As the pace of change continues to accelerate, one thing is for certain. Leadership skills taught learnt thus far will no longer suffice for the ambitious. The case for learning has never been stronger.
As the world continuous to evolve, so do key leadership skills required to lead the world through this century. Lessons learnt from the likes of Henri Fayol and Peter Drucker are precious, yet at best, insufficient, to lead through a world vey different to what it was then. Sure management by objectives (MBO) and self-control will always have a space, but in today’s day and age, developing the right objectives, isn’t a straight-forward matter and requires deep thought and a different mindset.
“The future is here already. It’s just not very evenly distributed.” — William Gibson
And these worries keep leaders up at night.
There was a time when a good title went a long way in asserting authority and assuring a decent following. But I’ll be honest about this. Several recent events have brought to fore the lacking quality of leadership in today’s world. Events such as the January 6 2021 US Capitol Attack, incidents of leaders breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules, the Cost of Living Crisis, inflationary pressures, interest rate worries, and events in financial services, such as the collapse of FTX, the bank run on Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), have all impacted trust in systems and leaders. In addition to that, masses today are more informed and interested and therefore, they make active choice on who to follow and why. Leadership and trustis not a given. It must be earned. According to a survey by the World Economic Forum, 86% respondents agreed that leadership crisis would be one of the major troubling trends in the years to come.
“Leadership and trust is not a given. It must be earned.” — Vinita Ramtri
We’re in the age of network economy, where value can be created — and destroyed, instantaneously. And so, there’s no room for complacency. For those seeking proof, take a look at the rapid changes in Britain’s leadership in 2022, with one of the leaders lasting just 50 days, or the USD 42 billion SVB bank run.
Before we dig deeper, I’d like to clarify my use of the word leadership. Though my piece is pitched for global leaders who have titles, vast budgets, and significant accountability, the five skills and my framework below, applies to them and others who aspire to become those leaders in the not too distant future.
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The Top Five Future Leadership Skills
Often when browsing the web, I note posts about the single most important leadership skill and many people reply — empathy. I can understand that we’re emerging from a pandemic and it’s quite natural for our minds to think about empathy as the key attribute. However, the world will continue to evolve and empathy will not always be the key skill to overshadow all else and that looking into skills as singular items is shortsighted. I prefer to think of leadership as one unit of skills that can be dialed up or down based on the need of the hour.
“I prefer to think of leadership as one unit of skills that can be dialed up or down based on the need of the hour.” — Vinita Ramtri
I’ve therefore listed my top five in a sequential framework which I’ve called, ‘Vinita’s 5-Step Framework for Future Leaders.’ The five skills are: be open to change, be curious, develop range, foster metacognition skills and focus.
Vinita’s 5-Step Framework for Future Leadership Skills
Image by Vinita Ramtri(Author)
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1. Be Open to Change
Step one is to be open to change.
‘I love change!’
‘I thrive on challenges!’
Many people claim to love change, yet, dealing with unexpected change while managing teams and nations, can be draining and even feel like a thankless job. But change is not necessitous of permission doesn’t care about our convenience and priorities. If certain technologies are destined to become redundant, they will. If climate change, or even a tiny virus, wants to wreak havoc, it will.
So leaders need to understand that their basic role is not just to lead, but to lead through change — because change is the only constant and chances are, the next big change will come unannounced. Not only do they need to accept it, but also accept that even if they despise some changes, most changes will continue, unless of course, they make it their business do something about them. For example, if a leader believed that the level of financial exclusion is intolerable, they can prioritize financial inclusion on the agenda. Or if you care deeply about female leadership, they can focus on initiatives to support their view.
“So leaders need to understand that their basic role is not just to lead, but to lead through change — because change is the only constant and chances are, the next big change will come unannounced” — Vinita Ramtri
But keeping up with change is not enough because the idea here is to help navigate their organizations and economies through the change. Even if leaders plan to take on Steve Jobs’ mantra to hire smart people and then get out of their way, it takes some thinking to determine what sort of ‘smartness,’ is desired for the next phase and why.
Some examples may be considerations of whether cost constrained firms need to spend more to increase sales or double down on efficiency measures. Other dilemmas could include those such as shifting work loads from on-premise to cloud technologies, putting white-labelled product on platforms to leverage ecosystems or retaining full control of the product and customers, bringing people back to the office or allowing some flexibility, and so on.
And it’s perfectly possible that leaders may see themselves as unfit for the next phase, and believe that their lacking vision, or stamina, is a gap that could adversely impact the next big change. As a recent example, Jacintha Arden stepped down in 2023 saying she no longer had enough juice in the tank. In 2020, Disney replaced Bob Iger with Bob Chapek, and two years later, re-hired Bob Iger to head the conglomerate.
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2. Be Curious
Step two is to have child like curiosity.
After a leader has accepted that change is going to continue, and that the only choice they have is whether or not they understand the changes, the next logical step is to be curious about the change.
I believe that the days of arrogant ‘been there and done that,’ attitude are long gone and those those wish to continue to lead have no choice but to be curious and seek to learn. As part of that, they must be willing to ask difficult questions, and equally, be transparent enough to invite questions, and bold enough to answer them.
I say childlike because there aren’t any stupid questions and it’s okay for leaders not to understand everything — they can’t. But what’s important is to try to ask ‘why?,’ ‘why not?’ ‘what else?,’ ‘what if?’ ‘if not now, then when?,’ and even ‘if not me, then who?’
