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Forward-looking leadership increasingly important

Written by: Fritz Glaus

Article Overview: There is no doubt that leaders increasingly need to look ahead before making important business decisions. Scientific and technological innovation does not diminish that requirement but on the contrary it makes it greater.

Forward-looking leadership increasingly important

According to David Gurteen, renowned knowledge management advisor, speaker, and facilitator, decisions will be increasingly affected by changes in science and technology, making it necessary to look ahead 5, 10, 20, and even 50 years.

He is not alone in that prognosis. At a conference on marketing organized by David Gurteen’s Institute for International Research, to be held at The Eden Roc Hotel in Miami, Fl. on Nov. 2 - 4, 2009, one of the conference participants is to elaborate on the potential applications of nanotechnology, which he predicts will boom larger than the Internet has. He cites as examples the making of water from air within the next 5 years and the elimination of invasive surgery within the next 15 years.

This need to look ahead will make specific demands on business leaders. Leaders will increasingly need to adjust their mindset to be able to account for changes ahead of time. That is a challenge, especially for individuals whose habitual thinking is in the other direction; i.e. thinking that science and technology make looking ahead less necessary or less critical.

For leaders to be able to look ahead in the present context means that they need to be able and willing to stay informed continuously about scientific and technological developments. You may or may not be surprised to learn that this is to a large extent a personal matter, because each leader’s style of leadership is dependent on the specific type of persons to which he belongs.

Each type of leader needs to adapt in his own specific way to the need for keeping abreast of scientific and technological innovation. For instance, the type who has a strong tendency to plan things in detail will need to watch that he doesn’t meet with a planning quagmire, because he may get bogged down in too many scientific and technological details, thereby defeating what he is trying to achieve. Another type of leader, one who is in need of immediate action in whatever he does, must watch that he doesn’t habitually react too soon to change, unnecessarily spending much of his time and energy revising decisions he shouldn’t have made too quickly. A third type of leader is one who has a strong need to do things his own way. He likes to work alone, is very attentive to detail and very intent on producing professional excellence. He can be relied upon to carry out whatever he has committed himself to do, even if others have forgotten. But he will be stubborn about doing things his way. As a leader, he will dismiss the latest innovations as fanciful and uncalled for. You will not succeed in changing his mind, unless the idea to change comes from him. Your only chance is to simply suggest to him why you think the particular change is necessary and ask him to let you know, whenever he is ready, what he thinks about it. You must make sure that in your suggestion you outline all the aspects and provide all the details he needs to mull things over. The more pressure you apply for a quick decision the more stubbornly he will ignore your request. If your presentation has details he finds convincing enough, he will eventually come around, but he must be given the opportunity to present his decision as his own, not as coming from you. A leader belonging to this type will be known as one who doesn’t move with the times, one who is too slow to adapt because of his stubbornness. He is a type who can be relied upon to eventually make the decision to act, but his actions require detailed perfection based on his own definition of professional excellence.

The three classic types of people described in the preceding paragraph represent only half of the six classic types known in classic typology. All three belong to what is known in classic typology as action types. The three remaining classic types are known as relationship types. The latter have their own specific adaptation needs, as outlined below.

One of the three relationship types demonstrates a knack for diplomacy. He also has many interests, and he is talented in the arts. He is very aware of his abilities and has vanity, a trait he doesn’t normally realize he possesses. If someone close to him, a friend for instance, points out to him that he should watch his vanity, he will be diplomatic enough to admit that he has ‘’some of it”, but this does not mean he seriously sees anything wrong with it. He tends to have too many irons in the fire which makes it difficult for him to become highly accomplished in any activity in which he gets involved. His main challenge is to learn to focus and not to scatter his energies. His problem in looking ahead is that he tends to pay only superficial attention to scientific and technological development. This causes him to overlook the significance of some of the changes and to misinterpret the meaning of some others.

The second leadership type has as a part of his nature the need to be of service to others. Because of that tendency, he will tend to fail to pay attention to change, leaving it to others to interpret or evaluate the meaning or the consequences of scientific and technological development. This can make him act as a follower rather than as a leader. He needs to continuously remind himself of the need to develop greater personal awareness of scientific and technological developments.

The third relationship type has a strong need to express and defend his own ideas. This is the person who often stands out in a meeting or a discussion by having the best and the most original ideas. His fear is that insufficient attention will be paid to his ideas. That fear will make him try to control the discussion, try to always have the last word, and even to manipulate the discussion. This manipulation often consists in being very voluble in his comments. This may eventually wear down the others, make them lose interest in the discussion, and make them give in to his arguments. His attitude towards scientific and technological invention is that since he has the best grasp of such invention, the understanding of it by others can be ignored. He tends to overlook the fact that, although he often has the best and brightest ideas, this is not always the case. By ignoring the views of others, he risks making biased leadership decisions which he could avoid if he took into account the valid views of others.

In conclusion, it is important to understand that each of us belongs to one of six classic types, that a good understanding of the tendencies of one’s type is of great help in being objective, and that such objectivity can greatly improve the quality of one’s leadership decisions in the context of rapid scientific and technological development.

Fritz Glaus

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Article Tags: business decisions, leaders selfknowledge, leaders type
Referred by: http://www.threebrainsynergy.com



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