Future Skills

CHAPTER 15LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Think leadership applies only to those at the top of the ladder? Think again. The combination of factors that will shape 21st-century work—distributed teams, increasing diversity, humans transitioning to more creative tasks, the gig economy, fluid organizational structures, and so on—mean that leadership skills will be important not only for those in traditional leadership roles, but increasingly for those individuals throughout the company who are expected to lead, whether they're leading a project or an entire department.

What It Means to Be a Leader Today

As Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, wrote in his book Winning, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” This is the epitome of what it means to be a leader. Whether you're a CEO, an executive, a line manager, or a project lead, good leadership is about making sure other people can thrive. It's not about personal power; it's about serving the interests of others. And by doing that, you enable individuals and teams to deliver the organization's common goals.

Author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek describes it as like being a parent, which really resonated with me. If you think about it, he's right. Being a leader means you're entrusted with the care and well-being of others—it's your job to help them grow, so that they can be the best they can be, even long after you've gone.

It's a simple ...