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Leadership in a global context

This is where leadership will play an indispensable role in the future of any significant organisation on a growth curve. The hard truth is that the global context makes almost superhuman demands on those who have to take a leadership role. The good news is that while such leaders are born, they can also be made - through training and coaching of exceptional quality.

Unavoidably, and maybe usefully, stating the obvious: the global marketplace is in a constant state of flux and change. Issues which arise can be sudden, dramatic and often radical (How badly was the likelihood of a collapse in the US sub-prime mortgage market anticipated? How prepared were leaders in sectors and organisations worldwide which would inevitably be hit by such a collapse?). Yet the underlying issue is market sentiment, which is a constant – in the sense that it is almost metronomic in its upbeat and downbeat fluctuations.

So business makes paradoxical demands on those it calls on to be leaders. They must be attuned to predictable unpredictability, showing proof of ability to deal coherently with future unknowns and interim certainties/likelihoods. And they must make others confident that they can also deal with this environment.

The demand is for more than core leadership skills. These are not sufficiently sophisticated in a global context – especially in terms of leading change rather than being forced into it. It is a business skill- also a political one (it is what every politician is trying to do all the time). Sophisticated leadership skills go beyond strategic thinking into the area of intuition – being in touch with market sentiment, leading change in a way which inspires, making paradox function constructively and towards a clearly understood goal (think of the way the great leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King made unwanted violence serve their pacifist causes).

Globally attuned business leaders can be made, through training and coaching which is as sophisticated as the roles for which it prepares people. Building on advanced leadership principles, core beliefs and key skills this would include much role modelling and would need to be delivered by coaches and trainers of exceptionally high quality. But the rewards of success in such training and development are almost incalculably great.

This newsletter offers some thinking from a global perspective – one which a rapidly increasing number of organisations have to adopt.  We believe these thoughts and ideas are well worth your consideration, whatever stage your organisation’s development had reached.


Managing Director