Leadership under the microscope

How would you run a global organisation, demonstrate inspiring leadership, keep up with technology and innovation, and produce satisfactory profits? In short, what qualities of leadership do today´s top executives need and what constitutes the right global organisational framework to meet all commercial challenges, and foster loyalty and motivation? Leadership has become a hotly debated issue, which makes an exceptional study of three of today´s business leaders and the type of organisation they run, of special interest. The three are Richard Branson of Virgin, Percy Barnevik when he was Chief Executive of ABB and David Simon, who ran BP before leaving to join the Government. The principal question is: can leadership really be defined? Where are the examples of outstanding leadership that make a difference? The most successful leaders, we are told by the highly respected authors of ´The new global leaders´, simultaneously play two roles-one charismatic, the other architectural. In other words the first has the vision to energise, inspire and motivate; the second has the strategies to improve organisational design to draw the best out of people. The issue of power and retaining it versus sharing it is, the authors argue, what distinguishes great leadership from dysfunctional leadership.