The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

164 / DEVELOPING LEADERS

Adopting new

leadership patterns

Profiting from change

In business today, leaders need to manage and

inspire not just their core teams but groups of

freelancers, temporary staff, and outsourcers.

Engaging such potentially disparate groups to

align them with the vision and values of the

organization is the new leadership challenge.

Leaders today may be heading up a virtual

team—with members based globally—

formed around a customer problem that

needs solving or an innovative idea rather

than a group of people physically working

together for the same employer. Leaders

with the ability to be agile, to build virtual

networks, teams, and alliances quickly,

will be the long-term winners.

In the coming years, leaders will look

less and less to their employers to provide

a framework or support system for their

life—they will need to develop it themselves.

As an individual aiming to survive in this rapidly

changing environment, you will need to be

excellent at understanding customer needs

and have supreme confidence in your ability

to deliver, and market, yourself. Thinking

creatively and with vision, both about your

career and personal mission, should become

a life-long process and a central theme in

your continued success.

The 20th-century idea of a job for life is rapidly being superseded by

the concept of the portfolio career. Today’s leaders need to be skilled

in change management because their own careers are almost certain

to be characterized by frequent transition. The emphasis has shifted

from excelling in a particular corporate position to excelling in one

vital project—leading your own life based on consistent principles.

Practice new

skills and

behaviors

Refine your brand

Identify your next

direction for

development

US_164-165_Adopting_new_leadership_patterns.indd 164 30/05/16 3:02 pm