How to be a successful leader in the XXI century the way nobody dares to advice you

Nobody dares to tell you, not because they want to hide from you. The problem is most of the potential advisors you know will never even think about what will be key in the next few years. They are not true leaders, they never think out of the box and they never place themselves out of their comfort zone. They are just followers.

I am lucky enough because during my professional life, I worked as an Attorney in an office where we started with another two partners. Then I joined the Government of my region, the Balearic Islands in Spain. From there, I moved to a large family owned international company and, afterwards, to a global listed multinational and, finally, I started my own consultancy business. As per cultural differences and experiences, I worked in Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia and travelled extensively. All these experiences spanning more than 20 years made me think a lot about the good and the bad I’ve seen, experienced, done or suffered. I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned and to give what I think is good advice to those who aspire to lead companies, big or small and governments. Hence, I’m writing this article and in the following ten articles, I will be developing further the 10 points numbered below.

 

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We are at a crossroad, at a time when the East is taking over the West, at a time when young people mindsets are more than ever miles away from older generations, at a time when we have more information than ever and yet we fail to understand others – their culture, values, religions and aspirations. We are at a time when competition is fierce, we are, finally, at a time when many things will have to change, for the world to be a better place and for the new generation to succeed. At this time, the following are the 10 recipes I believe will help bright potential leaders to succeed, some of them, I know, unconventional.

So here they are:

  1. Take decisions that will benefit your shareholders, not you. They are the owners and not only in a family-owned company. In a listed corporation you do have shareholders, at the government your “shareholders” are the citizens of your country.
  1. If you are at the private sector, lobby the government for the good of your shareholders, but always abide by the law.
  1. Reduce internal meetings and business reviews to the minimum. Increase the time you dedicate to clients to the maximum
  1. Believe in yourself, build a great team and follow your dream
  1. Recruit and retain talents, especially if you are in a service-oriented business. Do not treat your people as numbers, but as talented human beings.
  1. Asia has become the center of the world’s economy and will be even more so over the next decades, so you have to know, understand and engage with Asia.
  1. Politics is a malignant tumor for any organization. Combat them with all of your strength.
  1. Competition will be increasingly intense. If you are afraid of competition, do not stay in business.
  1. The big ideas, the ones that change paradigms are simple and easy, but you need to see them. Try to look at things through clear lenses, not with tainted vision – with the tons of prejudices and preconceptions that fill your mind and the society.
  1. Corporate Social Responsibility is about making the world a better place, not about your marketing. Big corporations have the immense opportunity of shaping a new world, because they are present everywhere and they should know how to create harmony, tolerance and respect in a world where interests and narrow minds are creating chaos and terror.

If you are yearning to know more, I plan to issue a specific article for each one of the 10 points over the next 10 weeks.

Do hope you will follow and find it interesting and remember…I don’t think I’m right. I just believe we all can do things much better and contribute to a better world for all.

Manuel Ferrer
Singapore, 12 May 2015

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