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The New Business World Post COVID-19
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I have recently joined Probably 42, and am keen to participate in discussions on topics close to my heart. A key issue I am thinking about at the moment is the shape the business world will take as it recovers, probably over some amount of time, from the impact of COVID-19.
I am particularly interested in how leadership is changing and the competencies it will take to optimise business performance in the "New Normal".
As the former Co-President of PWN Global, the leading women's network, I was particularly struck by the emotional intelligence competencies I saw from my fellow female Board members (I was the only man on the Board).
These competencies of humility empathy, vulnerability, collaboration, which build on more traditional leadership qualities of resilience, decisiveness,assertiveness etc are seen to be particularly effective at the moment as we navigate the uncertainties and complexities of the Coronavirus.
In the political world, we are seeing amazing examples of female political leaders around the globe displaying these competencies and doing well in tackling these complexities.
We should surely ask whether these emotional intelligence competencies can similarly help drive better business outcomes in these new and uncertain times.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on this topic and happy to expand on the theme.
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Hi Robert,
Good to have you on board. I have considerable sympathy with your views on the value of emotional intelligence in a business context. But are you suggesting that these competencies are the sole prerogative of women, or simply that they come more naturally to women, or more simply that they should form part of any senior manager’s armoury? And what specifically should we do about it?
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Hi Robert
It's an interesting point that you make and I think my reaction was similar to Geoff's. I'd be interested to know if you're saying that you've never come across those 'female' qualities, empathy etc, in men. It can be dangerous to generalise, although it's something we all do, of course.
If one is recruiting someone to a position on a board, surely you would be looking for someone, male or female, who has a mixture of those 'female' and 'male' traits that you mention. I appreciate that it might sound easier than it is, but I know that they're out there.
You've started a very interesting discussion, so thanks for that.
Dave
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Hi Dave and Geoff
Many thanks for your thoughtful responses and comments on my post. I'm delighted to have joined P42 and look forward to interesting discussions within the P42 Community.
To respond to the points you both made, I believe and my experience has shown that both men and women leaders (and leaders of all genders) can display the "emotional intelligence" capabilities I mentioned in my post. However in various studies I have seen on leadership assessment, women generally score more highly than men on most of them.
I agree that to be successful in the new world we are entering post COVID-19, we need leaders of any gender who combine traditional "male" centred leadership qualities and the emotional intelligence competencies I mentioned.
So what to do about this? Well organisations need to broaden the criteria they use for selecting and assessing their leaders. And individuals who want to be successful leaders in the future need to learn how to build the emotional intelligence capabilities.
To emerge from the current crisis and prosper in the "new normal" we will need new types of leadership and it is up to all of us to recognise this and play our part in bringing this about.
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Robert, I note that your profile also mentions an interest in Business Purpose and Holistic Stakeholder Management.
You might find the document on Meritocratic Capitalism interesting, because I think it aligns with your interest. You can access it via the discussion at http://www.probably42.net/forums/topic/58/meritocratic-capitalism or directly within the Ideas section.
Would be very interested in your thoughts on it.
Tony