Right Direction
Successful leaders are the major growth and change drivers in business markets all over the world. Their ability to create vision, inspire teams, and execute excellent strategies has been the most influential element in propelling businesses to heights of dizzying proportions. The last decades have witnessed unparalleled change in the corporate world with innovative leaders playing two roles as drivers of change and guardians of innovations. Their stamp resonates in financial actions, company identity, and the larger societyscape, and points to the way high-impact leaders’ leadership hand is often the difference that makes the market champions stand out from the rest
The traits that make great leaders differ as much as the companies they drive to success. From Elon Musk’s relentless pursuit of innovation with technology to Mary Barra’s revolutionary turnaround of General Motors, there is no mold. But common to them are visionary vision, agility, iron-hard resolve, and the capacity to inspire others to share belief in great ideas. These enable visionary leaders to deal with risk, balancing uncertainty against possibilities. Their impact is far more extensive than performance—creating an entire industry, defining new benchmarks, and allowing companies to adapt in environments on the move.
One of the most amazing things about outstanding leaders is that they tend to break conventional rules. Jeff Bezos, for example, revolutionized shipping and retail with Amazon by focusing on craziness on the customers’ side and blood-curdling innovation. By investing in logistics centers and cloud computing, Bezos put Amazon at the leading edge of the global digital economy. These great leaders like Bezos do not follow trends; they establish trends, with their competitors having to follow suit or be left behind. Similarly, Bill Gates’ vision of one PC in every home resulted in the technology being opened up and the age of the personal computer. Gates’s status as a giant of influence in global leadership history depends not only on Microsoft’s monopoly but on his philanthropy, billions donated to the world cause of health and education.
The high tech sector has especially rich case studies of influential leaders whose decisions have ripple effects across industries. Mark Zuckerberg changed the means through which human beings communicated by using Facebook, graphing a new social contact and cyber-commerce’s very essence. Such profoundly influential change might not only involve technical skill but also empathetic understanding of psychological, cultural, and economic forces. Great leaders like Zuckerberg set up platforms that end up being woven into the fabric of everyday life, throwing their ideas out into the world and creating new economic models in their wake.
But the great leaders don’t just happen in technology. Even in older sectors, their influence can be just as transformative. Henry Ford revolutionized industry with the discovery of the assembly line, enabling mass production and democratizing the automobile for millions of individuals. His relentless, always-in-motion pursuit of productivity established benchmarks for productivity and redefined the blue print of the new plant. Great leaders therefore do not simply adhere to existing traditions—they redefine them, creating a pedestal upon which generations are to stand.
Influential leaders’ power to drive industry-level growth is also seen when it comes to human capital. The optimal example of how empathetic and strong stewardship can guide companies through disruption-induced change is the example of Tim Cook. Assuming the reins of Apple from Steve Jobs, Cook ushered in stability in along with new lines of products to the company and gaining momentum in international markets. By positioning Apple at the top of technology and consumer electronics by being innovative and developing supply chains, he has made sure that individuals—workers or customers—are a company’s greatest strength, and organizational growth is spurred through establishing cultures of trust, innovation, and inclusivity.
One of the common traits of successful leaders is that they can take calculated risks. Jack Ma’s founding of Alibaba in China’s emerging digital economies is one such example. Overcoming the greatest of obstacles, Ma constructed one of the world’s most valuable internet companies and paved the way for a healthy Asian e-commerce ecosystem. Great leaders have the vision to see opportunity where others can only find adversity, and adversity is competitive advantage. Their presence not only inspires their businesses but also future generations of entrepreneurs who follow them.
Great leaders also impart on issues of social concerns an indelible mark. Oprah Winfrey’s leadership is far bigger than the worlds of media and entertainment; her platform has motivated countless millions and redefined expectations of authenticity and compassion in the workplace and beyond. Similarly, Mukesh Ambani’s wide-reaching influence in India—with a focus on digital infrastructure and societal welfare—illustrates how influential leaders can harness resources and strategies to foster growth that benefits both business and community.
These entrepreneurs in business are prototypes of social responsibility and commercial aspirations, and they demonstrate that business growth and well-being in society are not mutually exclusive.
Their great legacy also comes from how they could withstand and adapt to business cycles and technological revolutions. Walt Disney and Andrew Carnegie, to mention a few, weathered gigantic challenges but vision, flexibility, and perseverance helped them adapt to changing circumstances and make their mark. This sort of flexibility is increasingly desired in our rapidly changing world; effective leaders must get along with it, evolving and adapting consistently to changing terrain.
