The key note address delivered by Mr Anura Siriwardena, the Executive Director of Voice of Asia Network and the Chief Editor of the Business Management Digest ( BMD) at the inaugural ceremony of MBA 2022/2023 of Uva Wellassa University, Sri Lanka
Leaders of organizations should be exceptional if they want to build exceptional organizations. Exceptional organization in return will give exceptional results for the stake holders. This phenomenon has no global boundaries. It is common for all. Hence the concept of exceptional leaders has been a widely spoken topic in our era. No. It will continue for ever , many experts suggest.
Because , the exceptionality is also a relative term which varies with the changing contexts where it performs.Now the problem is how to become an exceptional leader? So many experts have given countless opinions on this matter. Some opinions are contradictory though.
We generally believe that to be successful, leaders should have some traits such as being infallible, unflappable, in control and fearless. The trait theory of leadership adds a few more characteristics to the list including, honesty , intelligence, self confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. Other than that, we have seen several other leadership characteristics presented by various management experts.
However, the most effective leaders should carry something else on top of that especially in the pandemic and post pandemic era. Hortense le Gentil, a leading global executive coach and the author of the widely acclaimed, “Aligned: Connecting Your True Self with the Leader You’re Meant to Be,” says that leaders shouldn’t be heroes any more, in an article written to the Harvard Business Review.
Hortense emphasizes the most effective leadership today — at all levels — isn’t about technical expertise and having all the answers. Besides articulating a compelling vision, it’s about being human, showing vulnerability, connecting with people and being able to unleash their potential.
Hence today’s business leaders need to be great human leaders. Only human leaders can meet the needs and wants of their work forces such as feel respected, listened to, and inspired — not like cogs in a soulless machine. Not only that, human leaders make employees feel that they are seen, understood and valued.
The present context in which we live in expects us to transform hero leaders into human leaders who can make a profound and lasting difference in the lives of those around them, the organizations they lead and the world at large.
Prof Linda A Hill ,Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the author of Becoming a Manager, and a coauthor of Being the Boss and Collective Genius, Emily Tedards ,a doctoral student at Harvard Business School and Jason Wild ,the Vice President of CEO co-innovation and customer engagement at Microsoft give a brought meaning to successful leaders. In an article published by the Harvard Business Review they state that successful leaders are able to build not only innovative organizations but also networks and ecosystems that could co-create across organizational boundaries.
According to Linda,Emily and Jason tomorrow’s leaders master three key roles namely those of an architect, a bridger, and a catalyst, or ABCs .Those key roles are required to access the talent and tools they need to drive innovation and impact.
Quote “As architects, they build the culture and capabilities for co-creation .As bridgers, they curate and enable networks of talent inside and outside their organizations to co-create. And as catalysts, they lead beyond their organizational boundaries to energize and activate co-creation across entire ecosystems. These ABCs require leaders to stop relying on formal authority as their source of power and shift to a style that enables diverse talent to collaborate, experiment, and learn together — a challenging yet essential personal transformation.” Unquote
I would like to draw your attention to another distinguished character of a great leader. This was presented by Darwin Smith. Before stating the statement given by him let me introduce who he is. He was the CEO of Kimberly _Clark ,a leading paper based consumer products company situated in the USA. At the time he was appointed as the CEO of the company , Kimberly_Clark performed in a very bad shape, as its market share has been falling year by year. In 1971 the stodgy old paper company ‘s stock had fallen 36 % behind the general market over the previous twenty years .Though Darwin was appointed to lead the company, he didn’t have qualifications which were needed to be a CEO. A member of the director board of the company also raised this point at the time he was chosen for the position.
However this mild mannered in house lawyer with his bold and futuristic decisions made a complete turnaround of the company within a few years. Finally it became the market leader, beating its direct rivals ,Scott Paper and Proctor and Gamble. Not only that later Kimberly –Clark was able to purchase outright Scott Paper. Jim Collins, the author of the number one bestseller ,Good To Great says it was an impressive performance ,one of the best examples in the 20th century of taking a good company and making it great.
What is the most important statement Darwin made ? At his retirement ,Darwin reflected on his exceptional performance ,saying simply ,” I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.”
What does this mean?
Simply, to be an exceptional leader we have to do our studies continuously. There is no end in acquiring knowledge! Till you work you have to learn!
Ladies and gentlemen,
We all are well aware of the value of continuous learning. How it helps to perform exceptionally in the current competitive world is also well known. Entering to an MBA programme is one of the most successful ways to acquire the knowledge you need to become a great leader.
This will be helpful for you to become a more effective ,productive ,creative person, a team player and a leader .
Not just a leader this will help you to become an exceptional human leader!
The knowledge what you acquire through this MBA program will definitely contribute a lot to build great organzations.
We expect this programme would make many entrepreneurs to our country other than generating intrapreneurs. The role of entrepreneurship in economic development is vital.
Entrepreneurs make great impact in the economy by creating new jobs and opportunities, driving innovation, and developing new markets, products, and services. However as a country we do not have that many entrepreneurs.
According to the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka the percentage of entrepreneurs is about 4.73% of the total population of the country. Now let me share the figures of some other countries.
Chile-11%,Botswana -11.1%,Jamaica 11.9%,Angola-12.4%,Vietnam-13,3%,Cameroon-13.7% , Brazil 13.8%, Thailand 16.7%, and Uganda 16.7%.
The statistics given here clearly show where we stand. We have to go a long way to be an entrepreneurial state. The MBA programmes can do a marvelous job in achieving the above objective.
I wish the MBA programme launched today could produce substantial amount of entrepreneurs. At least 10% of total participants.
I am confident that the students of this programme will achieve a lot at the end. You will become a wealth to this country by being productive, efficient and creative leaders. Finally by being human leaders!
I wish you all the success in your future endeavours.