Leadership Challenges Today

Marc Beretta

The value of a great leader is measured by his/her ability to bring people on board with him/her, no matter how difficult the task may be.

Frequent mistakes

Mistakes are so numerous … but also so human! Nobody’s perfect! Some examples of (real) mistakes from leaders: to exclusively count on himself/herself, to forget to thank team members for what they have achieved, to forget to say hello to people while thinking of something else, etc… A company that wants to grow and encourage leaders should promote trust within the company. Never forget that managers are human beings after all, so promote both “pride and happiness“ at work at the same time.

Which leadeship style?

If you adopt the "conqueror“ style of management, which has a much more “masculine“ connotation, you go far and fast, you don't doubt much, you lead by the strong convictions you've got, your objectives are clear, you want team members to follow because you are the expert who knows, you have a directive or informative style of management; actually, this style is much more effective in a bullish market, when there is need to conquer new market share.

If you adopt the “sharpness“ style of management, which has a more “feminine“ connotation, you are sensitive to the world, you perceive its implicit and explicit signals, you don't “go fast“ but “do fair“, your self-esteem is based on who you are than on what you can get or what you do. You lead by exemplarity and values, you are ready to seize opportunities. Also, you're open to questions, including about yourself, you promote doubt, you consider mistake as part of the learning process, you value flexibility, you want team members to take their responsibility, you have a participative or delegative style of management. This style of leadership is much effective to make the difference in a declining or complex environment.

Both styles are demanding. The real question is: is my style in line with what is expecting from me in the current situation? My perception is that the “feminine“ style of management is much more appropriate to the situation we are living in today than the “masculine“ one.

Let me give you an example. In rendering activity, a leading European company changed its Managing Director. The new Managing Director, who is a man, has adopted a much more “feminine“ style of management, open to explicit and implicit signals from the outer world, committing all the employees to a shared vision, organizing regular team buildings to make sure everyone is going in the same direction. In a few years, the company’s culture completely changed. Today, the company is an environment friendly one, at the forefront of Research & Development in Environment fields. Now, the Managing Director is a credible interlocutor at the state and even at a European level. He changed the perception of their business activity (from rendering to environmental activity), and put them into new perspectives.

Be tough with the problem, but soft with the people

Today, we are asking more and more of managers. We want them to do their job in the long run but also to be reactive, to promote change while being on line with their guidance, to be good listeners but at the same time to be respected by their employees, to be analytical but also to be creative, to reconcile short term financial constraints with long term industrial vision. In short, managers have to deal with many paradoxes at the same time.