The heroic leader, the charismatic, goal-scoring superstar who doesn’t mind carrying the team on his back, is out. Enter the post-heroic leader, the quieter, engaging team player who brings every player into the decision-making process. In fact, today’s complex business environment requires a leader who combines the best of both styles.

‘The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered in future centuries not as an age of political conflict or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective.’ - Arnold Toynbee.  Toynbee might have been on the right track but he missed the century. Perhaps his prediction will come to be in the 21st Century? In my view, it had better be this one and the sooner the better! We don’t have another ninety years to turn around all our crises worldwide. The window for changing course is closing and even the next few years could be pivotal.

Have you ever wondered if the debates, discussions and general conversations that occupy our consciousness most of the time are all essentially “small talk” when it comes to what’s really important? I’m not saying that constructive discussion about the crises facing us today – the economy, climate change, population growth, terrorism, environmental sustainability, and other such things - are not important. But don’t you have a nagging feeling that these situations – serious as they are – are simply symptoms of some larger crisis?

As we move into the second decade of the century the focus on leadership skills will be surpassed by an accountability for individual performance at all levels. Organizations will continue to need leaders, but those charged with setting the pace will lose some of their luster and the spotlight will shine more brightly on the need for every individual on the team to be more keenly aware of their own strengths and their own personal contribution to the company's success.

We have been conditioned to seek leaders who can fill those heroic slots for us, leaders who are capable of taking strong committed stands in the tradition of World War II heroes Churchill and Roosevelt, civil rights heroes Anthony, Mandela and King and medical heroes such as Nightingale and Salk. But democracies have gotten used to electing prospective political superheroes and then sitting back and critiquing their performance – not too dissimilar to the way people engage in detailed Monday morning post-mortems of the weekend’s sporting events, often leveling criticism at their heroes.

Remember the 1998 movie “Pleasantville” where the mainstream townspeople passed a resolution making it illegal to teach anything other than the “non-changes view” of history in the schools? The black, grey and white world of this 1950s town - where everything was “pleasant” - was invaded by two teenagers from the 1990s, touching off a revolution in self-expression which resulted in the arrival of color for the first time, setting off a huge outcry for a return to the good old days of certainty, pleasantness, routine, predictability and no color.

When you have reevaluated both the top line and the bottom line, there is one more very fertile place to look for additional revenue, and this is in the area of productivity. Adding to the top line is like putting more fuel in the tank. Cutting expenses and adding to the bottom line is like throwing cargo overboard or shortening your trip. Increasing productivity is like tuning up your engine to get more out of the fuel you currently have while taking the same trip or even traveling farther.

We've been working with several clients lately on developing their next generation of leaders. Without fail, every client grouping of senior managers talks of the weak or under-developed personnel management, delegation, strategic thinking, and personal accountability skills in their direct-report managers. The really interesting thing is: Almost all of these senior managers are individuals who themselves had these same weak skills just a few short years ago. Huh. I wonder how they gained them ...

Those of us who have been writing and talking about organizational and social transformation for some time continue to encounter resistance to change everywhere we look. As a systems thinking scholar I see it from the system/culture perspective which is fine for an academic take on it. But where does it show up in individual action? What is the forensic of the resistance, the fingerprints of sabotage or the lineage of rationality that prevents lasting meaningful change from occurring in complex cultures, be they familial, organizational, communal or social?

In an influential 1985 book, still relevant today, Gifford Pinchot III coined the phrase “intrapreneurship” to describe the marriage of an entrepreneurial spirit – complete with its fierce independence and lack of deference to established views and the strictures of conventional wisdom – with the resources of a large corporation. While these two spirits may seem in conflict, they actually thrive in many of the world’s best-run companies.

Creating a culture of execution is a leadership issue. It combines creating a "no-excuses, get-it-done" culture with the systems, processes, and accountabilities that ensure things are done consistently and well. But it's also more than a leadership issue.

I have discovered that, although most successful people are visionaries and intentional dreamers, they are also stable and goal-oriented. As Harvey Mackay cited, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” Most successful people have written goals. They communicate their goals, visualize the results, and reward themselves and others for the accomplishment of milestones.

I had the pleasure of listening to a series of CDs from Dr. David Ball, a consultant who helps trial lawyers strategize cases and understand how jurors might respond to their arguments. Ball's work is specific to litigators but his comments on "rules" caught my attention. I think you'll find value in some of them (paraphrased for a broader audience).

To restore society's confidence with those in power, leaders have to be able to inspire. I'm not talking about inspiring someone to buy into the corporate vision statement, to meet quarterly sales goals, or to work more efficiently. These aren't bad things, but right now, people are looking for a leader attuned to their personal needs. They want leaders who will encourage them, believe in their potential, and help them grow.

"It's nothing personal; it's just business," is a commonly heard phrase in the workplace. However, I tend to disagree with anyone who tries to impersonalize business. At its heart, commerce is a human enterprise, founded upon relationships between people.

