leadership attributes what can we expect in our dynamic global economy?

www.conferenceboard.org© 2010 The Conference Board, Inc. |0

2011 Women’s Leadership Conference

“Go Where There Be Dragons”

Leadership Essentials for 2020 and Beyond

Sophia A. Muirhead

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

The Conference Board, Inc.

April 13, 2011

http://www.conference-board.org/


Business needs

leadership correction,

calibration, and change.



So Says The Conference Board Councils

Asia-Pacific Talent, Leadership Development and Organization

Effectiveness Council

European Council of Human Resources Executives

European Council on Learning, Leadership, and Organizational

Development

European Council for Diversity in Business

Leadership Development Council

Council on Learning, Development, and Organizational

Performance

Executive Council for Talent and Organizational Development



WHY?



Why leadership change is not

happening naturally? What kind of language do we use about

leaders and leadership?

How does the media portray leaders?

What does leadership look like based

on these descriptions?

Decisive, courageous, visionary, inspiring,

moving team toward goal, great in adversity.

Men, firm, heroic/the lonely hero, beautiful

people, charismatic, lions

and elephants, aggressive, bigger than life.

Decisive, bias for action, engaged, able to

execute, gravitas,

deploy the troops, figurehead

B

I

A

SThis material is based on a May 2010 presentation to a joint Council session by Professor Binna Kandola, senior partner and co-founder of

Pearn Kandola, a leading practice of business psychologists, specializing in assessment, development, diversity, and well-being, with offices in

the United Kingdom and France. Kandola’s most recent book, The Value of Difference: Eliminating Bias in Organizations, was published by

Pearn Kandola Publishing in 2009.



In a world that can seem as if it is spinning out of control, leaders will

need new skills and behaviors to manage new drivers that include

increased speed, complexity, and customer sophistication

Perspective #1

The speed of change is changing.

Changing expectations of the workforce.

Globalization has given way to complexity.

Government oversight and regulation is growing

in all regions of the globe.

Corporate social responsibility is becoming a

key component of doing business.

Managing polarities – continuity vs. change;

being global but acting local; continuous

improvement vs. fundamental innovation.

You can no longer control the conversation.

Shareholders (from employees to customers,

to board of directors) have access to

information, not all of it necessarily accurate

or flattering.

AND

Greater access to information at greater speed

actually means more ambiguity, not less.



Human Capital risk is #1 in significance

(% respondents)

Source: Best practice in risk management: A function comes of age. (An Economist Intelligence Unit report sponsored by ACE, IBM and

KPMG) February 2007 (Data are an average measure taken from surveys over the previous two years)

Perspective #2



Human Capital risk is managed LESS effectively than

almost everything except terrorism and climate change.

(% respondents)





Perspective #3

A.C. Nielsen study:

2/3 of respondents

believe the

looming talent

shortage will cost

them at least USD

$50M.

1/3 of survey

respondents with

revenues of more

than $1B believe

the hit will top USD

$100M.



2011 CEO Challenge Survey

Perspective #4



Talent is ranked second among the top challenges faced

by CEOs around the globe for 2011

# of observations: 704, number of observations for each challenge varies.

Top 3 Global Challenges

GLOBAL

1.65

.74

.72

.70

.59

.42

.40

.37

.29

.09

.00 .50 1.00 1.50 2.00

Business growth

Talent

Cost optimization

Innovation

Government regulation

Corporate brand and reputation

Customer relationships

Sustainability

International expansion

Investor relations



Regional results show significant variation in top 3-

challenges for CEOs across regions

Global United States Europe Asia Rest of World

1 Business growth Business growth Business growth Talent Business growth

2 TalentGovernment

regulationCost optimization Business growth

Government

regulation

3 Cost optimization Innovation Innovation Innovation Innovation

4 Innovation TalentCustomer

relationships

Corporate brand

and reputation

Corporate brand

and reputation

5Government

regulationCost optimization

Government

regulationSustainability

Customer

relationships

6Customer

relationships

International

expansion

International

expansionCost optimization Cost optimization

7Corporate brand

and reputation

Customer

relationshipsTalent

Government

regulationTalent

8 SustainabilityCorporate brand

and reputationSustainability

Customer

relationshipsSustainability

9International

expansionSustainability

Corporate brand

and reputation

International

expansion

International

expansion

10 Investor relations Investor relations Investor relations Investor relations Investor relations

GLOBAL



Business needs

leadership correction,

calibration, and change.



HOW?



LEADERSHIP

DEVELOPMENT



Importance of Leadership Development

(1) # of observations: 258, # of observations for each strategy varies. (2) # of observations: 74

Top 3 Global Strategies for Talent1

GLOBAL

1.03

.81

.53

.49

.46

.45

.43

.37

.36

.34

.25

.23

.13

.07

.02

.00 .50 1.00 1.50

Improve leadership development programs,grow talent internally

Enhance effectiveness of thesenior management team

Provide employee training and development

Improve leadership succession planning

Hire more talent in the open market

Promote and reward entrepreneurship and risk taking

Raise employee engagement

Increase diversity and cross-cultural competencies

Flatten organization; empower leadership from the bottom up

Redesign financial rewards and incentives

Manage multi-generational workforce

Invest in education system to improveworkforce readiness

Invest in automation and technology to reduce exposure to the scarcity of talent

Other, please specify:

Redesign benefits, e.g. health care and retirement



CAUTION!

The old way of developing leaders – to clone an

organization’s current leaders – is outmoded. Do that now

and you are at risk of being irrelevant. Leadership

programs you develop for high potentials now

may not be relevant when they

are ready to lead.



Tomorrow’s leadership developers must

Stop looking in the rearview mirror

Question conventional wisdom

Get middle managers on board

Develop a leadership brand

Don’t assume managers know how to

draft development goals



NEW C-LEVEL MINDSET

The C-suite should understand that

leadership development is not an event; it

is a commitment, and the C-suite is

accountable. Leadership development is

time intensive and requires the

commitment of senior leaders. This

responsibility cannot be relegated.



Leadership Development – C-Level Strategies

Take an active role in internal development; become involved in teaching, mentoring

and coaching

Provide leadership in emerging leader/ HI-PO programs that reach employees

earlier and advance them faster than the organization is used to doing

Think through the opportunities you have to provide developmental opportunities

(both formal and informal) for the next generation of leadership

Insure that all programs link to talent management actions including rewards,

mobility programs and succession planning

Participate in candid discussions about the leadership behaviors necessary for

success now and in the future; work for a collective vision that can be articulated

and acted upon

Hold each other accountable for the upholding “ground rules”

Seek feedback as an individual and as a team so that you can continue to address

current and future challenges as a high-performing team

Communicate often about what matters and why

Speak about your own developmental journey



Questions & Answers


leadership attributes what can we expect in our dynamic global economy?

Business

board of directors

leadership change

global talent

risk management

speed of change

government regulation

best practice

joint council session