Reclaiming Leadership in 2009/2010
This recession has damaged organizational leadership.
Warren Bennis, the noted business author and professor recently stated that our current problems “resulted from a lack of leadership at every level including failures by government officials and those leading banking and financial industries.” BusinessWeek cites a phone survey conducted in July 2009 wherein only 44% of Americans said they have trust in business, down from 58% in the fall of 2007. Another 2007 survey of confidence in leadership found 77% of respondents felt the US was in the midst of a leadership crisis with worse results in 2008 (US News & World Report/Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government).
The latter survey found what Americans wanted in leadership traits in their President: honesty and integrity; intelligence; ability to communicate; willingness to work with diverse groups; ability to bring people together. How would your stakeholders rate you on these key traits?
Russell Long in referring to the “Business Week” survey above, “trust” is seen as the most perishable of assets. Major corporations such as McDonalds and Ford are revamping their marketing efforts to reclaim this most valued asset. McDonald’s is talking about the quality of its food while Ford is addressing how well managed it is versus the Government Motors and Chrysler. What are you doing about trust and transparency?
Leaders at all levels must consider that recovery and success means reclaiming credibility. What is your plan to do this?
My recent work with executives involves obtaining stakeholder input about their effectiveness, becoming aware of their leadership style, articulating clear goals for improvement and involving peer panels and top leaders in the organization for periodic review. The results are overall improvements in the system within which the executive works and excellent choices in the changes made by the executive. As a certified Executive Coach, I believe that engaging the key players produces partnerships for sustainable success and the results of my clients demonstrate this with promotions and pay increases. They know how to fish without my further help.
My consulting and executive coaching company, Change Innovations, works with individual executives, business owners, professionals, Boards, teams, executive committees and organizations throughout the U.S. I am a past-President of the Daniel Island Rotary Club, President of the Daniel Island Business Association and member of the Society for Learning in Organizations (SoL). For more information visit www.changeinnovations.com or call Russell Long, 843-278-1925.
