Managing Editor
When your computer crashes, you reboot it.
When leadership doesn’t keep up with the flow of change, it needs a reboot, too.
That’s the message from Meninak Club of Jacksonville member Richard Hadden, an author, consultant and professional speaker. Hadden shared themes from his upcoming book with the club on Monday.
“Rebooting Leadership” should be released this fall, he said. It is written by Hadden, Meredith Kimbell and Bill Catlette.
“It’s about serving those who serve our customers,” said Hadden.
A Jacksonville native and graduate of both Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida, Hadden is co-author of the “Contented Cows” leadership book series and a partner in Contented Cow Partners.
Hadden said leadership requirements have changed dramatically as the workforce has evolved. Defining leadership as “the earned consent of followers,” he found five factors for corporate and other leaders to consider:
• Institutional trust has cratered. He defined trust as a person’s willingness to take risks for a leader. If a leader doesn’t know if he or she can inspire such risk, it’s necessary to enlist someone to be honest about it. “Find someone to call you on it.”
• There’s a new deal in the workplace. People don’t stay on the job as long as before, he said. In 1950, the average job tenure was 19 years. Today, it’s 3.7 years, and that’s for those who actually work for a company. He said 22 percent of workers defined themselves as self-employed.
“We just don’t have the same connection with our employer,” he said. One successful worker who spent time with many companies put it like this: “I didn’t marry this job. We’re just dating.”
• Workspaces have fewer or no boundaries. Hadden said employees do work-related tasks off-hours and do personal tasks at work. Employees and employers need to set boundaries, and that includes handling e-mail. “You don’t have to respond to every e-mail the second you get it,” he said. He advocates some forms of “benign neglect.” “Some fires just need to burn themselves out,” said Hadden.
• Vision and meaning are more important now. Employees want to know that what they do has impact and meaning. “It’s not about a mission statement,” he said.
• Speed is central. Business is moving faster all the time, he said. “Tighter deadlines, shorter turnaround times, decisions have to be made more quickly and customers want things now,” he said.
That, he said, means employees must trust their leaders that they are heading in the right direction.
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