Today’s preeminent leaders are
beginning to look far beyond just
their organization’s bottom line.
Such a narrow vision neglects a number
of key issues that might differentiate a
company from the rest of the pack.
“Because of the continually changing
landscape in which organizations operate,
the need for transformational leaders is
more intense than it ever was,” says
Timothy S. Mescon, Ph.D., dean of the
Coles College of Business at Kennesaw
State University. “Leading-edge leadership
is being embraced, and it describes an
agenda in many organizations today.”
Smart Business spoke with Mescon
about how a commitment to internal and
external stakeholders and a drive for
innovation and creativity is defining a
new and necessary level of leadership in
today’s organizations.
Is leadership getting a closer look in this
changing business environment?
I think it continues to be interesting,
provocative and one of the singular great
challenges for the domestic and global corporate world. Leadership is a topic from an
organizational perspective that will never
go out of favor. Competitive global markets, changing demographics and the
increasing complexities in the marketplace
and in the corporate world are putting really unique challenges on C-level executives
in organizations.
What are hallmarks of today’s finest leaders?
First, I think what is driving many great
organizations today is a commitment both
internally and externally to their key stake-holders. That starts with employees first,
and then obviously with customers and the
supply chain. If you’re not taking care of
your own employees initially, then those
issues will reflect externally, as well. I think
great leaders are certain to take care of
their own employees early on. Additionally,
the best leaders today have recognized that
communication must occur on a right-to-know basis versus what historically has
been a need-to-know basis. Great executives hide little — it’s all about collective
decision-making and focus, and I think that
characterizes great organizations today.
The intense focus on stories like Enron
and WorldCom that impacted both employees and public stakeholders have raised
new issues around integrity, candor and
transparency, and these have become hallmarks of today’s great executives.
How can leaders break away from textbook
skills and forge new initiatives?
There’s a lot of focus and excitement in
the academic venues around coursework
and programming in innovation and creativity. For a lot of organizations, a continuous commitment to innovate and create
— whether it’s with products, services or
processes — will differentiate the world
class from the also-rans. Academic programming and executive education programs are acknowledging that the great
leaders today have this obsessive commitment to innovation and creativity.
There’s another dimension that has
become incredibly hot among leading
organizations today, and that is around the
creative use of data. Companies are collecting data and information and using that
to differentiate their organization in a
tough, competitive marketplace. All of a
sudden, historically mundane areas like
market research and customer demographic studies have risen in their value to
organizations. Obviously, the Internet provides much greater access to real-time
data. But is the leadership in the organization poised to use that data effectively to
morph its strategy, and then to respond to
the needs of the market?
What are the key factors for leading by example?
Leadership must make sure it’s absolutely clear that the tone is set at the highest
levels of the organization. An outstanding
illustration of this is the transformation
that has taken place at Delta Airlines.
Departing chairman and CEO Gerald
Grinstein has transformed an organization
that was on a corporate respirator. He
turned it around, recrafted its strategy,
built employee and stakeholder commitment in the organization in the face of
incredibly challenging odds, and did it in
nanoseconds on a corporate timetable. He
recreated this airline from a historically
domestically focused airline to one where
50 percent or more of its business will
depart on international flights. In doing so,
he demonstrated all of the attributes of
today’s great leaders: commitment to the
organization that starts with the people in
the organization, belief in the stakeholders
and the role of their customers and suppliers, and the need to be innovative and creative and to use data effectively.
How do great leaders measure their success?
Ultimately, the barometer for many
organizations is still an ROI and providing
appropriate returns to the shareholders.
But, I think today many more organizations
are looking at multiple impact points. One
very hot topic among corporate leadership
is the social impact. Another impact point
for appropriate industries is the long-term
commitment to the environment. That’s another dimension where organizations are
looking to move the needle in terms of positive impact. Third, you can never forget
that classical metrics like financial metrics
and market share continue to be hugely
important to great organizations.
TIMOTHY S. MESCON, Ph. D., is dean of the Coles College of
Business at Kennesaw State University. Reach him at (770) 423-6425 or [email protected].