Over a six-month period in 2011–2012, members of the Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership met in Abu Dhabi and Davos, as well as virtually, to discuss and agree on a collective view of a new model of leadership. The model presented in Figure 8.1 describes the Council’s collective assumptions about new models of leadership.

● There is a quantum change in the context in which leadership is taking place. This emerging context is defined by significant demographic and societal changes, fundamental technological advances and continuous globalisation, as well as complex multistakeholder issues and resource scarcity.

● These changes are opening up a new leadership space that contains tensions and balances. This space can be defined by a leader’s profound sense of purpose, which can be described in three ways: through the emotional capacity of the leader (values, courage, self-awareness, authenticity); by their intellectual and cognitive development (creativity, innovation, world view, systems thinking); and by the extent and depth of their social relationships and networks (community building, alliances, collaboration, virtual worlds).

● Developing this new leadership space will require a profound leader journey . At the heart of this journey is an inner and outer journey. The inner journey describes how the leader learns through reflection, mentoring and practice. The outer journey describes the crucible experiences in which leadership is forged and includes challenge, risk and working at the ‘edge of the system’.

Figure 8.1

Questions

1. Bearing in mind the developments in leadership theory described so far in this concept, to what extent do you consider the ‘new leadership’ to be actually ‘ new ’ ?

2. The text refers to a ‘profound leader journey’ – ‘journey’ being a term which implies a destination. What do you consider the leader’s destination to be?

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New Context Demographic & Societal Shifts Gen-Y, intergenerational, diversity New Technologies Social media, digitalisation, speed, transparency, complexity of media Globalisation Speed, urgency, complexity, interdependence, multi-stakeholders Big Issues multi-stakeholder Poverty, climate change, blurring of national boundaries, etc. Resource Scarcity Climate change, oil price New Leadership Model Emotional Values, courage and beliefs, empathy, self awareness, altruism Val Purpose Intellectual Social Mastery, new set of skills, creativity, innovation, passion, world view, systems and pattern Followship, ecosystems, relationships, communication, community, building alliances, virtual worlds, collaboration, purpose The Leader's Journey Emergent tallent pools Inner journey Practice and critique Learning from doing Reflection & reinvention High support (mentoring, prototypes-role models) Outer journey High challenge crisis, risks and testing the 'edge of the system' Sense of 'We' Legacy