Leadership models for the 21st century

The leadership theorists have many models that can be used for the leader to understand their role. Leadership can make a major difference in addressing challenges of small business. Leaders who will succeed in the 21st century will be those who can (Bennis & Nanus 1995):

+ Set direction during turbulent times

+ Manage change while still providing exceptional customer service and quality

+ Attract resources and forge new alliances to accommodate new contingencies

+ Harness diversity on a global scale

+ Inspire a sense of optimism, enthusiasm and commitment among followers

+ Be a leader of leaders

These would certainly be important ingredients to the success of any enterprise.

Leading is influencing, guiding or directing course, action or opinion, as opposed to managing, which is to bring about or accomplish. "Management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right thing," (Bennis 1993).

Exercising power to influence others along with relationships and persuasion is important (Kotter 1999). There are six methods of influencing face-to-face, which are:

+ Obligation Power + Expertise Power + Identification with Manager Power + Perceived Dependence + Coercively Exercised Power based

on Dependence

+ Persuasion

Transactional leadership occurs when one person takes initiative in making contact for the exchange of a valued thing. Transformation leadership is when one or more persons join together to mutually raise one another to higher levels of motivation or morality (Burns 1978). To simplify the concept, transactional leadership is management-oriented and transformational is true leadership.

Situational leadership theory (Hersey and Blanchard 1982) refers to the context of leadership based on situations and competencies of followers. Leaders are involved in different activities depending on the task involved and the nature of the group performing the task. The idea is to adapt the activities to fit the context of the circumstances. The major considerations that vary are relationship behaviors, task behaviors and follower maturity. Leadership actions range from telling to participating and delegating to selling.

The most important task of leaders is to mobilize the people to address the challenge of adapting their work to the changing realities. It is important for leaders to realize that the solutions to adaptive challenges are in the collective intelligence of the employees at all levels (Heifets and Laurie 1997).

The advice seems clear. The theorists have shed light on what the job entails in the 21st century - set direction, maintain customer service and quality and recruit as well as inspire a diverse workforce on a global scale.

The most important parts are to understand the current reality, help followers adapt to the changes in the work involved and to say "thank-you." There are various tools of power and influence that can be used to accomplish the objective, but not all situations are alike. We must apply power and influence differently according to the situation. The problem with these theories when applied to small business owners is that they are missing context and are therefore incomplete. The context that is missing is the behaviors and knowledge of the business owners as individuals. The culture and capability of a small business is a direct reflection of the owner's strengths and weaknesses to fulfill the leadership role.