There are many different ways of defining leadership as shown by different scholars in the field of leadership. Some have defined it as a specific type of intervention that can be carried out strategically within individuals and or teams or the total organization according to Flaherty (2005). The objective is to direct a person or group of people toward a specific mutually determined goal.

As a leader you must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know and what you can do. Some leaders over rate themselves and believe they know it all. At times we get too excited about some the awards we receive such as Top so and so, or Best so and so and we think we can walk on water. Those awards come as a result of team not individual effort. So never think as a leader you have answers to all the problems.

This is surely a recipe for disaster. It should be noted that it is followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust, or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful, you have to convince your followers not yourself or your superiors that you are worthy of being followed. Otherwise you will just be taking a walk with nobody following.

The business world has experienced profound changes in this 21st century. There have been countless challenges caused by the economic volatility and high turbulence in the business environment.

We live in an age of permanent, unrelenting change. The traditional business organization, of the past that was so predictable and very stable has but all disappeared. This has triggered distress, trepidation, apprehensiveness, fear, anxiety and resistance. There is immense pressure on executives to deal quickly and frequently with the paradoxes that are inherent to organizational life. However those who can adapt, change also opens up new opportunities for growth and development.

A rapidly changing environment may encourage people to seek creative opportunities as a survival strategy and some people will eventually learn to thrive in this highly turbulent and volatile world.

If it is to be a positive force in organisations, change must be guided by imaginative empathetic and adaptive leadership. In order to take advantage of the opportunities effectively, leaders must have collaborative, problem solving and influencing skills, an astute understanding of how to analyse complex processes and grasp intricacies of the company’s value chain and the ability to deal with inefficiencies. They cannot do this alone as leaders. They must recognize interdependencies with other stakeholders in the organisation and build organizations that motivate and empower employees to perform at peak capacity.

A team of lions led by a sheep will always be defeated by a team of sheep led by a lion. It starts and ends with leadership. Leaders determine the success or failure of any organisation. This explains why even in soccer, when a team is not doing well, the first person usually to be relieved of their duties is the coach. As they say, the fish rots from the top.

It is important for business executives to acknowledge that they don’t have monopoly over knowledge or ideas. We now live a very dynamic and complex world which makes it very difficult for an individual to be able to make decisions on their own.

There is need to tap into the ideas from other team members. The use of force or abuse of power will not work in the 21st century. The challenge with autocratic leadership style is that it attracts resentment from followers and it is a fertile breeding ground for malicious obedience.

Malicious obedience is a situation in which people will agree with you knowing very well that your strategy or proposal as a leader will not work. They will even praise you for having brought one of the most creative ideas  in the organisation while deep down their hearts they know that you are just accelerating into a parking. They will even encourage you to implement it as fast as possible thereby accelerating your downfall. Business leaders should know that the use of force or power in the 21st century is a very primitive way of running a business. Power is like a bar of soap. The more you use the less you have. 

The command and control approach to leadership has in recent years become less and less viable. Globalisation, new technologies and changes in how companies create value and interact with customers have rendered ineffective the purely directive top-down model of leadership.

There are many shortcomings associated with the belief that the leader is a hero who knows it all. Heroic leaders have an illusion of control and belief that they are all knowing and strong and brave. In addition, they also believe that they can avert any disaster by their own efforts alone and no one else has a better strategy to deal with the problem or disaster besides them. This is a mere figment of their imagination as heroic leaders. The interdependent and complex world we now live in is not so amenable to this outlook or way of doing business.

The other fallacy of the top down model is that it assumes that all the followers are homogeneous. They are treated as zombies. While kings have subjects, shepherds have flocks of sheep, they seem to also think that all their staff members are the same and therefore can be thought of as one rather than individuals. You can never treat all your staff members as homogeneous. They have different gifts and talents which are at your disposal as a leader. Proper coordination of the talents and skills in a team can create great chemistry which will result in the success of any business. Nothing beats teamwork.

That top-down model should be applied with caution. It is very important for leaders in this era to review how they manage communication within their organisations. The way they handle the flow of information to, from and among their employees is very important. Smart leaders engage with employees in a way that resembles an ordinary person to person conversation more than it does a series of commands or directives from the top.

It is therefore  important for leaders to be able to reflect and self introspect. Reflective leaders look within and ask “How can I make sure that my own blind spots and biases, don’t cause me to make poor decisions?”How can I leverage my strength to become a better leader?” To succeed in this process, smart leaders have to take responsibility for their own mistakes. In the past leaders made mistakes due to over confidence in their own knowledge and abilities. In this era, there is need for them to acknowledge their weaknesses and take steps to expand the limits of their knowledge and abilities.

It is also important for the leaders to seek knowledge required to make sense of the big picture. Leaders must have a global view of their business. They have to be knowledgeable about their business and should be able to examine the role they play in the challenges that they face in their business environment.

Leaders should also give serious consideration to opinions that differ from their own as they go through the process of self reflection. Reflection helps leaders avoid pitfalls in other zones, make the most of honest feedback, recognize the limits of their knowledge and avoid repeating their mistakes. When leaders see their mistakes, as a chance to learn and grow, they gain the ability and credibility to help others do the same.

The other area a 21st century leader should focus on is ingenuity. In this area, leaders not only offer and execute practical ideas, they also help others do the same by creating an enabling environment in which innovation can thrive. They have to help other people to adapt quickly to changes and help teams to develop a shared picture of a positive future. Their role is to create an exciting future for their teams. In addition, they have solve real -world. They have to motivate others toward strategic goals. There is also need to rethink core assumptions to respond to new threats and opportunities.