|
WHAT is
required to succeed in business and in management is a
formula that’s been shifting over the past decade or two
in some very important ways. Career paths and approaches
to work that were winners throughout much of this
century are no longer paying off well. Nevertheless, a
significant number of people are still trying to use the
old strategies, with frequent encouragement from most
major institutions: big business, big labor, government
and education.
A shift
in what is required to succeed is being driven by many
factors, none of which is more important than the
globalization of markets and competition. Globalization
is increasing the rate of change and producing both more
opportunities and more hazards. Put succinctly, people
who are prospering nowadays are finding ways to
capitalize on these opportunities. Those who are failing
are being strangled by the hazards.
Most of
those who are doing well today in business and
management are capitalizing on globalization by pursuing
career paths that are less linear, more dynamic and more
unstable than mid-20th century norms. They are also
increasingly associated with small business and
entrepreneurs, not the big and bureaucratic “corporate”
world, with consulting and other services that help big
business from the outside, with leadership, not just
management, and with financial deal-making.
In an
exclusive interview a day before his Tuesday talk,
dubbed “John Maxwell Live in Manila” at the Edsa
Shangri-La Hotel, America’s No. 1 leadership mentor and
best-selling author Dr. John C. Maxwell told the
BusinessMirror: “We’ve done some major changes. In the
1980s, the key word was management. Everybody tried to
manage a business. In the 1990s, it went from management
to leadership and the reason for that is we change
things so quickly.”
According to Maxwell, successful use of these new
strategies requires high standards, a drive to compete,
self-confidence in competitive situations and a
willingness to keep growing and learning new things. In
the current economic environment, people who fear
competition, want security and demand stability are
often sinking like rocks in water.
“Management almost assumed things are going to stay very
stable and pretty well-set. Leadership assumed things
are going to change. And today, we’ve gone from another
level of leadership. Just like a single person leading
an organization to a team of leaders,” he stressed.
Maxwell
explained how paths to success at work have been
changing over the past decades. It relates to an
important set of changes occurring in the world of
business, to individuals who are sometimes
controversial, to career paths that will surprise many
people, and to a powerful set of economic forces lurking
in the background. Although no one would have predicted
this 10 or 20 years ago, the shift in the economy is
altering the nature of managerial work, career paths
and the structure and functioning of organizations, wage
levels and much more. It is revealing to look at some
people who have crafted traditional careers as
professional managers, often in large firms. By many
measures, most of those people have been significantly
less successful. They typically have less real power or
authority. And they often report either facing more
problems or receiving less personal satisfaction from
their work.
Are
people getting smarter? “Yes,” Maxwell replied. Being
successful, according to him, is controlled [by
us]—through the choices we make. “I think fulfillment of
life or fulfillment of job doesn’t always equate to
financial success. I know a lot of people [who are
well-off] but are not considered fulfilled or have peace
of mind. There are those who have less but have a sense
of purpose and of course, [are] at peace within
themselves.”
Providing leadership
Executives must still usually know how to manage, but
without leadership and some negotiating skills their
career advancement is increasingly being limited.
Outstanding managers are described as people who are
disciplined at planning and budgeting. They take time to
plot what actions, taken by whom, and at what cost,
would achieve various goals. They are also said to be
very systematic about maintaining organizations that can
accomplish those plans. They select good people, train
them, put the right person in the right job, communicate
plans and delegate. And they are described as skillful
at monitoring organizational results versus plans,
spotting deviations, and quickly getting activities back
on track. As a result of these actions, outstanding
managers are unusually successful at making
organizations function the way they are designed to
function.
Outstanding leaders are described as people who made
sure that an organization has clear and sensible
direction, usually by helping create a vision of the
future and strategies for achieving that vision. Leaders
are said to communicate that direction widely and in
such a way as to get relevant parties to both understand
it and believe it appropriate. Great leaders are also
described as being unusually good at motivating or
inspiring people, so that when progress toward a vision
encountered serious problems there is enough energy to
break through the barriers. In doing this, leaders are
said to produce change—developing new organizations or
businesses and helping old ones adapt to a shifting
business environment.
“We have
a team of good leaders—we get a lot of good thinking,
good ideas, consensus leadership which is much better
than what I would call change leadership top-down,”
Maxwell pointed out.
Given
all that has been spoken and written about leadership,
one might expect to find hundreds of personal or career
dimensions on which leaders are different, since they
are seen to be a “breed apart.” When this author began
analyzing the information Maxwell had given, she fully
expected to find that the leaders would be a
recognizable subgroup on many personality, background
and career dimensions. This has not proven to be the
case. The implications are most intriguing, especially
regarding how people can reasonably expect to be able to
grow into effective leaders.
Today,
success in managerial jobs increasingly requires
leadership, not just good management. Even at lower
levels in firms, the inability to lead is hurting both
corporate performance and individual careers.
Organizations that stifle leadership from employees are
no longer winning.
“My goal
is always to add value to people. The effect on
leadership is to build real leaders,” Maxwell concluded. |
