Being Connected: New Age Success Mantra for CEOs
EmPower Research
July 26, 2007
By Aparajita Purkayastha Dutta
Welcome to the ‘Connected Age’. Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your ‘conversation’ belt and hold on tightly to your ‘communication skills’. This article aims to take you through the fast lane of ‘how being connected’ is not only a great leadership trait but also increases the chances of your being successful’.
Clearly, there is a positive correlation of being connected and having a ‘solid’ business performance which finally makes for a successful CEO. Research conducted by EmPower Research has proven that to be a successful leader, ‘being connected and ensuring a culture of ‘communication’ and open dialogue is important. Take the case of Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, who is performance-driven and demanding or that for that matter Sir Richard Branson, founder & CEO of Virgin Group, who is a showman and a risk taker, both are very successful with their own leadership style.
What’s ‘being connected’ all about?
In the "people economy" of the 21st century, organizations are made up of networks, not traditional hierarchies. In order to connect these networks, leaders must function as brokers rather than sales people, negotiating with each group to reach a common goal. – As stated in the Kogan Page based on an article written by Emmanuel Gobillot on “Connected Leadership”
Connectedness is a style, and it also needs to be in sync with the way you operate. Various leadership styles would dictate connectedness and finally reflect on your success. So what are the leadership styles that would dictate connectedness?
Autocratic: Love’s to run a one man show and communicate the same. Jack Welch - between 1981 and 2001 - gained reputation for uncanny business acumen and unique leadership strategies at GE. He was known to push his managers to perform and reward great performance.
Risk Taker: Love’s to play with fire and makes sure that the world knows that he is playing with it. They are known for their smart moves and dynamic working style. Who but Sir Richard Branson comes to the mind first. He developed successful ventures in music, air travel, financial services, retail marketing, and telecommunications to name a few.
Stakeholder Centric: Uses various channels of communication to finally connect with the internal and external stakeholders, leverages the expertise of knowing employees and the customer well. ‘Meg’ Whitman, President and CEO, eBay, believes in offering the most desirable merchandize and quality control measures to offer the best to its customers.
Participative: Creates proactive mechanisms to solicit input and dialogue.
Why the sudden need for being connected?
The growth of new age communication platforms has given leaders tools to engage people at a greater level. As the ‘touch points’ to reach out to people has increased, the need to engage these people has also risen. Blogs have grown to become a powerful tool for measuring the efficacy of a product or to influence target audiences opinions. There are company generated blogs which involve employees and management to come together on an informal platform which helps them to communicate and connect much better.
What’s in it for the organization as a whole?
It is definitely a win-win situation for the leader and the organization. How does it help the organization? The leader drives the organization to be open to change. People in the company respond to the change as soon as they sense it, hence making it much easier to adapt.
Being connected creates ‘true’ organization
A true organization is created out of network of relationships that are created both within and outside the organization. The stronger the relationship between the stakeholders the better it is to ensure long-term stability. Organizations are moving towards becoming ‘truer’ in many senses. It is not to say that the traditional organizations are not functioning in its true sense.
How to build a ‘true’ organization?
A true organization is built and created via increasing touch points to reach stakeholders. Increasing online presence would help to understand the pulse of your customers as well as your employees.
Create internal and external social-networks which align company objectives along with the stakeholder’s expectations.
Finally, research also points out that being not connected does not mean ‘failure’ since connectedness comes along with various kinds of attributes, lack of one does not necessarily indicate failure. But definitely being ‘connected leads to a much greater chances of being successful’.
Hence, leaders should not become short-sighted and address only the short-term challenges, but they should evolve to engage a much more ‘holistic environment’. This would involve many more stakeholders and it would bring in much more transparency to the organization. To build a strong footprint it is important to practice the art of reaching out to the stakeholders and develop a corporate culture which would finally ensure that people are well connected.
Welcome to the ‘Connected Age’. Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your ‘conversation’ belt and hold on tightly to your ‘communication skills’. This article aims to take you through the fast lane of ‘how being connected’ is not only a great leadership trait but also increases the chances of your being successful’.
Clearly, there is a positive correlation of being connected and having a ‘solid’ business performance which finally makes for a successful CEO. Research conducted by EmPower Research has proven that to be a successful leader, ‘being connected and ensuring a culture of ‘communication’ and open dialogue is important. Take the case of Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, who is performance-driven and demanding or that for that matter Sir Richard Branson, founder & CEO of Virgin Group, who is a showman and a risk taker, both are very successful with their own leadership style.
What’s ‘being connected’ all about?
In the "people economy" of the 21st century, organizations are made up of networks, not traditional hierarchies. In order to connect these networks, leaders must function as brokers rather than sales people, negotiating with each group to reach a common goal. – As stated in the Kogan Page based on an article written by Emmanuel Gobillot on “Connected Leadership”
Connectedness is a style, and it also needs to be in sync with the way you operate. Various leadership styles would dictate connectedness and finally reflect on your success. So what are the leadership styles that would dictate connectedness?
Autocratic: Love’s to run a one man show and communicate the same. Jack Welch - between 1981 and 2001 - gained reputation for uncanny business acumen and unique leadership strategies at GE. He was known to push his managers to perform and reward great performance.
Risk Taker: Love’s to play with fire and makes sure that the world knows that he is playing with it. They are known for their smart moves and dynamic working style. Who but Sir Richard Branson comes to the mind first. He developed successful ventures in music, air travel, financial services, retail marketing, and telecommunications to name a few.
Stakeholder Centric: Uses various channels of communication to finally connect with the internal and external stakeholders, leverages the expertise of knowing employees and the customer well. ‘Meg’ Whitman, President and CEO, eBay, believes in offering the most desirable merchandize and quality control measures to offer the best to its customers.
Participative: Creates proactive mechanisms to solicit input and dialogue.
Why the sudden need for being connected?
The growth of new age communication platforms has given leaders tools to engage people at a greater level. As the ‘touch points’ to reach out to people has increased, the need to engage these people has also risen. Blogs have grown to become a powerful tool for measuring the efficacy of a product or to influence target audiences opinions. There are company generated blogs which involve employees and management to come together on an informal platform which helps them to communicate and connect much better.
What’s in it for the organization as a whole?
It is definitely a win-win situation for the leader and the organization. How does it help the organization? The leader drives the organization to be open to change. People in the company respond to the change as soon as they sense it, hence making it much easier to adapt.
Being connected creates ‘true’ organization
A true organization is created out of network of relationships that are created both within and outside the organization. The stronger the relationship between the stakeholders the better it is to ensure long-term stability. Organizations are moving towards becoming ‘truer’ in many senses. It is not to say that the traditional organizations are not functioning in its true sense.
How to build a ‘true’ organization?
A true organization is built and created via increasing touch points to reach stakeholders. Increasing online presence would help to understand the pulse of your customers as well as your employees.
Create internal and external social-networks which align company objectives along with the stakeholder’s expectations.
Finally, research also points out that being not connected does not mean ‘failure’ since connectedness comes along with various kinds of attributes, lack of one does not necessarily indicate failure. But definitely being ‘connected leads to a much greater chances of being successful’.
Hence, leaders should not become short-sighted and address only the short-term challenges, but they should evolve to engage a much more ‘holistic environment’. This would involve many more stakeholders and it would bring in much more transparency to the organization. To build a strong footprint it is important to practice the art of reaching out to the stakeholders and develop a corporate culture which would finally ensure that people are well connected.
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