Leadership today demands more brain

Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates after winning the men's 4x100 metres relay final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on August 18, 2013. In October 1964, Bob Hayes of the United States of America won the 100 metres race with a world record of 10.06 seconds. In 1968, Jim Hines broke that record and set a new one of 10.03 seconds. By June 1999 Maurice Green did the same distance in 9.79 seconds. Ten years later, Usain Bolt did it in 9.58 seconds. AFP/PHOTO 

In Summary

• Today’s copy of Daily Nation has more information than a person living in the 17th Century would have come across in their entire lifetime!
• This is why I always insist that there is a major difference between leaders and office holders. The fact that you occupy the corner office does not make you a leader. While the led are concerned about making the next sale, the leader must be planning the next wave.
• Once upon a time, it was fashionable for leaders to talk about how things used to be in their days. Unfortunately, that day has been overtaken by events.

By WALE AKINYEMI
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The rate of human development and the pace at which man has broken his own records over the years is really something to ponder over as we go forward.

I was reading a book recently and it presented me with some very interesting data on this. Did you know that man has jumped nearly 15 per cent longer and almost 25 per cent higher in the long jump and high jump respectively?

In October 1964, Bob Hayes of the United States of America won the 100 metres race with a world record of 10.06 seconds. In 1968, Jim Hines broke that record and set a new one of 10.03 seconds. By June 1999 Maurice Green did the same distance in 9.79 seconds. Ten years later, Usain Bolt did it in 9.58 seconds.

Let us take the same thinking into the information arena.

A person working round the clock in 1800 would need two months to search a random piece of information. This was reduced to five days in 1900 and 70 seconds by 2000. Today, through the miracle of Google, it could take just about one second.

More information has been produced in the last 20 years than in the previous 5,000 years.

Today’s copy of Daily Nation has more information than a person living in the 17th Century would have come across in their entire lifetime!

These statistics provide a major challenge for leadership today.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

To start off, never before has the gap of information and knowledge between the leaders and the led been the way it is. We live in an era where the student probably knows more about many other things than the teacher, and where the led sometimes know more than the leader.

How then does one remain relevant where leadership is concerned? How do you command the respect of people who probably know more than you do?

Once upon a time, it was fashionable for leaders to talk about how things used to be in their days. Unfortunately, that day has been overtaken by events.

Imagine the 100 metres record holder for 1964 wanting to be relevant in 2014 because of his 1964 achievement. It won’t happen.

Relevance in leadership today is going to come from the processing power of the brain. It is going to come from the ability to take all the information present today and convert from potential into solutions.

It will come from the leaders’ ability to solve problems for the led in spite of the fact that the led may have more knowledge. It will come from how we are able to make the best use of the knowledge available to make things better for all.

This is why I always insist that there is a major difference between leaders and office holders. The fact that you occupy the corner office does not make you a leader. While the led are concerned about making the next sale, the leader must be planning the next wave.

So, to become a true and effective leader, you will need to be able to do the following:

You must be able to make projections for the future based on an objective appraisal of the past. You will also have to develop your processing power to create a future even when there is no past to benchmark.

In essence, you must be able to create a future from your well groomed imagination, daring to be different.

You must also realise that whatever record exists today will be broken. You should work overtime to make your greatest achievement of today irrelevant in the quickest possible time.

Yes, your succession plot should include planning to make irrelevant, your success today.

With these in place, I think you will be on your way to being a more effective leader in 2014. Remember that some are crazy about fashion while others determine what the fashion will be. The good news is that the choice is yours.