25 Essential 21st Century Leadership Skills
Serve to Lead is a practical manual–a Baedeker guide–for navigating the new world of 21st century leadership.
There’s much that’s new and different about leadership, management, and communication in the digital age.
There’s also significant continuity with earlier times.
One might say: the principles endure, the applications change.
What’s old and what’s new are both seen in the following list of 21st century leadership skills (one might as well have said 21st century leadership traits, but the term skills better conveys that leadership comprises capacities that can be learned, refined, cultivated, improved… and constantly updated to serve more effectively).
The list that follows attempts to capture enduring leadership lessons within the unique, fast-moving circumstances of the early 21st century.
Please share your views and share with others. Like everything today, it’s a work in progress, made better by collaborative input.
21st Century Leaders List
Malala Yousafzai. UK Department for International Development [CC 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons.
Where can we find them?
The premise–stated or unstated–is that there’s a leadership gap today.
Who can argue against the spectacular failures of leadership in large institutions? They range from the White House and Congress (whether in the hands of the Democrats or Republicans); to Wall Street and back around to Main Street; in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors (including religious institutions); around the world.
It’s easy–perhaps too easy–to find reason for disappointment. And yet… there is also reason for optimism.
It’s often said that these are among the worst of times for leadership… it’s also, arguably, the best of times.
This list is updated quarterly. Please send your suggestions of other inspiring 21st century leaders.
James Strock Interview Environmental Business Journal
The Environmental Business Journal provides valuable services as a strategic leader and partner for environmental-energy businesses and industries. In this interview, featured in Volume XXXI, No. 3/4, James Strock discusses environmental trends.
M S Rao | Meka Ramakrishna Sayee
The article below is a special posting from international leadership guru, Professor M. S. Rao, of Hyderabad, India. He writes passionately about the accomplishments and promise of his son, Meka Ramakrishna Sayee. I hope you will find, as I do, actionable inspiration from what can truly be called a leading family. —JMS
To be the best in the world necessitates your drawing upon all your capacities. In the doing, you will draw on what is unique in yourself.
No one can replicate it. ―James Strock
We study the lives of great leaders to refill our inspiration. Authors often turn to notable international leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama to engage their readers.
In addition to eminent personalities, we must also take examples of otherwise ordinary individuals who overcame hardships and financial challenges to excel as extraordinary leaders in their own right.
