We are in the midst of a massive generational transfer of leadership power and authority, and there is a shortage of leaders due mainly to the failure of the current leadership infrastructure to train and develop its successors.

This Week’s Edition

Like many analog institutions before it, command-and-control style leadership is being dismantled if not already dead. The next generations of leaders will face a growing demand for leadership that is authentic and real.

Clarify Your Thinking

Currently, 80% of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are from the Baby Boomer generation. Collectively, they control over $38 trillion in market capitalization. Their average age is 67 years old, seven years older than the historical average. Some suggest they are hanging on to make up for the losses suffered during the Great Recession over thirteen years ago.

Their preferred leadership style is command and control – generally associated with a more rigid and hierarchical approach where the leader is the final authority, which can limit the growth of the team’s leadership qualities.

The attitude toward leadership development for those deploying the command-and-control style is on-the-job training. Under this approach, the reality is that the leaders-in-waiting, primarily Gen-X, have had between zero and one promotions in the past five years. They are stalled, meaning that the next generation of leaders, Gen-X and Millennials (the oldest are not yet 40 years old), have not been fully trained or properly equipped to maximize their leadership capabilities for a top leadership role.

The Leadership Revolution time bomb is ticking. The Baby Boomer generation will be out of the workforce within ten years. Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce within five years, and these statistics predate Covid. I suspect that the three-fold tsunami of the pandemic (economic disaster, the social justice movement and a global health crisis) will hasten the CEO Boomer’s departure. They will either abdicate the throne or be overthrown leaving a massive shortage of aptly trained leaders.

This leaves Boomers doubting their legacy and the next generation of leaders doubting their preparation to lead in the top spot.

Thoughts Lead to Actions

Leaders have begun to debunk the widely held belief that the top leader has to have all the answers. This means it is important for leaders to deploy a wider arsenal of leadership skills:

1.   Transparent communication

2.   Team collaboration

3.   Delegation of duties

COMMUNICTION

1.   Learn how to be clear about setting expectations. You have to know what you want before you tell someone else what you want.

2.   Tell them more than you typically would. Narrate your leadership thinking to give them context. Take time to tell them why the project is important.

COLLABORATION

1.   Take the time to teach people what they need to know.  They’ll get it.  They are smart.

2.   Ask them what they think. You don’t know what you don’t know. 

DELEGATION

1.   Resist the urge to do it yourself. Don’t make the excuse that they don’t know how to do it or won’t do it as efficiently as you. If they can do it to 80% of your performance level, let them.

2.   You have low stakes and high stakes projects. Delegate the low stakes projects and gradually increase the delegation of higher stakes items as appropriate.

Boost Your Performance

As you head into the next decade of your leadership, you can increase key leadership skills to make you and your team more agile and competitive. We are here to help. In September, we are launching our next round of Leadership Cohorts for all levels of leaders. If you want to know more about how you can take your leadership to the next level email us at: cohort@robinpou.com.

What’s Your Opinion?

What leadership skill do you need to increase most? Let me know at robin.pou@robinpou.com.

Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

If this was helpful, feel free to share it with another leader who needs to defeat doubt and complete their confidence.

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.