Characteristics of a Future Leader - Research Paper Example

Characteristics of a Future Leader Table of Contents 1. Abstract- Provides the Thesis of the Paper 2. Introduction- Brief Information on Subject Matter 3. Methodology- Includes the Data Source 4. Discussion- Discussion on Subtopics 5. Conclusion- Summary of The Body 6. References Abstract Since the rivalry (competition) in the commerce world is likely to increase in the future, businesses will be forced to invent new ways of managing the business purposefully for the survival of a business in the market. The managers, who will lead business enterprises in the future will, therefore, have to posses the required qualities of leadership for the survival of the business. This research work tries to explore some qualities that a leader will be needed to have in the future to help the business enterprise survive. The introductory part gives brief information on the situation of the market competition and how businesses have changed nowadays. The second sector shows the methodology used in the research work then the challenges that leaders face nowadays with the inclusion of examples is shown. There is also information on how dynamic planning blueprints look like and the new areas that leaders should focus on. Moreover, the note shows the lessons that past leadership behaviors have taught the business world. Furthermore, the research shows the leadership that the current and future generations will have. Finally, the note has a conclusion, which summarizes the research work. Introduction Currently the business issues in the globe have taken a new trend, and when compared to the past, a significant difference is notable. For instance, the way the business used to operate in the past is remarkably different from the way they are operated today. These changes in the world of business have occurred because many entrepreneurs are venturing into business activities thereby the competition in the markets has grown to stiff (Anderson, 2006). Moreover, competition has further, been intensified because most businesses embrace technology, which helps them to perfect their services, produce their products at a faster and cheap way and be able to make sales significantly. Technology has, therefore, intensified the competition (Kontes, 2011). Furthermore, the stiff competition is because customers nowadays are extremely keen on the quality than on quantity hence businesses produce products of high quality to satisfy the customer need. Since the production is high, the businesses make different selling strategies thereby intensifying competition. The current generation therefore, has innovated new trends, which will help in sustaining the businesses in the market. These trends are use of forensic accounting in the departments of businesses, fusing of business and technology into one system among others (Nahavandi, 2012). From this, it is evident that, in the future, the competition will elevate hence the business leaders of the future ought to posses the required qualities that will help sustain the business, as the competition in the market gets stiffer. Methodology Data Sources The sources of the research work were from the internet books. Other information were collected various business managers through interviewing. Results and Discussion New and Distinctive Challenges New Leaders face New leaders face various challenges in businesses because they have the skills but have no experience of how skills are applied. The first challenge face by new leaders is that people will not want their leadership (Williams, 2005). Since the new leader will try to make their own way of leading the business, the new leader might face opposition because the most workers are used to the old trends (former leader’s rules). The workers will therefore, feel that the idea of the new leader will fail because the business has never tried using his or her idea. For instance, if a new leader wants to change the beginning of a financial year due to certain aspects that he or she sees in the market, he or will most likely face opposition. A new leader can also face the challenge of trying to figure out the how the employees would like to be led since no one will tell him or her. Most employees in the business will want to be treated with respect (Williams, 2005). This is something that no employee will face their boss and tell them. The new leader will, therefore, have to figure out this alone. If in case the new leader fails to do so the daily operations of the business will not run smoothly hence the business might collapse. Blueprint of Dynamic Planning Researches have shown insights of how the strategic leaders can affect the way a business perform. The strategic top executives of a business give the identification of significant opportunities and threats for the business, take an action to find the solution to problems, provide support for competitive strategies that are relevant and promote a core ideology, which is consistent to the strategy and the task (Howard, 1987). From this, it is notable that a leader needs the employees to help in the work of the new strategy plan. It is also evident that the leader always has to seek opportunities for business and be conscious of the external threats. The dynamic planning blueprint can therefore, be an external factor (Ma, 2007). The external factors can either cause harm to the business or help the business hence a leader needs to monitor the external factors; have positive impacts and negative impacts on the business. Focus Areas for the New Leader The new leader has to focus on various issues for the business to succeed. For instance, the new leader should focus on the main objective of the business. The objectives of the business are what determine the operations and the goals of the business (Kontes, 2011). Failure of a new leader to focus on the objectives simply means that the operations of the business will not run smoothly hence the goal will not be met. The leader therefore, has to ensure that they focus on the objectives purposely for