Tuesday 4 August 2015

“The Current Landscape of Business Leaders and What Type of Leaders the 21st Century Organization Needs” ―Professor M.S.Rao











“The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker.” ―Peter F. Drucker


The 21st century organizations need a different set of leaders and a unique leadership style which is soft leadership coined by me. The challenges encountered in 20th century are different than the ones being faced in 21st century. The 21st century organizations need leaders who treat their employees as partners rather than followers. It calls for valuing people as people, not as workers. It must emphasize on the concept - employees first, customers second and shareholders third.  When you look at global organizations like Google and Virgin group, they believe in the concept of employees first, customers second and shareholders third. Only when the employees are treated and valued well, they will be able to work well to meet the rising customer expectations and aspirations. When customers are happy with their goods and services, they refer to other customers through word of mouth, and on social media to get more and more customers. Increased customers bring increased revenue to the 21st century organizations to improve organizational bottom lines thus adding value to the shareholders. Hence, 21st century organizations need leaders who treat their employees as partners and who value employees more than customers.

What worked in the past might not work in the present and future. Hence, there is an urgent need for 21st century organizations to have leaders with a unique mindset, toolset and skillset. Hence, we will explore soft leadership which is an innovative leadership style.  Soft leadership is a blend of both soft skills and leadership. In this style, people skills are adopted to lead people. The Gen Y are very smart, intelligent and ambitious. They are more career-oriented, and are ready to sacrifice their family to fast-track their careers.

The 21st century leaders must have several skills and abilities to lead from the front. Here are some of them:  

Overcome VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). The global business environment is highly dynamic and challenging. The competition is cut-throat. You must run a little faster than everybody else to keep your lead. It is tough to predict the very next moment because there is uncertainty everywhere, and there is no guarantee that the decisions that you make will definitely deliver fruitful results. 
Embrace change effectively. Change is the only thing constant in this world. Organizations must change with changing times and technologies, and leaders must be ready to lead the change.
Build leadership pipeline. Research shows that baby boomers are retiring globally and there is a leadership vacuum as the Gen Y are not equipped to undertake leadership roles and responsibilities.  Hence, there is an urgent need to provide leadership development programs to leaders at all levels especially at the entry and middle levels who will be able to bridge the leadership-gap.  When leaders are ready, talent is retained within the organizations to encounter challenges and achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness.
Learn, unlearn and relearn. The leaders must learn new leadership tools and techniques regularly. They must be flexible and act as per the situation as there is no tailor made solutions to problems. They must discard what doesn’t work and quickly relearn new skills and abilities to stay ahead of times and technologies.
Adopt soft leadership style. It is a new leadership style coined by me to lead employees by respecting and making them special. It treats employees are partners. It doesn’t promote leadership or followership.


“To survive in the twenty first century, we are going to need a new generation of leaders – leaders, not managers.” ―Warren G. Bennis




If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414




Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Vision 2030 Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCO-gWmTRk
Twitter: @professormsrao  
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Friday 31 July 2015

“Friendship Day 2015 Message - A Good Friend is a Gift from God” ―Professor M.S.Rao











“One best book is equal to hundred good friends but one good friend is equal to a library.” ―Dr. A. P.J. Kalam


On August 02, 2015 (every first Sunday of August), we celebrate friendship day to respect the value of friendship. Everyone will have friends to share their inner feelings, emotions, happiness and sorrow. Life is unpredictable with lots of challenges. When we have friends we can share with them our challenges to overcome them. In fact, life is incomplete without friends.

Muhammad Ali once remarked, "Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two different bodies. Friendship is about forgiving the mistakes of your friends and forgetting the unpleasant events of the past.  A true friend is a gift from God. Friendship is thicker than blood. We share everything with friends - about our parents, brothers, sisters and lovers. These things cannot be shared with everyone except with friends.

I am fortunate to have good friends since I served in Indian Air Force for some years. I always thank God for gifting me good friends. I survived many challenges in life because of good friends. I grew in my life because of the support of great students. I am what I am because of good friends and great students. I wouldn’t have been in this position without them. My students lovingly call me ‘Professor M.S.Rao is born for the students’, and my friends call me ‘A trusted, committed, dedicated and loyal friend.’ As I love my friends and students, I have dedicated most of my 36 leadership books to my students and friends.

A true friend does not expect anything from others. True friends love you despite your drawbacks and weaknesses. They stand by you during crises. They extend their hands to elevate you and make you special. Woodrow Wilson remarked, “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”

Choose your friends wisely. Enjoy the fun in the company of good friends but don’t cross your limits. Learn to forgive the mistakes of your friends. Be tolerant. Don’t lose friendship due to arguments. It takes years to build friendship but takes a few seconds to lose it. As you value your love, you must value your friendship.

