Better Business AG
“As businesses consider their strategic options for the new economy and develop their strategies for the digital age, it comes as no surprise that CEOs show an increasing concern with their company’s leadership capabilities and organisational culture."
RALF SCHNEIDER
Managing Partner
Better Business AG
Location: Zurich
LEADING FROM THE FUTURE Part I
THE EVOLUTION OF NEXT GENERATION LEADERSHIP
“I remember when I first spoke to a large audience of business leaders about values-based and purpose-driven network-organisations as the vision for business in the 21st century. It was September 2000.”
I had been invited to share my views on the future of leadership at the world exhibition (EXPO) in Hannover. The excitement at the event was palpable.
E-commerce had just taken off with the promise of replacing the old-economy. Today’s champions of the digital economy like Amazon (1994), Apple (1997), Google (1998) were still in their infancy, while others like Facebook (2004), Youtube (2005) and Twitter (2006) were yet to be born.
At the turn of the millennium, everyone at the world exhibition was curious to hear what futurists, technologists and trend researchers had to say about what the future would bring. On that afternoon, I addressed a large audience of executives, predicting a radical change in the role, concept, and practice of leadership as a result of a seismic shift in business context, with far reaching consequences for business strategy, the source of strategic competitive advantage, organisational set-up and approach to leadership.
After the session a CEO came up to me and said with a smile: “This all sounds a bit like a cult to me”.
He was making reference to my point that in 3rd generation organisations, leadership would have to focus on creating trust-based relationships at all levels and with all stakeholders.
This in turn would require a deeper understanding of their own purpose as business leaders and as human beings. I had also suggested that business might need to re-define its contract with society, customers and employees and re-balance its role towards a more responsible and sustainable model. The CEO struggled with both propositions.
The fact that businesses would have to provide more than a job; that competition would largely be based on winning share of heart, rather than share of wallet, from both customers and employees, seemed alien to him. He found it difficult to accept that future organisations needed to let go of control, structure and power to allow for higher levels of responsiveness, agility and innovation, while embracing a wider definition of value creation across multiple forms of value (not just financial), and to be more inclusive to multiple stakeholders (not just shareholders).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ralf Schneider is the Founder and Managing Partner of Better Business. With an academic background in business, he has spent more than two decades in leadership roles as Partner and Senior Executive in the global professional and financial services industries. As an executive, he has led large scale culture and leadership initiatives transforming global industry brands. As a thought leader he has been contributing to the development and practice of Responsible Leadership as a new model of leadership for Next Generation business. He has spearheaded award-winning talent and leadership initiatives linked to building leading global industry brands. He works with C-suite executives and their teams to shape and implement strategy and culture transformation. As the Chairman of the International Consortium for Executive Development and Research (ICEDR) and a Founding Board Member of the European Corporate Learning Forum Ralf takes an active interest in the development next generation talent and leadership practices. He is a frequent contributor at international conferences, publications and corporate leadership events in Europe, Asia and the US with a focus on culture and leadership transformation.
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