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Three Compelling Questions for the 21st Century Leader
by John Miller
Executive Director, Institute for Optimal Leadership Presence

Reading time: 5 minutes

Suppose you learned that your team had begun asking these questions about you and your leadership (either out loud or in their minds):

⦁ Why should I recognize you as my leader?
⦁ Why should I believe you and believe in you as my leader?
⦁ Why should I have the confidence that you will lead our team in the best way forward?

Whether those questions would be asked openly or remain unspoken, I would argue that the answers that leaders give to those questions are crucial – for your employees, your organization, and your own future as a leader . In fact, these answers actually reveal quite a lot about your fundamental motivations and vision for yourself as a leader. One thing is certain: If your answer to those questions involves pointing employees to your position in the org chart, you probably need to do some serious reflecting on how authentic your leadership presence is with those folks. Such reasons are unlikely to impress higher-ups or earn the respect of your team in today’s workplace.

So, maybe we should step back and ask ourselves why employees should even ask themselves those questions. Why would they not consider it to be incumbent on them to accept a duly appointed leader of the organization as “their leader”? Why would they not trust their leader if that leader has not directly lied to them or committed some other kind of breach  of responsibility or duty? And why is it even a matter of discussion about employee confidence in direction? Shouldn’t they just follow a leader when given a directive?

The answers are both simple and profound. First, we know from the latest research that younger generations in the workforce are simply not that impressed with org charts or authority structures. One of the critical reasons is because, well… that’s the way that we have raised them. As parents and teachers, we have consistently preached to our kids about their rights, earnestly instructed them to “speak up” when they have an opinion or what they consider to be a better thought, urged them to think critically and not shy away from a debate. At work, we have validated time and again that those at the front line or in an individual contributor role are the ones that have the real knowledge of how the work gets done and therefore they should be the
ones who should be innovating and improving the way we do it. People in organizations today have heard all of that loud and clear…and now they believe it.

Additionally, many younger people in the workforce grew up watching their parents become victims of being over-worked, over-stressed, or overwhelmed by their bosses. They have seen the stress, the tension, the ungodly hours, and the physical and mental toll that such conditions have wreaked – and they have decided that they will not become victims of such behaviors.

For those reasons, and more, the younger generations at work will simply not “emotionally accept” leaders just because those leaders occupy a space on the org chart. If their direct manager doesn’t fit their idea of fairness, collaboration, and communication, it will affect their willingness to commit and engage in their work. These are the demands of the 21st-century workforce, and they look for these qualities in their leaders’ actions every day.

Perhaps 21st-century leaders could solve this problem by turning these employee questions around as a regular introspective exercise.
⦁ “Why should my team members accept me as their leader?”
⦁ “Why should they believe me and believe in me?”
⦁ “Why should they choose to follow me?”

The purpose of this introspection is not to doubt your legitimacy as a leader but to ensure you are meeting the needs and expectations of your team. Employees ask these questions because they have a need to know and understand, feel appreciated and valued, and have a clear vision for their work and team.

Today, employees want to be treated as full partners of the work, trusted and valued for their thoughts and ideas. And if their direct leader doesn’t provide this, they will resist, withdraw, shut down and quit. When this becomes a pattern, organizational leaders will begin to see the local leader as the problem and employees as the casualties – not the other way around.

So, to take this all one step further, when leaders ask themselves those three questions introspectively, what kinds of answers should they be expecting of themselves? It should probably go something like this:

⦁ Because I have demonstrated in words and actions that I care for and value every team member.
⦁ Because I work with my team to develop a vision that reflects our best work and accomplishments.
⦁ Because I have a respectful coaching relationship with each team member and care passionately about their growth and development.
⦁ Because I advocate for them within the organization, ensuring they have the resources they need and championing their talents, skills, and abilities.

I believe those are the right answers to the three compelling questions of this discussion. What do you think?

Welcome to the Institute for Optimal Leadership Presence, where your leaders of today are transformed into the inspiring leaders of tomorrow. Our mission is to partner with organizations to cultivate remarkable leaders that stand out, drive results, and foster an effective and impactful presence across teams, their organization, and communities.

Our approach combines the latest research in neuro-leadership science, psychology, the latest leadership theory and practical, hands-on experience with the century-old, time tested principles of Aristotle and his “wisdom of the ages” that still speaks to us as leaders.  We work closely with each participant, ensuring personalized growth that resonates with individual goals and organizational objectives. Whether we are working with executives, emerging leaders, or professionals aiming to refine their presence, we are committed to helping them achieve transformational success.

