The Leader of the Future by Hesselbein - Assignment Example

The work of many management gurus was combined and certain common or important individual characteristics were identified and compiled together by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Richard Beckhard.

The Leader of the future would emphasize and attach the greatest importance to the Human Resources of the organization and the resulting actions and established relationships by such leaders would provide testament to this claim. They would discourage traditional rigid hierarchies and form flexible structures around them giving utmost autonomy to their people. These leaders would prepare more leaders under them and diversity in the workforce would be valued and appreciated, much importance would be given to the aspiring vision and mission of the organization, as they provide uncompromising direction to their people in indecisive circumstances. The utmost importance would be given to the work and leadership would provide such an inspiration, that people would fall in love with their work and become self-driven. Belief in feedback from the clients or employees would be an important aspect of the learning culture promulgated by such leaders with an emphasis on established core values while providing an essential framework for success. These leaders would realize the importance of healthy communities and work towards creating them in order to achieve greater success in their work. In defining the term leadership or who will be the leader in the coming era it is important to understand that leaders have followers, it is recognized by results and that leadership attributes can be learned, they are not endowed on someone from birth. The status of leadership would earn by having belief in oneself and one’s vision, exhibiting a passion for the job, and loving people; in doing so one would display and exercise honest means and extend trust to surrounding people (Hesselbein et al., 1996).

Leaders are doers and not preachers; they prove themselves first and then command others, their character is seamless with a habit of sharing awards and developing others while on the way to achieving organizational objectives. Furthermore, they believe in teamwork, creating future leaders for their organization, and leaving a proud legacy behind them. Their workforce is engaged and empowered with a clear sense of direction and a passion for achieving results.    

The collection of these beliefs on the leaders of the future were all written in 1996, a proof of success and accuracy lies in the attributes of current leaders and ones that are to come. What these management experts wrote some 16 years ago is more or less apparent in the leadership of today and it provides a convincing path for the potential ones. I firmly agree with the above-mentioned characteristics and attributes of future leaders although in defining the future leader a distinction should be made between business leaders of tomorrow and those who command the political realm. I see a great difference between the two types of leaders not just in America but around the world. What business leaders usually practice in daily lives is adopted by political leaders after decades. Another aspect missing in the conclusions drawn by the writers is the dark side of leadership, it is more than often that one sees a Machiavellian approach adopted by leaders in the practical world and it is a fact that most of the time this approach provides short term results. An approach that schemes and plots or uses unfair means to motivate teams and get desired results. Is there a place for these Machiavellian leaders in the future? I guess we will never know. Furthermore what these management gurus missed is deemed essential in modern leaders, we see the attributes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg and we cannot ignore the innovative ability present in them. This ability to come up with a game-changer is required by the leaders of today and the demand for this commodity will only increase in the future.