       
      Even more impressive to me for its implications to business leadership is Rotary’s Four-Way Test. http://www.rotary.org/en/aboutus/rotaryinternational/guidingprinciples/pages/ridefault.aspx 
       
       

      • http://www.peterborner.com/ Peterborner

         @tedcoine Ted, Thanks for picking up on my thread. I am impressed that you would know so much about @Rotary. Are you a Rotarian? I have the 4-Way Test printed and on the wall in my office. It forms part of my core values and helps guide me as I strive to lead my team and firm onwards and upwards.
         
        I truly believe that the transparency coming from Social Media will help keep leaders honest but it is those leaders that are, to a large extent, selfless that will become known as great leaders. It’s a journey and my work as a Rotarian is helping me learn to care more in my work as I strive to lead in Business.
         
        Peter

        • http://www.shiftandswitch.com Ted Coine

          I was a Rotarian, Peter, as was my uncle. I resigned for personal reasons utterly unrelated to my deep regard for the organization, but I remain good friends with my fellow Rotarians. One of my former club’s causes, Kids Against Hunger, has grown into a phenomenal success, and my family and I still participate frequently.

  • tedcoine

    Les, powerful post – which is why we invited you to kick this series off in the first place! I agree with you that philanthropy will produce our next batch of leaders. For an entire breed of leaders, the business-philanthropy divide is an artificial construct that just doesn’t bear much resemblance to reality – think TOMS Shoes or Newman’s Own, both of which funnel profits into charity on a genre-breaking scale.
     
    I’ve been thinking since I first read this post about entertainers. On the one hand, you have entertainers/celebrities like Bono, Angelina Jolie, and the late Princess Di, all of who use(d) their renown as a bully pulpit to help move the world forward in beneficial and necessary ways. But we “mortals” are apprehensive about our entertainers being too outspoken for two important reasons. First, with massive success – fame, wealth, or both – comes an almost necessary disconnect: think the first President Bush not knowing the price of milk, or any A-lister you could name being whisked to a choice table in a popular night spot. This almost necessarily disqualifies them from connecting with the people they intend to influence.
     
    Second, I think much of the public’s general distain of many entertainers is that perhaps they are good at their field, but not necessarily too knowledgeable in general. A lot of us hear a Baldwin brother going off on a Right-Wing (Stephen)  or Left-Wing (Alex) rant, and say to ourselves, “Did this guy even finish high school? What qualifies him to be my moral leader?”
     
    What I would love more than anything is for a new breed of politician to rise to the top who are more concerned with the common good than with lining their own pockets and filling their war chests. Perhaps – just perhaps – the ultra-trnsparency that social media is introducing will force such a thing. We can only hope.  

    • http://PredictableSuccess.com/ Les McKeown

      I think you’re absolutely right, Ted – leadership is a very different thing than shooting off at the mouth. Having an opinion and using a bully pulpit to voice it isn’t leadership either.

      What I’m thinking off is much more about being leaders in their own fields – setting standards, refusing to produce schlock, standing up to presumptions about the portrayal of sex and violence rather than doing anything to coin a fast buck.

      Perhaps I dream…

      • http://www.shiftandswitch.com Ted Coine

        Bravo for that! Perhaps you dream, but sign me up for that fantasy as well. When an artist turns his or her back on a big payout in order to stay true to their art – that is when they lead with integrity, and that is when they stand to establish a legacy of excellence.

  • Chris Westfall

    Thought-provoking post, Les. There is a tremendous amount of thought leadership within social causes. If entrepreneurship is the ultimate expression of creativity and ingenuity in business, then improving the world through non-profits may just be the new top of that pyramid. And, in this digital age, the one who creates the conversation is the definition of “celebrity”. I hope that these creative arenas can give rise to some new ways of looking at things (as we seem to have few sturdy suggestions from any of our political leaders – well noted in your post). Thank you for contributing your thought leadership, and starting an important (and visionary) conversation. And, as always, I really appreciate Shawn and Ted’s perspective as well!

    • http://PredictableSuccess.com/ Les McKeown

      Pleasure, Chris – appreciate your perspective, and for taking the time to drop by :)

      - Les

      • http://www.leadershipconnexion.com Stephan de Villiers

        I fully agree with you gues that philantrophy will be the next growth area for leadership. I believe that social leadership is the only way to really make a difference in our world.

        • http://PredictableSuccess.com/ Les McKeown

          Thanks, Stephan – appreciate you stopping by :)

  • http://wwww.gurbaxani.me GurbaxaniDotMe Social Media

    Peter, you blew my speech. I just read this great post by Les,and the first thought that came to my mind was Rotary’s Polio eradication program-and the Gates foundation support- that I have been a part of for over 20 years. I recall coaxing people from their homes to the vaccination booths to get their kids vaccinated. And shedding tears of joy when India was declared non-endemic earlier this year. At the district level, we now have a digital education project which is radically improving student performance and reducing drop out rates in rural schools (500 schools this year).
    I thought the lack of ethical political leadership was a scourge in India, but looks like we are grappling with it the world over We have had several sports persons and entertainers join politics, but I think political parties use them as vote catchers, rather than put them in leadership roles. I must mention however a 73 year old frail guy called Anna Hazare-an army truck driver-turned-agriculturist who transformed a barren peace of land to a prosperous village through drip-irrigation and collective farming. Now a social activist, he has played a stellar role in mobilizing nationwide support for a strong anti-corruption bill which legislates confiscation of assets and stringent jail terms for wrong doings of politicians and bureaucrats( and strips away unreasonable secrecy privileges) Were it not for devious use of technicalities by a few legislators, that bill would have been law today. And what made this possible was social media. At the height of the movement, on 15th Aug 2011, Anna Hazare had 500,000 mentions on Facebook and Twitter. Arrested for disturbing the peace (millions turned up at a peaceful non-violent rally), this shot up to 900,000 mentions on 17th Aug. His leadership has been selfless, ethical and really motivational. So I can only agree that leadership is likely to be from unconventional areas, social in one form or another, and “encouraged by the ultra-transparency” of social media