True Nature of Leadership

The Beacon Review Daily highly recommends a new book by J. Frank Brown, the Dean of INSEAD. Below is an excerpt review:

“A lot of people talk about leadership and not that many actually do it,” Brown said in an interview with INSEAD Knowledge.

In his book, The Global Business Leader: Practical Advice for Success in a Transcultural Marketplace, Brown lists the hallmarks of leadership: openness, integrity, humility, a view of the present and the future, an optimistic outlook, the proper use of authority, and an understanding of personal and organisational objectives.

‘Transcultural’ leaders at the helm of international companies also need to be sensitive to other cultures and national differences. That means leaders today need to be willing to explore and travel. They need to be curious about other people and customs.

Networking for successful managers:

Herminia Ibarra, Programme Director of INSEAD exectuvie courses, argues why managers fail at networking.

Ibarra says many managers tell her they just don’t have the time to network or that they consider it unsavory. If you want to succeed you need to make the time.  She says managers should delegate more in their day jobs and schedule networking into each week to make it a habit.  “A lot of people who are not very good at this may feel, initially, that they are wasting time.  They’ve gone to that conference, to those meetings, to this networking event, and what do they have to show for it?  They have less time to do the bread-and-butter day job. However over the longer term or even over the mid-term, those are the contacts that really pay off.”

Ibarra goes on to point out three types of networks.

1. Operational: involves cultivating the relationships with people you need to accomplish your job
2. Personal: an afterthought for many busy managers, also are a way to develop important social skills for many professionals and may be the first place you turn when you start thinking about changing careers.
3. Strategic: the toughest but most essential if managers want to become business leaders.  Ibarra explains that contact with peers and with senior executives in your field is vital and she encourages managers to look beyond their industry as well.  This allows managers to share ideas about best practices in management, learn new approaches and keep close tabs on developments in business and technology.  It helps managers to see the bigger picture and create their own visionary approach.

Why the ability to innovate is tied to market leadership

In a recent INSEAD interview with Craig Barrett, the chairman of Intel, he articulates why the US needs to improve its innovation capacity to maintain its lead role in the world. “We’re not doing enough to get our own citizens interested in the skills and mindset required to retain a leadership role.”

Emerging economies around the world are focused on the necessity of well educated people required to pull their economy ahead of the pack. Our standard of living and economic standing in the US and Europe can only be maintained with investment in education and R&D. Lately it seems, points out Barrett, the greater the level of poverty in a country, the greater the government focus on high-tech and innovation education. The wealthier the country, such as the US and Canada, the inverse seems to take place.

In Barrett’s words, the best education system needs to be coupled with industry input. The people coming out of education institutions must be competitive in the world’s growing talent pool. Societal attitudes need to make sure the environment is suitable for investment and innovations.

Businesses must also take it as a high priority to educate their own workforce and focus on closing the gap between the unmotivated cog makers and the enthusiastic innovators within their company, not isolating sections of the staff due to organizational cultural misconceptions.

Barrett ties into the idea that in entrepreneurship, intelligent risks are a reality and that failure leads to learning something. South America still has yet to learn this lesson but it is beginning to embrace the idea. A direct result will likely be product and service innovation to meet the growing demand of an increasing South American middle class.

Over 50% of VC investment from Intel is targeted at Asia as it is quickly becoming as competitive as any opportunity in the US. Under closer analysis of graduate numbers, India and China far exceed high-tech graduation numbers than the US and Europe, but the US and Europe still hold the innovation card, for now, with the skills to connect the dots and hold onto the cutting edge utilizing foreign resources for innovative ideas that will continue to define the next paradigm.

Investment in innovation education needs to be made today to see the results in 10 years. Investing in a company’s talent can be the best internal investment a company can make. Talent investment ties into a recent report from  Booz & Company on The Talent Innovation Imperative. In this article, the authors argue “any company that competes on the global stage must, in light of today’s changing workforce, rethink the way it manages the skills of its people.”

The other recent publication on the topic also comes from INSEAD professor Guenter Stahl called Talent management: Building and sustaining a strong talent pipeline. In his paper Gunter recognizes what works for one company may not work for another. He concludes that while there are some effective practices for attracting, developing and retaining talent, these will only be successful if they’re in line with the company’s business strategy and the firm’s value system.

What areas of talent investment should business leaders be looking at? According to Booz: differentiated capabilities, performance acceleration, leadership development, and talent culture are essential to supporting an organization’s business strategy.

An investment in innovative thinking processes and culture can help ensure a brighter future for any company willing to take the chance.