At the same time, IOLP is committed to the academic advance of Leadership Presence as an important and necessary framework for emerging leadership theory and for practical application of effective leadership development across functional disciplines and local/global organizations. We believe that the pursuit of Optimal Personal Presence can and should be recognized as a legitimate academic endeavor, with robust research, emerging data, and curated principles and frameworks.

Let us partner with you on this journey to help leaders from your organization discover their Optimal Personal Presence and take their influence to the next level.

Join us at the Institute for Optimal Leadership Presence and discover how great leadership can truly transform people and organizations.

The Purpose of a Leader

If you asked a roomful of people, “what is the purpose of a leader?”, you would probably get a number of answers equal to the number of people in the room. Everyone seems to have their own idea of exactly what leadership is, and for that matter, whether we even need it. From an organizational perspective, the answer to that question seems to be newly defined with every work generation that comes along. Certainly, ideas about what leadership is and what a leader does (or at least should do) in an organizational setting, are different today than they were even 8-10 years ago.

But while the perceptions of and, in truth, the reality of what leaders should do, have changed over time, I would suggest that the foundational purpose of a leader has stayed the same, especially in the organizational context. The purpose of an organizational leader, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, is to create the greatest level of value for the organization in everything they do. In other words, it is the perception of value that changes, the job of the leader has stayed the same.

Now, admittedly, we could say that in the day and age of the authoritarian leader, we were quite mistaken that organizations were, in fact, creating “the greatest level of value” with their top-down approach and “telling” rather than “seeking” tactics. We have learned today that this was never the most effective way of running an organization. However, that was a culture-wide phenomenon; one could equally argue that the employee mindset was as fixated on their mistaken need for absolute authority by leaders as leaders’ mindset was on leading that way.

And, not unimportantly, the definition of “value” was almost entirely focused in those days on financials: increased revenue, decreased expenses, capital investment, the bottom line and, for the “for-profits”, always the drive to increase stockholder share. Every decision that was made, every new process created, and every new hire brought in was, at its root, a financial decision. Today, these financial considerations are still front and center – it’s not like the push for revenue has gone away or will ever go away in the overall business environment. But what has become very clear is that the sustainable path to financial growth must include what, at least on the surface, seems to be some very non-financial considerations.

Today we believe (and I think rightfully so) that “greatest level of value” means a lot of different things at the same time, and a great deal of this is decided at the organizational level. And leaders, to fulfill their basic purpose, must align with the organizational definition of value, as defined by a new strategy, a new upgrade, a new process improvement or a new marketing initiative.

But there are ways that individual leaders can and should create the greatest level of value on their own initiative. For instance, when a leader takes action to increase team participation in formulating department goals, she is creating a pathway to greater ownership and engagement that research indicates also impacts productivity — in that way, she is creating greater levels of value for the organization. When a leader reaches out to establish higher levels of collaboration with a partnering group so that inter-department processes and handoffs will go smoother – he is creating greater levels of value for the organization. When a supervisor takes responsibility to infuse a greater emphasis on coaching employees, that supervisor is taking a personal stake in the growth and success of that employee – and they are creating greater levels of value for the organization. When leaders, on the other hand, opt not to do these things, they are actually detracting from value, and over time, disqualify themselves from being an authentic leader.

So, whether it is aligning with an organizational improvement or a new sense of direction, or seeking improvement or innovation within their own department, it is the leader’s calling to create the greatest level of value in everything they do. And because the organizational definitions of value change as time goes on, to be successful at creating the greatest level of value, the leader must embrace change, they must make the tough adjustments, they must be willing to move beyond what they are good at now, or what they are even naturally good at. To create value…leaders must be looking into jaws of personal growth all the time.

In some cases that growth can be just a matter of learning a new process or figuring out a new piece of software. Sometimes it may be redefining what you have always thought about what a team is supposed to be, or what collaboration looks like, or how to tear down a process and build it back better. And sometimes, it can be staring directly into the mirror to understand what and how you need to change something about yourself – something that you have always been – into something better and more effective. Yes, creating value can sometimes be a trip into the uncomfortable – into those hard places inside of yourself.

So, what are you willing to commit to? What are you willing to do to fulfill the purpose of the leader? What are you willing to do to create the greatest level of value for the organization? That answer probably has not changed over the years: “whatever it takes!”

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?