As part of the #usblogs offshoot of our #usguys tribe on Twitter, we select a theme every week and post our thoughts on the weekend. This is my baby step contribution to the theme of this weekend, “The 21st Century Leader.”
To answer the question of what a 21st century leader looks like, I would look at what makes a leader a leader? The conventional responses have been
A leader serves his followers instead of commanding them.
A leader satisfies others’ needs first and his own last.
A leader takes none of the credit and all of the blame.
A leader recognizes new leadership and is willing to hand off when it is time.
and so on. So when we look at these traits of a leader, are there really any differences between leaders in the 21st Century and the centuries past? I don’t think so.
What does change between the centuries is the methods by which a leader can exercise his influence. In the 21st Century, the radical changes have been the explosion of tools available to exercise influence. While earlier leaders were restricted to their own city, state or country, today’s leaders span the globe in followers. This explosion of communication has also democratized leadership in that leadership is now available to the common man on the street. An example? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. versus Avaaz, the international civic organization that promotes the influence of the people’s opinion in global decisions.
Dr. King’s movement depended on influential people across the country to rise up together, the so-called connectors, the priests and the “Everybody Loves Raymond” of the time. Closing off communication between the connectors, or the connectors and their followers, could have stopped the movement in its tracks. Cut to today, despite an almost complete boycott of Wikileaks by service providers, they still leak information that is important for the world to know. One connection is taken down, but another takes his place, only possible because the connections now number in the millions, which in turn was made possible only due to the preponderance of the Internet and communications, and the tools built upon them, in our daily lives.
Summarizing, a 21st Century leader is the same in terms of traits as leaders past, but what he is capable of has changed drastically due to the change in how far and how effectively he can wield his influence.
Pic: Signature of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the public domain, courtesy Wikimedia Foundation
The #usblogs blog round up post is at Tom Moradpour’s blog.
You are so right. A single person now can get something huge going, if he knows how. I’m continually amazed at the difference a person can now make. Even I am affecting kids I never would have met a few years back. Amazing to me!
Thanks for the post.
What an interesting take on 21st Century Leadership. Leadership greatness doesn’t change but the tools do.
Leaders today can literally have a bigger voice and greater reach. On top of that, it’s possible to be live across the world, a feat television didn’t even make possible on its own.
I like your take on things. We may not have recognized or pulled out what made great leaders great, but they were. Poor leaders still are.
Cheers,
Todd
@tojosan
@Paula
Don’t forget to count me among the kids you influence.
Thanks for your comment!
@Todd
I’m really used to @tojosan, feels like I’m implicitly giving respect on account of the -san extension in Japanese. I like it! My view basically reflects my background in engineering and technology. I find it difficult to write on qualitative and subjective subjects like the arts, so I took a view where I could actually bring my experience into play. Thanks for your comment!
It was a treat getting to read your post – although it took me too long to get here. I appreciated your twist. There is much more available for a leader to bring to bear in this time of our world. This increased technology makes leadership thought and consciousness raising discussion more accessible to a wider number of individuals to consider the concept in itself. So another off-shoot of the technology is that there are more people learning about leadership and willing to put that wisdom into practice.
I would say that I disagree that a leader is selfless and doesn’t take credit. To me, that is the quickest way to have a “fake” person out in front. It also doesn’t have others be responsible for their choice to “be led” – but I am in this debate with many – and wonder how you see it…
Hi Sandra,
Better late than never.
That is an interesting viewpoint that a person who doesn’t take credit for an achievement of a team led by him/her is a “fake” I think what I meant was that a leader wouldn’t blow his/her own trumpet and engage in petty politics over where credit is due. A leader will not take credit away from others but will, or ought to, take credit for the environment provided by him/her which enabled the team’s achievement. What do you think?