Traditionally, leadership models are vertical.
The leader has a hierarchical relationship with her/his followers.
The leader leads from the top and the follower looks up to the leader from the bottom and follows.
This does not work anymore in this extremely dynamic and networked world:
There is no way that leaders can know and understand everything what’s going on inside
and outside their organization.
Also Followers do not want to be told anymore what to do.
And other stakeholders want to be engaged
in the decision making of the leader.
Consequently, leaders need to rely on their people and the
broader stakeholders around their business and engage with them at an equal footing.
Therefore, sustainable leaders need to adopt a more
horizontal approach.
They need to understand people across cultures, embrace diversity and build productive,
long-term relationships with key stakeholders through dialogue,
leading to concrete and positive results.