As we grow in consciousness and become more self aware, we will start being more responsible for our world. We will make decisions that are based on what’s best for all instead of pre-programmed reactions mostly based on personal survival strategies adopted in childhood. It is a process - for some of us a lifetime one. And, like many processes, it has plenty of surprises, twists and turns, none predictable, all exciting!

How good is your company at doing what you say you do? How good are your employees at being the experts in their fields? In tough times and bad, how good are you at Keeping It Real?

There is a tale from Ancient Greece of how a prince turned a statue from ivory to life and married her. It is the story of Pygmalion. Remarkably, the principles of this story are relevant to modern techniques of leadership. Read this article to find out how.

In recent months, we have been inundated with stories about the economy and how it has effected people around the world. It is interesting to consider whether these stories report on economic conditions or create economic conditions.

If we ever imagined a global example of The Almond Effect® - this is it. As the full extent of this crisis is revealed and when history reflects on it and its aftermath, we will see decisions and actions driven by recklessness, fear, anxiety and uncertainty. Amygdalas - unable to perceive the difference between real and psychological threat - will cause, and have caused people to act rashly, unmediated by their pre-frontal cortexes; i.e. without thinking. This is one of those times when we have to be really clear about what is going on in our own heads and stay in control.

At this moment, even though it may be difficult, it's important that we stay positive for the well being of our families, companies, relationships, communities, and especially for our own peace of mind. But, given all that has been going on recently, how can we stay positive genuine way?

A day doesn't go by without me thinking about the power of appreciation. That's because I have trained my mind to look for the good things in my life, focus my attention on them and take a moment or two to deeply appreciate the things that matter to me. And even with that, I don't do it often enough.

At 97 years of age, John Wooden is a legend in the coaching profession. In 1999, ESPN named him The Greatest Coach of the 20th Century. The list of honors garnered by Coach Wooden during his coaching career is unrivaled. After glancing at Coach Wooden's record, a person may be misled into thinking Coach Wooden was a man preoccupied with winning. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Leadership has its own ABC; that is different from the normal ABC. It is not as simple as the letter seems to be, it has a complete depth a new world to explore. Every word for a letter has its own meaning and they define the quality that a leader must have. Each letter has a word of its own and each word has its own meaning with reference to the leadership context.

Mr. Whalen is a mild mannered southern gentleman, who delivered one of the most inspiring CEO keynote presentations I have ever heard at any business convention! As you might imagine I go to a few. Mr. Whalen, or Gus, as he likes to be called, needs neither booming CEO voice, nor Donald Trump bravado to leave a lasting impact. He makes an impact on everyone he meets, from front-line employees to his manufacturing clients to touching tomorrow's generation. Two of his mantras are: "Our children are the living messages to the world we do not see" and "The only profit a company has is the community that it creates."

What factors are involved in shaping up a leader, in preparing him / her to take up the leadership role, getting him / her ready to be precise? In studying the various aspects of readiness and during various brainstorming sessions in class we have developed a leadership readiness model with the help of human anatomy. The factors are ordered, ranked and discussed with respect to their importance in how the leaders use them to become great leaders.

The power of thought is indisputably great. For illustration, look at the life of Henry David Thoreau, a 19th-century Massachusetts philosopher. Thoreau's thoughts, as the basis for nonviolent resistance, would end up fueling two of the greatest social advancements of the 20th century - Ghandi's struggle to free India from Britain's colonial rule and the American Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you are like many, you may be stuck looking only at possible ways to cut even more costs. Quite frankly, you need to do better. Cost management is surely important, but if it is your only option, you are not stepping up to your responsibility as a leader. While probability analysis falls squarely into the domain of management, it is up to leaders to find ways to increase the number of possibilities that can be put into play.

Of all leadership attributes, charisma is perhaps the least understood. At first glance, charisma appears to be an invisible energy or magnetism. There's no denying its presence, but it's hard to put a finger on its source. Some mistakenly believe charisma is a birth trait—embedded in certain personalities, but completely absent in others. I believe charisma is both explainable and learnable.

I learned this week that a client started a program in which every manager is part of a team to help less-experienced staff learn basic project management techniques. The overall intent is to not only enhance the project management skills of the less-experienced participants, but to also identify and implement efficiency enhancement opportunities throughout the organization. This will enable more employees to take lead positions on future projects, to develop their individual skills, and to obviously support the company. Terrific right? Well in theory it sounds great. However, in application it's not so great. Why? Management's not showing up.

A key element of "knowing thyself" is sorting out what's really important to you. Without a clear sense of our personal principles and priorities, it's almost impossible to bring the picture of our preferred future or vision sharply into focus.

ICE Leadership President Angela Mondou, founder of the prestigious 2007 gold award-winning ‘Mission Critical Leadership” workshop [Canadian Society for Training Development (CSTD)], is proud to announce the recent partnership with ‘The Art of Business’ based in Doha, Qatar.