Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood Emerging Leadership Trends Feb, 2021

RBL InstituteIdentifying what Leaders Should Know and Do?

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Building a strong leadership brand has six elements that must be integrated

Leadership Brand exists when external stakeholders (customers and investors) perceive your organization has built superior capability to develop leaders who will deliver the right results the right way today and in the future.

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Clarify what good leaders in your company should know, be and do

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Leaders must nail the fundamentals as well as what makes our leaders unique

60–70%of effective leadership is common to

any leader in any business or geography

30–40%of effective leadership is unique to our business

Agreement on what our Leaders

must do

LeadershipDifferentiators

Leadership Fundamentals

5Count as high as you can in 45 seconds, starting from 1

6Count again:Creates a framework for leadership

7Leadership Code: The DNA of Effective Leaders

8Leadership Code 2.0: The DNA of Agile LeadersStrategist 3.0

1. Create information asymmetry byseparating signal from noise

2. Harness uncertainty

Executor 3.01. Create the “right” culture

(outside/in; the value of values)2. Provide guidance to impact

decision making

Talent Manager 3.01. Personalize employee experiences2. Hear others to express empathy (avoid

“…isms”)

Human capital Developer 3.01. Empower others to build their brand2. Create psychological safety

Personal Proficiency 3.01. Navigate paradox2. Be transparent and renew

9Poll on Leadership Code 3.0

Given the current challenges/opportunities in your organization, select the top 2 most important leadership competences

1. Create information asymmetry by separating signal from noise2. Harness uncertainty3. Create the “right” culture (outside/in; the value of values)4. Provide guidance to impact decision making5. Personalize employee experiences;6. Hear others to express empathy (avoid “…isms”)7. Empower others to build their brand8. Create psychological safety9. Navigate paradox10.Be transparent and renew

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Leaders must nail the fundamentals, but that isn’t enough …

60–70%of effective leadership is common to

any leader in any business or geography

30–40%of effective leadership is unique to our business

Agreement on what our Leaders

must do

LeadershipDifferentiators

Leadership Fundamentals

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Leadership Differentiators

Firm Brand

FIRM BRAND: What are the top 3 things we want to be known for by our target customers?

LEADERSHIP DIFFERENTIATORS:What are the leadership behaviors that would reflect each firm brand?

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Leadership differentiators define behaviors for linking customers and employees in way that delivers right experience

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Examples of firm brand and leadership differentiators

Firm BrandThis organization is known for . . .

Leadership DifferentiatorsLeaders at this organization are known for . . .

Walmart Always low prices Managing costs efficiently; getting things done on time.

FedEx Absolutely, positively, doing whatever it takes Managing logistics; meeting deadlines; solving problems quickly.

Lexus Pursuit of perfection Managing quality processes (lean manufacturing and design, Six Sigma) for continuous improvement.

Procter & Gamble Brands you know and trust Developing consumer insights; precisely targeted marketing; product

innovation.

McKinsey CEO’s trusted adviser Leading teams that deconstruct business problems; synthesize data; and develop solutions.

Boeing People working together as a global enterprise for aerospace leadership

Solving global problems; working as teams; possessing technical excellence in aerospace.

Apple Innovation and design Creating new products and services that break the industry norms.

PepsiCo Appealing to the younger generation Building the next generation of talent.

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Top Companies:• Have built consensus around a model of what good leadership looks like at their company that is consistent

across all levels, geographies, and functions.• Have expanded from the leadership fundamentals to also identify and include behaviors that differentiate

their leaders in the eyes of external customers and investors.• Have involved external stakeholders in identifying those behaviors.• Have institutionalized those behaviors in all people systems.

Average Companies:• Have a competency model that most people in the organization have heard of and are familiar with.• Have most of the leadership fundamentals represented in the competency model but it is based on what

people inside the organization or consulting companies say good leadership looks like.• Have varying degrees of buy-in to the competency model (some leaders clearly do not embody the

competencies, some people processes are based on the model but not all, different regions use differentmodels, etc.).

Lagging Companies:• Have competing or no model for what a good leader looks like.• Employees complain about not knowing what it takes to be successful.• Discussions of leadership are dominated by flavor-of-the-month topics.

TOP

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ELA

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Rate Your Company on What our Leaders Must Do

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Questions we want to answer

1. How can leadership continue to deliver key outcomes for employees,businesses, customers and investors?

2. How does your company perform on building a strongleadership brand?

3. What guidance can you receive about having more leadership impact?