Developing The 21st Century Executive
November 22, 2007
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
It is no great secret that the globalized corporate world is engaged in a war for talent. Nearly all companies go through the time consuming process of deciding whether to focus on homegrown talent or acquire talent from the market.
As a best practice, a 70/30 blend of homegrown v. free agents is recommended. This is true when the organization invests in their homegrown talent from the inception, and this is why it is essential to infuse systems of leadership and communication into the everyday working culture of the people in the organization.
In many large firms, there are tremendous knowledge gaps from office to office. Bringing in high-flying talent from the market is essential, but doing so can attenuate an organization with a sub-standard corporate culture if that individual doesn’t mesh well with the team.
The talented 21st century executive is an excellent fit as a change agent for the purpose of modifying an ailing corporate culture or, as in many cases, developing one from scratch.
A Strong Foundation is Critical
Since there are far more role players in an organization than superstars, it is important to have a strong foundation of values and practices that can be used as guiding principles for the new and existing staff. People make the team run, but it requires about 50 working hours, on average, to hire one employee. Properly implemented systems can drastically reduce that time while improving quality.
Proper training and development can help to attract greater talent more quickly and more importantly retain that talent. The reality is that when one is in school, they train (class, study) about 80% of the time and perform (tests) 20% of the time.
Once these students get into the business world, that ratio is drastically augmented to performing 90%-95% of the time and training 5%-10% of the time if they work for a well run company. There are many organizations that don’t provide any training after the initial orientation. These companies put excessive amounts of pressure on their talent and usually lose them by not investing in them.
Following are 15 skills that are endemic in talented global executives.
Fifteen Skills of Talented Global Executives
- Well-developed verbal and non-verbal communication skills (delivery style, vocabulary, grammar and presence)
- Ability to recognize and attract talent quickly
- Ability to turn learning into action
- Ability to create or borrow systems to develop a motivated and sustainable team
- Ability to develop others by engendering a culture of learning and development
- Ability to leverage technology
- Ability to delegate successfully
- Effective writing skills
- Above average knowledge of world history and politics
- Ability to understand process and navigate others through it
- Ability to establish credibility quickly
- Ability to manage conflict and diversity
- Appropriate sense of humor
- Ability to listen, not just wait for their turn to talk
- Ability to create a legacy (developing and implementing systems that are diagnostic, flexible and scalable)
For more information, see our other articles about organizational development.
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