It’s become a universal truth that there is a lack of leadership in both the public and private sectors. In fact, many would believe that leadership is quickly becoming extinct. Given the cultural demographic shift, most leaders lack the readiness to see diversity and inclusion as a profit center rather than a traditional cost center. Let’s face it, today’s business climate is telling us that it is becoming less about the business defining the individual and more about the individual defining the business. What does this mean? Leaders are becoming less relevant because their businesses are losing their competitive advantage. Instead of committing to understand how to serve the unique needs of their employees and customers, they focus solely on what they believe (assume) is in their best interests.

Many of today’s leaders represent a library of rhetoric. Lots of fancy words and inspirational catch phrases that attempt to impress us instead create confusion along the way. Employees and customers alike have grown tired of false promises and as the political climate in America has shown us, anger, frustration and dissatisfaction has risen to the surface. It has become clear that today’s leaders are no longer a courageous as they once were – and as a result – they lack the vulnerability to genuinely connect with those they serve and thus find it difficult to earn trust and build meaningful relationships. Rather than strengthen their competencies to lead more effectively, many leaders are in search of short-cuts while leveraging their authority/title to get by. The outcome: The chaos that comes with widening gaps in their performance, missed opportunities they cannot see, and the inability to anticipate uncertainty and manage change before circumstances force their hand.

Recently, I spoke to a group of CEOs about the widening gaps in leadership. One of the growing trends I shared is that leaders are becoming more and more complacent. Rather than turn the spotlight of accountability on themselves, there was a tendency to shine the light of accountability on others.   Leaders must take greater ownership to remain relevant for the organizations and industries they serve. Being an effective leader is hard work; harder than ever before, because it requires continuous reinvention. And who wants to adopt a new mindset that must welcome change in order to evolve? For many, it’s not easy. As a leader, you must have the stamina for the fight to let go of the old ways of doing things to be significant again. And for those leaders that remain complacent, they put their organizations, employees and customers they serve at risk. Complacent leaders fail in their primary responsibility of enabling the full potential  in people and the organizations they serve and are at risk of becoming irrelevant if they don’t evolve how they lead so that the business can grow and compete in the 21st century.

People see through the words of a leader who is not authentic and has not earned their trust. Words ring hollow when you are just paying lip service to your audience. The words that leaders use have lost their meaning and in the process – the value they once had. The political climate in America reminds us of the consequences when leaders use words irresponsibly. When there is a lack of clarity and understanding around the words that leaders use – confusion, silos and tension abound – and in the process, performance gaps widen. For example, the word “accountability” has lost its meaning and value. At its core, accountability is when a leader can be relied upon to have the backs of those they serve. And in today’s workplace and marketplace, this means that leaders must be more self-aware about understanding and knowing how to serve the unique differences and needs of their employees and customers. The word accountability requires leaders to work with a generous purpose and sustain high levels of reciprocity in an effort to be more intimate with their customers and employees –to stay 5-10 steps ahead of the curve to assure that their organization is never blindsided. Accountability demands that a leader take ownership of their actions to assure the marketplace never passes them by. The result if they don’t is that they will quickly lose their impact and influence, and whatever momentum they have gained will just as quickly be gone.

To stop unknowingly creating chaos and avoid enabling a workplace that is unproductive and runs the risk of losing top talent and customer loyalty in the marketplace – leaders must develop the following six leadership competencies:

 

1. Originality

Many leaders continue to manage by the templates of old and cannot evolve to be the leaders their company needs. Those templates have stripped them of their identities and left them uncertain about who they are and how to face change. We must anticipate the unexpected to welcome change in order to evolve. Leaders need to stop mimicking others and create their own distinction – they must become more original in their thinking.

Brad Lea, Founder/CEO of LightSpeedVT, has built a successful business model around originality. Original leaders are pure thinkers that are passionate about converting differences into opportunities,” he explains. “They are fueled by the common sense that most people lack; what makes them uncommon is also what makes them exceptionally impactful. When you come right down to it, originality is about being yourself – and encouraging others to be fearless enough to be themselves too.”

2. Consistently Courageous

Most leaders would rather talk about what needs to change or improve, rather than roll-up their sleeves and take action. We must learn to commit to being more vulnerable in order to be more courageous to take action. We must be passionate in our pursuits to explore endless possibilities.

Your courage as a leader will be measured not only by the path you create for yourself, but by the wisdom you share to help others along their own path. Courageous leaders teach others how to be courageous themselves – to fight through the uncertainties in business and in life with perspectives they can relate to from the past that will see them through their own journeys.

3. Diversity Of Thought

Too many leaders gravitate toward like-mindedness rather than invite fresh perspectives to strengthen outcomes and unveil possibilities previously unseen. As leaders, we must guide the creation of an inclusive environment that communicates our organization’s core beliefs and values; we must evolve the culture and set the right tone toward maximizing the full potential of everything we influence. Leaders must embrace diversity of thought to unite people and through our influence – bring others along and value their unique contributions and differences to make the organization stronger. Being intimate with the business elevates our self-awareness and broadens our observations to see opportunity in everything; opportunities previously unseen.

4. Embrace A New Mindset

Leaders that lack the ability to reinvent themselves are those that get caught in the traps of complacency. What leaders need is a new mindset. A mindset that takes them from melting pot to mosaic, from substitutional to evolutionary thinking, from knowledge to wisdom, and from survival to reinvention. Leaders must embrace an entrepreneurial spirit to maximize the utilization of resources and form relationships with our employees and customers with a mindset that creates stronger alignment and builds momentum.

5. Take Ownership

As leaders, we must turn the spotlight of accountability on ourselves to strive for excellence – to help guide the evolution of the organization’s future and that of our employees and customers. Leaders must focus less on playing it safe to do the right thing versus making themselves more accountable to solve for the right things. Time is so precious, yet too many leaders are not willing to take on a new level of accountability that requires them to roll-up their sleeves and  get their hands dirty.

The most important ingredient to great management is accountability. Without accountability, the ability to manage doesn’t exist.  Great management is holding yourself and those around you accountable to deliver results. In the end, managers are accountable to be accountable. The reason most people don’t succeed in work or in life is that they are not accountable enough to themselves or to those whom they serve.

6. Legacy-Minded

Leaders talk about the importance of sustainability, but how can you sustain anything without being legacy minded? For many leaders, leaving a legacy is associated with the end rather than the beginning of their career. But your leadership is not shaped and your legacy is not defined at the end of the road but rather by the moments shared, the decisions made, the actions taken, and even the mistakes overcome throughout the many phases of your career. At each stage of your career, you learn how to keep creating sustainable impact and influence.

The best leadership legacies are a consequence of success coming to those who are surrounded by people that want their success to continue. When you can inspire those around you to take a leap of faith with you, you are creating a legacy defining moment in your leadership career that ultimately defines the path towards success and significance in your career and the legacy you leave behind for the associates and customers you serve.

Developing these six competencies will enable leaders with a fresh identity, a leadership identity that will provide clarity and understanding of how we can best solve for the requirements to evolve (ourselves, our teams, and our customers). Our leadership identity defines how we can most authentically and effectively influence business outcomes. We must trust ourselves to share our leadership identity with a generous purpose to improve our well-being and elevate our overall satisfaction at work for the betterment of our employees and customers.

Glenn Llopis, Contributor