the business success. The other focus point for a new leader is the engagement. The new leadership ought to know that in a business, the leadership is not all about them, but it is about the people they lead. Smart leaders always spend time beginning or progressing conversations, but not trying to end or avoid them. The more a leader engages the employees, the better his or her skills become. It is impossible for a leader to gain the trust, confidence and loyalty from the employees if the leader does not engage the employees (Kontes, 2011). A new leader should also focus on the listening skills; should reduce the rate of talking and begin to listen. Being a leader does not mean that someone has to elevate the volumes of their rhetoric. Better leaders acknowledge that, in business, there is less gain in domination of the floor and a vast deal of gain in granting the floor for the employees. A successful new leader should, therefore, not rush to speak what they have in mind but should give a chance to the opinions of others. Lessons from Past Leadership Behaviors One leadership behavior learnt is that leadership is everybody’s business. This means that leadership is not a private reserve for those in power. Similarly, it is not about a business authority or power (Palestini, 2010). This lesson learnt has assisted the leaders of nowadays to give employees the chance to assist them in their leadership duty. This has made businesses prosper because the leaders cannot make wrong decisions but instead they make wise decisions, which impact positively, on the business. However, this lesson have a negative impact because the leader might end up getting wrong advice in case he or she chooses the wrong advisor hence the business might end up failing. Another lesson learnt is that the foundation base is credibility. The past leaders belied that people always need credible leaders. A credible leader gains much trust from the employees. Credible leaders are the leaders who practice whatever they teach, are reliable in word and actions, do not break the promises they make (Nahavandi, 2012). From this lesson, the businesses have succeeded because the leaders gain full trust from their employees hence the employees work perfectly to help in improving the business. However, being excessively credible can make the employees have the capability of reading the leader’s mind hence can start work misconducts like evading of some work hours. The past leaders lead by example. This has been a lesson to the current business world because leading by action changes the attitude of the workers (Bracksick, 2007). For instance, if a leader wants the employees to be punctual at work, the leader should be the first to start arriving at work early. When the employees notice this, they will automatically start arriving early. Leaders that follow this trend have helped the businesses the lead to succeed because no time is wasted a little work is postponed. This lesson has however; some negative influences for example, a leader who leads by example can end up being overloaded with work hence some work will be postponed. This can cause a business failure. Type of leadership for Current and Next Generation This leadership is faced with many challenges like stiff competition in the markets. For the survival of business, this leadership will need to have the capability of understanding the future. The fusing of technology and business purposely for constructing a single system can be a technique for creating the future understanding (Betra and Dangwal, 1999). This will help because the trends of the work force and even the leadership will be extraordinarily complex and complicated and will possess a positive attitude toward work because of technology. The leadership also has to be extremely innovative especially on the issues of models of business, enterprise, and collaboration of the market place. This leadership has to be innovative so that it can overcome the stiff competition purposefully for its survival in the world business (Blanchard, 2012). Moreover, this leadership has to be highly innovative because the future work force will be highly skilled and will possess a positive attitude hence the work force will not want to be underworked. Conclusion In summary, the leadership of the future and today’s leadership have a formidable task ahead of them majorly because of the continuous increase in the market competition. These leaderships will therefore, be forced to plan well and work smart for businesses that they control to survive the effects of the aggressive market. This leadership will have to know that the future market will not give space for any mistakes; therefore, it will have to minimize mistakes by all means. References Anderson, C. (2006). The long tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. New York, NY: Hyperion Batra, G. S., & Dangwal, R. C. (1999). International business: New trends. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications. Blanchard, K. H. (2012). Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Braksick, L. W. (2007). Unlock behavior, unleash profits: Developing leadership behaviour that drives profitability in your organization. New York: McGraw-Hill. Howard, D. F. (1987). Dynamic planning and management in the securities industry: Staying competitive in a changing market place. New York, N.Y: New York Institute of Finance. Kontes, P. W. (2011). The CEO, strategy, and shareholder value: Making the choices that maximize company performance. Hoboken, N.J. : Chichester: Wiley ; John Wiley [distributor. Ma, J. (2007). The blueprint: A revolutionary plan to plant missional communities on campus. Ventura, Calif: Regal Books. Nahavandi, A. (2012). The Art and Science of Leadership. Prentice Hall Palestini, R. (2010). Going back to the future: A leadership journey for educators. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Educ. Williams, D. (2005). Real leadership: Helping people and organizations face their toughest challenges. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Read More