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A few years ago I submitted an article on leadership to a periodical that focused on management and human resources issues. My article was rejected. That happens and is certainly not a reason for anger or tears. What did cause me a little consternation is the reason for the rejection. The editor informed me that he would not publish my article because it didn’t provide anything new. That told me he missed the whole point.
There really isn’t anything new in leadership. What’s important is learning the basics skills of good leadership and applying those skills to the situation at hand.
Recently I saw some comments from a person who is well connected in the meeting planning, speaking, and training industries. She had analyzed what companies are hiring for and what they are no longer interested in. It was this statement that really caught my eye. “Generic leadership or soft skills is out. Context matters.” She went on to say what’s booking these days.
• Leading through disruption
• Trust and psychological safety
• Managing multi-generational teams
• Empathy plus accountability
Her final comment was that “planners want leadership speakers who understand today’s realities, not old models.”
Let’s break this down. First, I despise the phrase “soft skills.” There is nothing soft about the challenges leaders face. I agree that context matters and that’s a key issue. The context for leaders is their own situation – the challenges they face and the team they lead. Its understanding themselves, the people on their team, how to communicate, what motivation really is, and other skills. Without those basic skills, context in fact, doesn’t matter because the leader doesn’t understand how to lead in any situation.
Those points (listed above) that planners want actually involve basic leadership skills – those “generic” skills that are apparently passé in today’s world.
• Leading through disruption
If you don’t know the basics for creating a cohesive team with mutual trust, those disruptions can be very difficult to navigate
• Trust and psychological safety
How to ensure psychological safety is one of the basic needs that leaders should understand as is trust.
• Managing multi-generational teams
This is actually an old construct that really never was that important. Good leaders have always tried to understand people as individuals, not according to their birthday
• Empathy plus accountability
Two more basic skills that leaders need to understand
• Purpose-driven leadership that performs
How is this anything new? Good leaders have always understood the importance of articulating a clear purpose.
I want to be clear; I don’t mean to disparage the messenger here. I’m lamenting what her research shows; that planners, and by extension, senior leaders in our corporate world do not understand what leadership is.
But, you say, everything is different and we must change with the times. That’s a fair point; however, it’s important to understand what’s changing. I’ve been leading teams and developing leaders for more than 45 years. Yes a lot has changed in that time. But what has not changed are the basic skills and techniques of good leadership. I have not found that those skills expire. In fact, I love to cite Cyrus the Great who built the Persian Empire in the in the 6th century BC. His exploits were chronicled about 100 years later by the Greek historian Xenophon using writings from the days of Cyrus. Much of what Cyrus did is still relevant today as basic leadership skills.
There is a tendency, a human foible I suppose, that encourages us to chase the next bright, shiny object. That’s good in technology, but not in leadership development. Even so, if you wanted to become an expert in computer technology or robotics you would first expect to gain understanding of the basics of computers.
Leadership is no different.