Leadership Crisis 2015: Do you have what it takes to lead?

More spending in human resource is needed to fill the vacuum at the top.

“Organisations that understand the immediacy of the baby boom exit and thoughtfully prepare for it will be in the best position to achieve unmatched success.”

(Allier, J.J. and Kolosh, Keneth, 2005)

When the whole young generation was busy in discussing the future of the world after 2012, the big guns of business were talking of the leadership crisis they will face after year 2015. Those who led the market during 20th century and even in the first decade of the 21st century will be retired from their respective organisations by then. The question is, who will replace them and how will the new lot respond to crises, they have never faced before. Leaders decide the future of any nation or organisations. Market and business strategies will not be the same. Organisations from the whole world have started working over it. There are reports that some of them are suggesting an extension in the contracts of existing leaders and others are searching for replacements and energetic backups. Sooner or later, the first ones will also have to change their existing strategy and to groom leaders. Those who are ready to face this challenge with a better plan will be able to handle it successfully.

“Leadership is an inborn quality or can be acquired?” the crisis has revived an old debate again and it sounds quite logical this time around. In past, organisations have experienced born leaders only but the challenge in hand is different now. They are not supposed to develop strategies to survive in the market. They are, now, to develop leaders for future. They have to develop replacements but the question is who will come forward to fill the gap, who would like to be trained by the existing leaders. Born leaders do not need formal guidance but the problem here lies is that the organisations cannot wait for born leaders to turn up. So they will train those individuals who, according to the latest theory, have made a choice to be leaders. “Leadership is neither an inborn quality nor can it be acquired but it is a choice of any individual who decides to lead his people in a given situation. He who dedicates himself to learn the techniques of leadership and implements them at his workplace, is eligible to be a leader in any organisation” they say.

Multinational organisations in Pakistan market have also started investing on developing leaders however they do not have a separate budget for that. As of now, they are investing money on leadership development from the training budget. They need to allocate a separate budget to develop leaders so that the people and the organisations could make conscious efforts to improve their leadership skills and to be fully equipped to handle the expected crisis.

Next week, I will tell you about the traits to look for in people who can be trained as future leaders.

Redirecting funds

Companies all over the world are investing lots of dollars on developing leaders. Here are some highlights;

Annual investments by the multinationals:

Accenture: $800 million

IBM: $700 million

McDonald’s: $480 million

General Electric (GE), $400 million

Coca-Cola:$14 million

the writer works in the Pakistan telecom sector and can be contacted  at [e-mail]

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.