Traditionally, management expertise has been considered as a transferable skill from one industry to another. The belief is that leadership skills required across industries would be relatively similar, so someone with a proven track record in one field, can easily transfer the skill somewhere else. This theory though has been lately challenged with several studies contesting that people with specific domain knowledge tend to outperform the generalists, such as hospitals being run by doctors doing better than those run by professional managers. No doubt there exist several skills such as critical thinking, talent management, written and oral communications, motivational skill and problem-solving that transcend domains. But even within these tasks, there remains a vast difference in how one executes the task depending on whether it is a manufacturing concern, political party or hospital. So, for all leadership development or education programmes, two things must be established right from the outset. One is that domain knowledge undoubtedly does matter. Secondly, the management training being provided, must elicit problem solving depending on simulated conditions where specific information on particular industry will be needed. This is all the more crucial now that youngsters are constantly moving on, so not settling down enough to build robust domain knowledge on any specific area.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/11/can-you-be-a-great-leader-without-technical-expertise?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_monthly&utm_campaign=leadership&referral=00206&spMailingID=18515683&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=1141760078&spReportId=MTE0MTc2MDA3OAS2

Uploaded Date:29 September 2020

Origin stories could be in various forms. Some could be about a joining date, others could be personal chronicles, while yet more could be on meeting one’s significant other. The most successful of companies though tend to have some origin story on its top leadership. It is all about a lens that is picked from. There are some prominent types. One is the Being type, who “always wanted to be leaders”. Yet others are those who are Engaging, so they believe in constant communication with their team members. A third variety are the Performing type, who merely believe in the bottom line. And then there are the Accepting leaders, who maintain existing status quo. A leadership lens enables, but may also constrain the work itself. Team members too need to assess how the types would affect them and their performance. Gender differences too play a role in how leaders engage with their colleagues. Deploying the right talent management norms, depends also on such intrinsic factors.

Source:https://hbr.org/2020/08/whats-your-leadership-origin-story?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_activesubs&utm_content=signinnudge&deliveryName=DM91944

Uploaded Date:25 August 2020

Visionary leadership has been identified as one of the top traits that can lead a company to success. People’s view on this form of leadership though has been skewed by the word’s association with top leaders such as Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey and Steve Jobs. That is the reason, that visionary leadership tends to be seen as a top management task. Instead alignment with corporate strategy has also been in reality come to be associated with the middle- level of management. Indeed, it was highlighted by the Project Oxygen by Google as among the most desirable traits at that stage. The reason for the frequent failure of visionary leadership is the fact that it is often not backed at the middle level. Thus, the proper alignment is needed between the strategy and the middle- management level.

Source:https://hbr.org/2019/02/why-visionary-leadership-fails

Uploaded Date:09 June 2020

The present economic and health crisis, warrants a new breed of leadership to emerge. The new leaders will need to demonstrate optimism and calm, while handling the situation. Some steps have been identified that could prove to be effective at such times. The first is for the leader to adapt one’s personal operating model. His/ her priorities, roles, time and energy need to be channelled towards this new reality. One’s intentions need to be made clear via a new dynamic corporate strategy drafted. The leader needs to regulate one’s own crisis reactions too. For this, he/ she could practice the art of reflection. Another method could be to reframe one’s perspective. The leader will also need to take care of the energy levels, as that has to be distributed over multiple functional areas.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/how-to-demonstrate-calm-and-optimism-in-a-crisis

Uploaded Date:25 May 2020