Contemporary Leadership: Professional Skills

This short article represents the second in a series of posts discussing the evolution of the leadership characteristics required for success in today's business environment. It is important to note that the views expressed in these articles are my own and do not necessarily represent those of any groups or organizations with which I am associated.

In the previous article, I proposed that there are a growing number of critical skills to be developed by leaders operating within contemporary business settings, regardless if the leader's primary role is that of director, executive or entrepreneur. I went on further to suggest that there is also a requirement that the leader ensure that they are developing a balanced portfolio across three principal skills sets (professional skills, personal skills and technology skills) if they intend to lead their respective organizations to sustained success.

The desire to focus on professional skills has been the de facto development path for decades to the point where there are no fewer than fifty unique traits that have been identified as "key" skills across the dozens of leadership frameworks regularly referenced online.

But are all professional skills created equal? My own observations of both successful and unsuccessful leaders over the past twenty years would suggest that a presence of certain professional skills has a disproportionate effect on both long-term organizational success and in turn the relevant leader's career trajectory. In fact, I would offer that there are six professional skills that are absolutely essential to a leader's sustained success in the contemporary landscape:

1. Visioning - the leader's ability to envision a strategic path for sustained, differentiated success for the organization in question.
2. Translation - the leader's ability to convert that vision into a viable, tangible plan that is relevant to the leader's organization.
3. Problem Solving - the leader's ability to analyze objective data and subjective input in parallel to solve priority issues facing the organization.
4. Decision Making - the leader's ability to make impactful decisions in a timely manner to ensure the organization can achieve its objectives.
5. Communication - the leader's ability to effectively communicate an idea, plan or desire to all relevant stakeholders within the organization.
6. Motivation - the leader's ability to inspire and galvanize into action all the stakeholders relevant to the organization's success.

While there are certainly other professional skills that can complement a leader's portfolio of qualifications, my personal experience would suggest that it is these six professional skills that make the difference between the good and the great when it comes to leadership effectiveness.

The next two articles in this series will be dedicated to outlining the specific personal and technology skills that complement these professional skills and that are equally essential to leaders looking to distinguish themselves within what is becoming an increasingly hypercompetitive leadership climate around the world.