Leadership and management traits required in the 21st century

¶ … Leadership Traits Necessary to Excel in the 21st Century

In the book Good to Great (Collins, 2001) a framework for transforming companies from mediocre or average performance to exceptional levels of accomplishment is presented. The author boils down a significant amount of research to several concepts, with the first being that Level 5 or transformational leaders are essential for transformation to occur. He also mentions the factors of being able to recruit well and "get everyone on the bus" meaning creating a team with a common focus and passion. Next, brutal honesty and the ability to confront positively the questions and issues of a business is mentioned. The Hedgehog Concept which has become the foundation of many related articles, studies and books (Finnie, Abraham, 2002) is next, followed by a culture of self-discipline, and The Flywheel (or building and sustaining momentum) are the core elements of the book (Collins, 2001). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the congruency of the concepts in Good to Great to the leadership skills necessary to excel in the 21st century.

Becoming A Leader Who Transforms Organizations

Unifying all the concepts within Good to Great is a strong focus on personal accountability, authenticity, transparency and the building of trust by leaders with subordinates (Ceri-Booms, 2010). The book's description and scenarios paint a portrait of transformational leadership in the Level 5 leadership concept, showing just how difficult this is to attain in companies destined to mediocrity due to being too myopic and transactional in their mindsets (Filbeck, Gorman, Parente, Zhao, 2010). Level 5 leaders have an innate ability to create change by also showing they are willing to take make sacrifices for the broader vision and objective of the company (Singh, Krishnan, 2008). These transformational leadership values permeate the book and are put to work in making the remainder of the book's framework tie together to show the transformation of companies.

Using the "right people on the bus" allegory to discuss how a transformational leader is able to use emotional intelligence (EI) in recruiting a unified team is another element in the book's framework (Fitzgerald, Schutte, 2010). In addition, the ability of a team and its leaders to confront the brutal facts about a given situation is also mentioned as another key factor in transforming a company.

Yet for brutal honesty o take place there needs to be a high level of trust. The greater the level of transformational leadership skill and ability a leader has, the greater the trust (Ceri-Booms, 2010). The greater the trust in a leader, the more effective they are in keeping conflicts positive and focused on change instead of discord.

The Hedgehog Concept has also been the catalyst of many additional studies, books and frameworks (Filbeck, Gorman, Parente, Zhao, 2010). Closely related to the Hedgehog Concept are the three foundational elements of autonomy, mastery and purpose, the three critical building locks of long-term learning and job motivation (Ramsey, 2010). Once again the concepts of transformational leadership anchor down a core framework element of the book. The Hedgehog concept is very allegorical to the concepts of autonomy, mastery and purpose and serve as the foundation for long-term learning and job commitment (Ramsey, 2010). Being able to create a culture where there is autonomy, mastery and purpose is critical for any transformational leader to transform a business from mediocrity to greatness.