What is true leadership?

I am thrilled about the discussions over self-leadership, self-organization and the change of leadership overall. I feel we are on the edge of something great. What will be the role of traditional leadership in the future?

Over past two years I have been part of an significant leadership change, from traditional high hierarchical organization to low hierarchy self-lead organization. The situation was comparable to people having civil war and finally waving the white flag to start rebuilding the co-operation again. People were given the power to make their own decisions and they were supported from side. Traditional leadership roles were erased and new roles and ways of working were designed. The organization glided from high hierarchy to positive chaos and it succeeded with great results. How is that possible? With support, putting effort to the basics, coaching individuals and teams.

Based on our experience, Minna Sütö and I, we have build up a new leadership training program, LEADERSHIFT. It is about how we can lead ourselves in this VUCA world and how to lead and impact people around us, even without leadership status. LEADERSHIFT program is designed for professionals and leaders interested in developing and expanding their thinking. We believe that we all need to be able to lead ourselves and others in order to create success.

Our world is full of traditional leadership programs for leaders and we need to change that. One of my profound believe, based on my experience, is that leadership starts with leading one-self first and only after that we are ready to lead others.

If you are interested in reading more about how leadership is defined in modern world, have a look at Karen Kimsey-House's book Co-Active Leadership: Five Ways to Lead. I am very inspired by her. She sees leadership as a flexible system where everyone holds different roles of leadership fluidly moving from one situation to another. It is an agile and very collaborative model where everyone's input is needed to make it work. Doesn't is sound like leadership of today?

Are you interested in LEADERSHIFT? Sign in to our webinar from here (in Finnish). If you are interested hearing about this in English, drop me a line. I will be more that happy to share our philosophy with you.

Marika