Cirrus CEO Dr Simon Hayward writes for CEO Middle East
Successful businesses are no longer automatically seen as synonymous with big leaders, like the late Steve Jobs or Jack Welch. Dr Simon Hayward, CEO of Cirrus and author of Connected Leadership, says the future of leadership is staying connected to your employees.
In this extensive article, Simon considers the challenges of leadership in today’s complex and volatile environment is about being connected. Connected leadership marks a pronounced shift from the old model of hierarchical command and control to a new model of leading through influence. It relies on effective communication and connection across the organisation based on a consistent set of assumptions and beliefs.
Simon demonstrates how today’s most successful leaders connect people across the organisation to strategic goals and to customers by developing a shared agenda through purpose, direction and values. They devolve decision-making responsibility and encourage a culture of collaboration and teamwork. They stimulate a high degree of empowerment and trust that each person and team will perform to the best of their ability. They increase agility through developing a learning culture that drives innovation and ruthless prioritisation. They are connected leaders.
This article explains the key factors of connected leadership and highlights some interesting real-life examples. It touches on some prominent leadership theories and models as well as Simon’s own extensive research – all of which is explored in more depth in the book itself.
The article contends that an effective modern leader cannot act in isolation. Rather, we have to work with our colleagues to create a delicate balance between distributing power while retaining a strong core structure. If everyone is working with a consistent set of assumptions about ‘what great looks like’, they can in turn make the right decisions for customers, which drives loyalty and advocacy in the marketplace.
Read the full article on the Cirrus website.
Read the full article in CEO Middle East magazine.
