Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2018 - 15

BUILDING LEADERS
SAM SHRIVER & MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

LEADING OTHER
LEADERS

When you consider the primary
factors that will continue to shape the
development of leaders moving forward,
start with change. The disruptive kind.
The kind that shines a spotlight on
whatever experience and skills you and
your team have developed over time
and renders them partially transferable
(at best) or even obsolete.

IF IT WEREN'T FOR
CHANGE, PEOPLE
WOULD PROBABLY
CARE A WHOLE
LOT LESS ABOUT
LEADERSHIP.

a plan. That plan was grounded in some
sort of informed insight. That plan would
guide the manner in which we would
adapt, adjust, retool and deliver results,
regardless of the obstacles change put
in our paths. Leaders told us what we
had to do to navigate our way around, or
directly through, that disruption.
However, the dynamics of change are
becoming so much more complicated.
Leaders struggle to leverage informed
insight to point us in the right direction,
because quite often they don't have
any. Leaders haven't "thought things
through," because the things they are
challenged by require real-time thinking
with limited points of valid reference.

There has been more disruptive change
in the last three years than in the
previous 300. That reality hasn't been
lost on anybody. And there is no reason
to believe that pattern isn't going to
continue to repeat itself (perhaps even
more aggressively) moving forward.

With ever-increasing regularity, leaders
no longer have the answers. In many
cases, leaders no longer even know the
right questions. Leaders stand with the
rest of us, facing unique challenges that
few of us could have imagined just a
short time ago. So, how will the leaders
of the future add value?

The implications of those disruptive
patterns on effective leadership are
profound. As a matter of fact, when you
think about it, if it weren't for change,
people would probably care a whole
lot less about leadership. In effect,
leadership is the language of change.
Leaders have long been the people
that helped the rest of us recognize and
respond to change. In the midst of all the
chaos and uncertainty, those leaders had

They will start with relevant data, and
they will openly share it with all of us,
transparently and across the board. We
will know what they know. We will be
able to see, with intimidating clarity,
where we are and where we need to go.
Leaders will spend less time explaining
the nuances of the numbers and more
time putting the numbers in front of
our faces and asking us to interpret
their meaning.

After we analyze the information that
most accurately pinpoints our position,
we will need to formulate a plan. This
is where things will really get weird.
The leaders of the future will place
responsibility for the formulation of
that plan squarely in our hands. It's not
that they won't have an opinion or a
perspective on what we should do. It's
simply that they will recognize that if
they share their opinion, there will be a
strong probability the members of our
team will adopt it (in whole or in part). At
that point, it becomes the leader's plan,
and not ours.
Once a plan is in place, the leader will
focus on providing feedback, which will
drive escalating levels of transparent
accountability. Each member of the
team will be inescapably aware of their
role, their responsibilities to the team
and the quality of their contribution
relative to the expectations that have
been established. In essence, the
leaders of the future will be facilitators
of the leaders on their teams as they
embrace and adapt to whatever change
may bring.

Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority
in helping successful leaders get even better.
Sam Shriver is the senior vice president
of commercial operations and product
development at The Center for Leadership
Studies. Email Marshall and Sam.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - THE MODERN LEARNING MINDSET 20 18 I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2018