Often when mandated by our clients to identify and secure that elusive Director level executive we are asked to give strong consideration to those candidates that display entrepreneurial qualities. This comes as no surprise when you consider the ever changing business environments that are so influenced through the continuance of emerging technologies, coupled with a far more sophisticated consumer base. With the strengthening corporate push to discover new lucrative markets "out of the box" thinking and competitive action is required.
As a side note a truly interesting development took place when we were mandated to secure for a global client a HK based Sales Director to drive their Asia Pacific expansion within the e commerce and digital sector. At the time of briefing it was conveyed by their HRD that they sought an executive decidedly rich in entrepreneurial skills, in fact they would give strong preference to those whose medium-long term vision involved establishing their own business. Strange you might say, myself included. Further probing revealed this organization to be blessed with a dynamic culture and this being a Greenfield role, such motivations and self-interest would be supported. Just between you and I, they were also of the view that once settled, the risk of losing such talent was minimal. I encourage the reader to view the case study titled "Consulting" in this web site.
Recently in Europe I met with a senior executive who was at pains to advise of his Board member status during our introduction; something I found a little strange as it was common knowledge to all in attendance. I have since learned this behaviour is typical of this executive and now understand it to be repeated across business forums and geographies.
Significantly and far more alarming when meeting a key partner in the Asian region and in the company of their major customer (enjoying a mutually rewarding 10 year relationship) this executive announced in full bravado “I am a Board member and should our partner ever let you down you might contact me personally.” To this the client replied “we have been working with your partner for about 10 years with trust and respect clearly established.” The friction that followed was of great concern to the partner and their client.
Based on a comprehensive global survey incorporating the agriculture, consulting, energy, government, insurance, mining and real estate sectors McKinsey research drew a conclusion that developing leadership effectiveness can be effectively channeled through the encouragement of 4 types of behaviour.
“Over 90 percent of CEOs are already planning to increase investment in leadership development because they see it as the single most important human-capital issue their organizations face. What we found was that leaders in organizations with high-quality leadership teams typically displayed 4 of the 20 possible types of behavior; these 4, indeed, explained 89 percent of the variance between strong and weak organizations in terms of leadership effectiveness.”
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