Smeal Op-Ed: Roles Change For Leaders In A Changing World

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (May 25, 2004)—What's the job of a senior executive? In essence, it's to take a once and maybe still successful company to the next level.

In today's world, that means redefining the business in "new economy" terms. Leaders must create new business models, new structures, new relationships. They must install new technologies and new processes. They must eradicate old-fashioned approaches that have worked for so long and replace them with new-fangled approaches, some of which may be unproven.

All the while, they must get people excited about these changes and engender a feeling of credibility and trust in their approach to running the business. Oh, and don't forget that they must show progress almost immediately.

Is it any wonder that we are witnessing a revolving door at the CEO level? The simple fact is that we've evolved from the industrial age model of leadership as control and direction to the information age model of leadership as a process of building and managing relationships in a highly networked, global economy.

It's what Cisco CEO John Chambers calls a "networks of networks." And Cisco is a great example. It's a highly successful company that not only sells networking hardware, but they operate within a network-driven business model.

Cisco is a master at building relationships on all fronts, whether it be in manufacturing, R&D;, distribution or business development. Their ability to move fast, develop leading edge technologies and serve customers is based largely on their ability to create and operate in networks of partnerships all over the world. Cisco not only sells networking, they live by it.

I've spoken with Chambers and his colleagues at Cisco, as well as numerous other senior executives from all sorts of organizations. Those discussions have helped me frame four key roles for effective leadership in today's networked economy.

First, the Boundaryless Thinker. Leaders in the networked economy need to think beyond current models and help their organization to do the same.

They can't be bogged down in traditional ways of thinking. They must be open to new ideas. Partnering, teamwork, speed and flexibility are the name of the game, and leaders who hold on to rigid, traditional ways of thinking risk falling behind more flexible, forward thinking competitors.

Second, the Network Builder. Leaders who think in a boundaryless manner are more likely to have a relationship mind-set, one focused on helping the people around them to share ideas, information, knowledge, and capabilities. Organizational effectiveness in the networked economy is rooted in relationships and networking. Complementary partners must be identified and linked together in focused pursuit of mutual success. Joint ventures, partnerships and, dare I say it, outsourcing relationships are all part of positioning an organization for success in today's networked world.

Third, the Diplomat. To develop and maintain the effectiveness of networks, today's leaders must have the capacity to bring constituencies together, the ability to help them work together and recognize that by working together they can achieve more than they ever could on their own.

Relationship building, communications and negotiating skills are the order of the day in the shift to the networked environment. Helping the organization's network of partnerships work and achieve together is the number one challenge.

And finally, the Interpreter. To complement their skills of diplomacy, leaders must have the ability to interpret the nature of business opportunities to the network, the insight to help partners understand each other and the ability to coach, facilitate and provide feedback to an organization that is no longer a collection of lines and boxes, but a living, growing, expanding ecosystem.

The networked economy and the age of relationships is upon is. It's not enough for leaders today to just focus on results. That's because increasingly, networks generate results. To lead those networks, leaders need to be boundaryless thinkers, network builders, diplomats and interpreters. Just think about that job.

(Albert A. Vicere, one of the country's top leadership coaches, is a professor of strategic leadership at Penn State's Smeal College of Business and president of Vicere Associates, Inc. Visit www.vicere.com.)