In the most recent newsletter of Egon Zehnder International I found an interesting concept of Harvard business school professors who claim that Western business organizations have much to learn from ‘less conventional’ concepts of leadership explored in the fierce war for talent in the emerging economies. They found a couple of concepts in Africa. I wonder if we can find some in Russia?
In a rapidly changing world of increasingly global markets and workforces, it is time to examine the long-held consensus about where leaders come from and how they should act, says Linda A. Hill, the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In recognizing that talent is less exportable across cultural frontiers than many business leaders once believed, Hill highlights the importance to companies of discovering home-grown leaders who know their markets inside out. But in emerging economies, where capitalism is a relatively new phenomenon or a lack of education has so far prevented the rise of a knowledgeable business class, the war for talent is fierce and the search will inevitably be taken to "less conventional places". Western organisations have much to learn from these different concepts of leadership and Hill predicts that leadership in the next half century will, to a greater or lesser extent, be defined by two concepts: leadership as collective genius and leading from behind.
To make her case Hill turns to South Africa, where she was introduced to ubuntu, an African style of leadership which embodies the notion: "I am because we are." This concept of leadership as collective genius calls for both the unleashing and harnessing of individuals' collective talents, particularly in the interests of driving innovation. "If such a style does exist," Hill contends, "the mind-set implied by ubuntu may turn out to be well suited to the increasingly important ability, no matter where you operate, to build partnerships with and between companies."
Hill also found in South Africa a practical example of what she refers to as leading from behind, this time in the writings of Nelson Mandela. In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela recalls how a leader of his tribe explained the role of leadership: "A leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind." For Hill, the metaphor of the shepherd perfectly illustrates the kind of leader demanded by the current business environment: "Someone who understands how to create a context or culture in which other people are willing and able to lead."
Full story. A conversation with Linda A. Hill: "Where will we find tomorrow's leaders" in the Harvard Business Review (January 2008). Article can be purchased online.