On this day, let us all spend our precious time with our valuable friends to recollect sweet memories. Remember, past cannot be brought back. It can only be cherished by recalling the past pleasant events from your friends. Hence, spend your precious time with your valuable friends to cherish your golden memories.  


“My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.” ―Lee Iacocca




If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414




Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Vision 2030 Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCO-gWmTRk
Twitter: @professormsrao  
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

“Soft Leadership and Generation Y (Millennials) – Partnering for Progress” ―Professor M.S.Rao










“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.” ―Mahatma Gandhi


The Generation Y (people born in the 1980s to early 2000s who are also known as Millennials) are very intelligent and ambitious. They are rapid thinkers and don’t appreciate bureaucratic bottlenecks. They appreciate working in flat organizations.  They want to grow as chief executives quickly. They are ready to delay their marriages and sacrifice their family life to fast-track their careers. They mean business. Most of them are knowledge workers who can contribute their best with their innovative thinking to improve organizational bottom lines to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness.

Former GE CEO Jack Welch once remarked, "Generation Y is the most exciting group in the world. They want to do their own thing, they want to change the world. Technology's changed so fast. The internet's come; they can do it."  Gen Y thrive on risk and don’t care for job security. They want to work in a challenging work environment that excites them to unlock their potential. They are strong on social media and appreciate operating in virtual world. They enjoy job hopping as they don’t like to work with one employer. They crave for freedom and flexibility, and are eager to accept leadership roles and responsibilities. They want to explore and experiment new areas because they have fire to grow in their careers. They want to learn, unlearn, and relearn. They want to acquire qualifications and pursue courses to upgrade their skills and abilities to stay ahead of times and technologies. They don’t appreciate working under bosses and leaders. They don’t appreciate leadership and followership. In contrast, they appreciate only partnership. Hence, there is a need for new leadership which is soft leadership that can fill the rising the expectations of Gen Y.

Gen Y employees have very high expectations. It has become a huge challenge for organizations to hire and retain. Some of them resign from companies on silly reasons. It is tough to handle and lead them. The best thing is to make them as partners, and lead them with soft leadership style. As the times have changed, global organizations must change their leadership styles, tools and techniques to hire and retain Gen Y.   They believe in giving respect and taking respect. They are brilliant and amazing. They crave for new leadership that meets their expectations. The soft leadership is the appropriate leadership style that suits their nature and expectations.


What is Soft Leadership?

Soft leadership is a blend of both soft skills and leadership. It is leading with soft skills, communicating effectively, persuading successfully, respecting the team members, appreciating diversity, and looking at similarities to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. During my years of leadership development training programs, some of the participants are not excited with the current leadership styles. They craved for a unique leadership style that caters them, and to handle the challenges in the 21st century. Since I earned my PhD in soft skills, and I am passionate about leadership, I worked on this trigger and created soft leadership. I have authored a book on this concept titled, Soft Leadership: Make Others Feel More Important and published several research papers and articles for eminent international journals and magazines. It is getting overwhelming response globally. One of the award-winning research papers on this concept Soft leadership: a new direction to leadership, URL: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17087126 is amongst the most frequently downloaded in Industrial and Commercial Training, Emerald UK. 

Soft leadership consists of 11 Cs – character, charisma, conscience, conviction, courage, communication, compassion, commitment, consistency, consideration, and contribution to make a difference in the lives of their partners.  Here are the examples for each C: Mahatma Gandhi is associated with character, Mikhail Gorbachev with charisma, Martin Luther King Jr  with conscience,  Aung San Sui Kyi with convictions, Alexander the Great with courage, Winston Churchill with communication, Mother Teresa with compassion, Nelson Mandela with commitment, John Wesley with consistency, Dalai Lama with consideration, and Booker T. Washington with contribution.  It differs from servant leadership. 


Significance of Soft Leadership for Companies and Countries

Soft leadership is to make others feel important to deliver their goods effectively. It is a people-oriented leadership without compromising task-orientation. It emphasizes means such as soft skills, persuasion, negotiation, and communication to accomplish tasks effectively. This concept can be applied for companies to achieve excellence and effectiveness, and to countries to achieve peace and prosperity.  Hence, let us explore this new leadership perspective keeping the rising expectations of employees especially Gen Y to build a better world.


Explore Soft Leadership

We have enough leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, delegative, transactional, transformational, servant, and situational to name a few. It is time to adopt this new leadership style.  Hence, let us explore and adopt the soft leadership style to take mankind to greater heights of glory. Let us hand over a better society to our next generations so they can be proud of us. Let us become good ancestors.


“Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way.” ―Barbara Bush (born 1925); Wife Of The 41st President Of The United States



If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414




Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Vision 2030 Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCO-gWmTRk
Twitter: @professormsrao  
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.