What is 21st Century Leadership?

I started this blog in 2009 to explore with an understanding and practice of leadership for the 21st century with good intentions of posting regularly. Thirteen months later I am back with renewed commitment to foster a conversation of what kind of leadership is needed in our world today. While the invitation still stands, to share your ideas, questions, experiences, and stories here about leadership in the 21st century, I realize there is plenty for me to contribute to this exploration.

For one, I have been active thinking and writing about leadership and leadership development, particularly in what I have been calling 21st Century Leadership. Not meant to be another theory or kind of leadership but a term intended to represent an inquiry into the kind of leadership needed for today's world, and how to develop in people and the social organizations to which they belong. There are others who use the phrase "leadership for the 21st century" or "twenty first century leadership." One notable example is a leadership program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Here in our MA in Leadership program at Saint Mary's College we have been working with this phrase since our inception in 2001. Moved by the call from Joseph Rost in his 1991 book "Leadership for the Twenty-first Century" to develop leadership capacity in an expanded paradigm of leadership, our program was founded. For past eight years we have not only sought to educate people in such a leadership but also to inquire into how to understand and practice it.

Here is how I describe 21st Century Leadership:

Broadly speaking, leadership can be viewed as our individual and collective response to change the world for the better. And given today’s highly interdependent world, full of enormous complexity, accelerating change, and unforeseen and unprecedented events, an understanding and practice of leadership responsive to this world is needed.

21st Century Leadership is a perspective of leadership intended to respond to the unique challenges and opportunities of today’s world. Reflective of an expanded paradigm of leadership, it draws upon and integrates theories and practices from a wide range of disciplines and traditions to foster practical knowledge and transformative change in service of the world.

The expression of this contemporary perspective of leadership incorporates a full spectrum of values, and fosters a wide range of capacities, competencies, and skills, which are enacted in the various spheres of life in context-specific ways. These include but are not limited to: critical, creative and systems thinking, self-awareness, communication and dialogue, social and cultural intelligence, and facilitation of team and collaborative processes. To develop this perspective of leadership development both an inward and outward orientation is required involving the whole person engaged with the whole system, and involves the whole person and the whole system.

More than the behaviors, traits and styles of individuals, 21st Century Leadership views leadership as a property of any social network. Not solely the domain of those “in charge, ” leadership is something in which everyone participates. While complementing management and administrative functions, leadership is a distinct dimension of organizational life, and its development requires its own focus of attention.

In summary, 21st Century Leadership is a multidimensional and integrative view of leadership that is based in relationships. Through shared purposes and aspirations it brings forward new ways of being, knowing and doing, respecting the developmental nature of the human life. It is oriented toward being inclusive, collaborative, and of service, to individuals, the social good, and ecological sustainability.

Next post: what actually gets developed in leadership development?

Join the Conversation

At the Leadership Center at Saint Mary's College, you are invited to join the inquiry and in the conversation on what does a 21st Century Leadership practice look like. On a regular basis we will post some thoughts, reflections and questions for your consideration, and to hopefully entice you to participate in the conversations. We invite you to share your ideas, questions, experiences, and stories here about leadership in the 21st century.

At the Center, our focus is to advance the understanding and practice of leadership suitable to the world of the 21st century.  How shall we respond to the unique and profound challenges and opportunities upon us?  What kind of leadership is warranted? What do we need to know, be, or do in order to be effective? By asking good questions, and by engaging others in these questions, we believe we can find the kind of leadership responsive to the world in which we belong.  

Lately, I have been thinking about the essence of leadership. It seems to me that underneath all the various definitions, theories, and perspectives, it comes down to this: Leadership is the initiative, on the part of individuals and collectives, toward seeking change in the conditions of our world for the better.  This initiative arises in everyday people in everyday circumstances, in the various spheres of life, whether that is one's family, community, place of worship, workplace, or society at large.  What do you think? What initiatives are you taking? What encourages you to take this initiative? And what gets in the way?

I like hearing or reading about how ordinary people do extraordinary things to make the world a better place. Check out the website http://dailyheroes.wordpress.com.  There are some incredible stories about regular folks making a difference.  Do you have a story of someone who has made a difference you would like to share?  

Continuing on this idea, I have found a lot of inspiration and hope in the book Blessed Unrest, by Paul Hawken.  In it, he describes how countless (actually he has counted) nonprofit groups, both large and small, have collectively become the largest movement in social change in history, and are making a difference in important ways. Here is a short video of Paul Hawken reading from his book.

 

These groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town, and culture. 

So what if we thought about leadership as more about the initiative for change, emanating from all members of the group or organization, and less about the person in charge?  What would happen to our practice of leadership if we were to view it as being of service to constructive change? 

I think if we really look at deep and sustainable change, it involves all kinds of people who brought forward their various gifts, creativity, and contributions.  So for leadership to flourish it would follow that part of leadership includes attention to how we create the conditions, which encourages people to bring themselves forward, to respond to others initiatives, and to engage together in service of constructive change.  In this way, leadership is shared, and is the property of the entire social network not just the domain of designated leaders.  Do you know of instances of this kind of leadership? What were the circumstances that made it possible? 

If this perspective piques your interest you might find the following websites worth looking at:

http://www.cambridge-leadership.com

http://www.leadershiplearning.org

Again, we invite you to share your thoughts, questions, and experiences. We hope you will jump into the conversation about leadership, for we think this will help in advancing the understanding and practice of leadership in the 21st century.