Winning Leadership For A Globalized Economy (Part 1 of 2)
By Ernie Chen

As we enter into the twenty-first-century and with the advent of globalization in which intense competition has created an ultimatum for business organizations’ in virtually every country that exist in the world to be leaner and more flexible. This is necessary for organizations to continuously meet the demands of the customers, to seek out new strategic opportunities, and to develop innovative ways to maximize the inputs of intelligent and entrepreneurial individuals associated with new corporations. Innovative leadership is key to global success in the twenty-first-century.

Competitive advantage once depended on natural resources endowment and factory proportions and leadership used to center around power and being number one. As the new century beckons, this must change for the survival of new corporations. The leaders of today and the future will be champions of cooperation more often than of competition. According to Denis Waitley, “While the power to maintain access to resources will remain important, ‘the survival of the fittest’ mentality will give way to the survival of the wisest, a philosophy of understanding, cooperation, knowledge and reason. The real leaders will get what they want by helping others get what they want. Interdependence will replace independence. The world now has too many people, too little resources and too delicate a balance between nature and technology for leaders to operate in isolation.”

This is the era of globalization and leadership presently is more about encouraging creativity and innovation as well as managing and acquiring new knowledge. It is less about commanding and controlling the workplace. Globalization means developing strategies on the premise that the world is a single market place and so can be marketed in the same way. Standardization is king and total commitment to international marketing is essential. Jack Welch, the world’s most laudable CEO said, “The Jack Welch of the future cannot be like me. I spent my entire career in the United States. The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future. To succeed in the new global frontier, the answer lies in the maxim of “think global, act local” or “local problem, global solution.” In other words, to ensure and organization fits in the international environment, but also have internal flexibility. Coca-cola, Nike and Mc Donald’s are only a few of the truly global organization. Part 2 of this article will look into specifics of what an organization must do to ensure continuous success and achievement.

Last updated - 30 July 2004