What Leadership Really Needs in 2021 #8 #cong21
Synopsis:
What is good leadership, and why we are suffering from a lack of it currently.
Total Words
720Reading Time in Minutes
3
Key Takeaways:
- Leadership is a trending topic
- But we are suffering from lots of poor leadership
- We must take more responsibility
- Ya esta
About Simon Cocking:
Simon Cocking has been Chief Editor at Irish Tech News, CryptoCommonwealth, CryptoCoinNews and InvestInIT – with over 1.5 million+ unique monthly views and growing. He was top ranked member of the ‘People of Blockchain’ based on total funds raised & also #1 ranked advisor on ICO Holder.
He is a business mentor and advisor working with over 200 successful companies to date. He has been named on many global Twitter influencer lists in the last 12 months, and has over 115,000 followers on Twitter & 30,000+ on Linkedin.
He is an accomplished public speaker at events including TEDx, Web Summit, and overseas in Monte Carlo, Pyeonchang, Amsterdam, Dubai, Delhi, Kiev, Singapore, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Tbilisi, Riga, Porto, Dublin and Helsinki. See more on his podcast here and on Youtube.
He was also the first person to be inducted into the Irish Ultimate Frisbee Hall of Fame.
He has been based in Ireland for over 25 years and has cofounded or founded seven successful companies.
Contacting Simon Cocking
By Simon Cocking
It is that time of year, where lots of cool and interesting people share their different takes on whatever the particular theme is for that year. Leadership is both a great topic and also a challenging one. For Irish Tech News I review lots of business books, so you can get sense of, and spot what is trending in the latest publications. Leadership has definitely been one of these trends, and especially with a holistic, almost spiritual side to it. The enlightened leader, the sensitive leader, the intuitive leader, that sort of thing. It would not be inaccurate to opine that the new age trends of twenty years ago have jumped the shark and are now very much part of what is considered to be good management practice in the 2020s. If you are not in touch with your emotional intelligence side, with activated intuition, then you are considered to be a less than effective leader.
And yet, and yet. Yep, while the trends above all seem to be to the good, we have the counter prevailing trend of what seems to be absolutely chaotic, shambolic leaders, and leadership styles in those countries that chose to vote more populist, and / or authoritarian leaders into power. In a crazy coalescence of ‘be careful what you wish for’ and ‘because it might just kill you’. Those same countries have also proved to be among those with the highest covid death rates. Surely demonstrating that this type of leadership is actively, and literally, not merely metaphorically bad for your health.
Where does this leave us then in trying to assess if we have good leadership around the world, and if we even want it? Especially in those countries alluded to above, and certainly including Brazil, the UK, the US, India, and Russia (yes it is a fair point to say that the majority probably did not vote for at least the last of those just named). It would seem that, in many places, tolerance, non-racist behaviour, and generally treating people with respect is the antithesis of what is considered good or desirable, by those leaders who resort to dog-whistle politics and rallying cries. How did this ever become considered to be ‘good leadership’?
It does seem like we are in strange times when opinions are so polarised, and you know that many will dismiss treating others with respect and politeness can be labelled as being woke. In this context it seems like it is up to all of us to articulate what is, and is not acceptable. Rather than leaving this to our non-leaders. Who are clearly unable, or unwilling to make a stand for the really important issues of the day, climate change, racial and sexual tolerance, and the things that really matter. We have to lead, because our leaders are not.