It is a more holistic style, where knowledge is quickly integrated with experience and validated empirically
For some years now the concept of exponential leadership has been at the center of the definitions of the so-called "new leadership".
This is a set of skills to enhance x10 the ability to lead the management of projects and people.
It is a more holistic style, where knowledge is quickly integrated with experience and validated empirically: in the implementation of each learning, instead of the rational thought that has prevailed for so many decades.
In history, we are experiencing a moment of transformations so complex and unpredictable that uncertainty has become daily. Faced with this scenario, companies, businesses of all kinds and organizations that dare to reinvent themselves and innovate, those that are disruptive and highly flexible, are the ones that are going to stay.
As a counterpart, activities that are stagnant in models of the past and that hinder their transformation process will gradually extinguish like a fire that consumes them.
Leadership in new contexts
In this new context the exponential leader appears, the one who knows how to move in the field of innovation and the acceleration of change, and who is not afraid to move in shaky scenarios every day. He even learns to decide with a series of attributes very different from the rational ones of other times.
Fundamentally, the x10 leader (because he multiplies the speed by ten, displays his multidimensional vision in the same measure, and reaches a high level of human impact on the people and teams that accompany him) is called to be the storm pilot of these turbulent times .
The new generations of work - with Millennials now accessing leadership positions, and Centennials, generation Z, starting with new work formats that become permanent, like nomads - value the closeness, empathy, culture of a company and personal values goals aligned with what they do to sustain their lives. The exponential leader is on that tune.
The new organizations have migrated to inclusive models, remote work environments, collaborative leadership, sustainability and care for environmental resources, and the use of technology as a cross-cutting and inescapable axis for the success of any company. The exponential leader empowers these professional styles.
How to be an exponential leader
According to Singularity University, a Silicon Valley academic institution in California, United States, some of the main competencies x10 leaders have or need to develop can be identified. As we will see, these are mostly soft skills that will occupy the largest component of what this time requires, well above pure technical or academic knowledge:
-Highly developed interpersonal skills. Create visions for the future, work on inclusion and equity in concrete and tangible ways, not just a hollow discourse as in many past leaders.
-Positive vision. It starts from the premise that it co-creates optimistic and pro-positive realities where both the exponential leader actively participates, as each one of the team collaborators where diversity and collaborative intelligence with the axes.
-Abundant sense. The x10 has a concept that the more everyone grows, the more they get paid. Therefore, this changes the equation of generating benefits for companies, as growth based on equity, shared prosperity and personal and professional development are sought.
-Sense of humanity. The exponential leader knows that the person is at the center of his action and decisions. See people from their potential, instead of marking their shortcomings; It is precisely from here that it builds wealth and abundance, wisdom and awareness starting with people, and this will also resonate in companies and projects.
-Technologist. As the technology grows in a dizzying and exponential way, the x10 leader knows how to read the impact of this transformation, and connects them with the needs of the markets and clients (including the "internal client", the one that is within the project or company). Knowledge of robotics, digital transformation, data analysis and a culture oriented to make it work based on more precise parameters, are some of the characteristics it has.
-Visions of the future. The exponential leader strives to ask questions and answer them above all to open up to the unknown in the midst of uncertainty. The answers will come in different ways; alternative realities are handled; The analysis of the problems is carried out using big data and does not lose its sense of intuition, based on curiosity and openness to the new: the true "open mind".
-Innovative communicator. One of the main qualities of the x10 leader is to create a flow of communication with his teams and with the markets he works for. Empirical learning, that which is achieved only through concrete experience, is an excellent way; in addition to critical thinking, applied creativity, lateral thinking, storytelling to generate communication with emotions; and openness to disruptive thinking in order to interpret, re-signify and make sense of the complexity of the world.
-Care for people and the environment. The x10 is clear about the value of people in the co-creation of the future; emphasizes the health care and physical, mental and spiritual balance of each human being, and balance with the environment in which it operates. Personalized accompaniment is another of its characteristics, where the role of the “leader coach” of your team appears in all its expression.
Intelligence and Emotional Innovation. The exponential leader comes to be a leader based on the human, with competences where the axis is the person (internal and external), and the product or service, a connection bridge. The true value is to touch the hearts of others. The x10 has empathy, gratitude, the ability to flow with what is presented and a powerful and optimistic spirit about the future.
-Emotionally stable. A fundamental aspect is the exponential leadership of influence: the positive impact generated by the x10 in each person and experience with which it makes contact; enriches it. To achieve this, he is a person who knows himself very well (self-knowledge) as a condition to develop his self-leadership, before being able to lead others.
When the exponential leader acts, the people are not the same again; leaves a mark, provides meaning and depth. It transforms them. For this, he is a leader with a highly developed collaborative spirit, and a strong stamp of cooperation with the possible, even in winding terrain that seems impossible.
All of these competencies interconnect and create a holistic system of exponential leadership, through which the focus is on adding value and respecting and revaluing each person's essential human principles.
Daniel Colombo
Facilitator and Master Executive Coach specialized in senior management, professionals and teams; professional communicator; international speaker; author of 30 books. LinkedIn Top Voice Latin America 2019. Member of the John Maxwell Team.
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