“After a leader has accepted that change is going to continue, and that the only choice they have is whether or not they understand the change, the next logical step is to be curious about the change.” — Vinita Ramtri
I haven’t stated skills such as empathy because to me, curiosity is the fundamental that drives all else. When a person is curious about whether their employees are happy, only then can they begin trying to create happy work places. The way I see this, empathy, coaching, strategic thinking, all lean on, and are derivatives of, basic human curiosity. In my view, the leader that never tires of newness, never really retires.
“The leader that never tires of newness, never really retires.” — Vinita Ramtri
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3. Develop Range
Step three is to develop range.
I have listed this after curiosity because only when a leader learns of what is going on in and around their ecosystem, can they appreciate where their gaps are — what they need to learn, who they need to meet, and so on.
“Curiosity drives thinking and learning.” — Susan Wright
When speaking of range, I refer to David Epstein’s book by the same name. In the book, Epstein explores why generalists triumph in a specialized world. He goes on to explain that while experts will always have a place, the world continues to develop deeper expertise by the day, and so, besides leaning on experts, we’ll also need people with range, who are able to draw interconnections between disciplines.
Having worked in four industries myself, I often sense the lack of range around me. Sometimes, societies and firms deem non-experts as lacking specialization, yet in the ecosystem like future where this world is headed, there’s plenty of room for those who can draw connections across specialisms and create effective collaborations. For example, risk experts who understand sales and marketing pressures, or learning and development who understand how technologies work.
“Sometimes, societies and firms deem non-experts as lacking specialization, yet in the ecosystem like future where this world is headed, there’s plenty of room for those who can draw connections across specialisms and create effective collaborations.” — Vinita Ramtri
When speaking of range, I think that there’s one key non-negotiable that every leader must understand — and that’s basic digital skills. This is because technology not only is technology evolving rapidly, it also continues to impact every other aspect of life — every person, every business, every economy. No one, and nothing, is untouched.
“When it comes to technology, no one, and nothing, is untouched.” — Vinita Ramtri
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4. Foster Metacognitive Skills
Step four is to foster metacognition skills.
Metacognition is the awareness of one’s own thinking and some call it thinking about thinking. What it means is to be in touch with one’s own thought process and reasoning.
I have listed this in the fourth place because after a leader has developed an appreciation of the range of developments taking place within and around their system, they must reflect on how this range has impacted their own thinking, the thinking of their firm, or country, and the ecosystem within which it operates.
For example, ‘what behaviours are being encouraged?’, ‘what behaviours should be encouraged?,’ ‘what metrics are driving teams?’ ‘what structures are getting in the way?’ and ‘what must be done to spearhead the firm and its people in the right direction?’
Moving from one isolated meeting to the next may appear fulfilling and may satiate a leader’s need for busy-ness, and feeling wanted, but increasingly, they need to be able to form a holistic view and see where their business is going, in relation to the ecosystem within which it must operate. While this isn’t a new skill, it’s become increasingly important because given the rapidity of change, someone needs to be able to lift their head out of the detail and observe evolution in totality.
“Moving from one isolated meeting to the next may appear fulfilling and may satiate a leader’s need for busy-ness, and feeling wanted, but increasingly, they need to be able to form a holistic view and see where their business is going, in relation to the ecosystem within which it must operate.” — Vinita Ramtri
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5. Focus
Step five is focus.
After having gone through the above cycle of being open to change, being curious, developing range, and taking time to reflect on it all in totality. a leader must be able to synthesize this and ask the golden question — so what?
For example, ‘several senior members in the firm do not understand enough about the geopolitical pressures within which we operate. So what shall we do about it?’ or ‘new technologies are here and we seem to not be making use of them. Members in the team appear to be afraid of the change which may also need a change to the firm’s operating model. So what shall we do about it?’
It is the leader’s duty to see the total picture, with help from the team, and form a view with a still mind, before then getting into relentless execution mode. I say stillness of mind because rushed decisions and rushed execution, are at best, tactical management — and a distant cry from mindful and strategic leadership.
“…rushed decisions and rushed execution, are at best, tactical management — and a distant cry from mindful and strategic leadership.” — Vinita Ramtri
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Conclusion
Often, when speaking of leadership skills for the future, we fall for short-termist responses such as empathy and resilience. These words are usually based on the most recent incidents that the world can recollect.
But leaders of tomorrow need to be more considered and thorough than this. The failing trust in leaders is proof that the world is begging for quality and more mindful development of future leaders.
My 5-step Framework for Future Leadership Skills hopes to be able to contribute to this solution by guiding leaders and aspiring leaders to start with from openness to change and genuine curiosity. Next, they should develop a reasonable understanding of multiple disciplines. Finally, they need to be able to synthesize seemingly unrelated information and launch into focused execution, often in the face of even more change, conflicting prioirities and some resistance.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vinita is a versatile and impactful financial services leader with credible reputation. With 25 years of corporate experience across four industries and three countries, she’s held substantial leadership roles in operations, strategic thinking, learning and risk. Some of her past roles include Head of Conduct at Barclays Wealth, Head of Risk at HSBC Commercial Bank and Global Head of API governance, also at HSBC in London.
Vinita has a deeply intuitive and curious mind and an abstract aptitude of 99 percentile. Besides being an EMCC accredited senior practitioner, prolific writer, public speaker, she’s an autodidactic, obsessive thinker and emerging erudite. She’s authored two books besides and manages a biweekly newsletter on LinkedIn. It’s titled ‘Let Success Make the Noise.’
You can reach out to Vinita via LinkedIn or write to her via vinitaramtri.com.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Vinita Ramtri(Author)