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There is a dawning realization that the way we do business is changing, and leadership needs to change with it. The only question is how? Leadership academic Simon Western may have hit on something, with his ideas about eco-leadership.
Before understanding where leadership might go next, Western takes an informed look at what has gone before. He believes that past leadership approaches can be broadly divided into:[1]
- Leader as Controller theory (or discourse[2] as Western prefers to call it). This theory became popular from the 1900s and has its roots in industry, manufacturing and management science. As the West’s reliance on heavy industry has declined, so has its pre-occupation with the need to strictly control people and processes. However, efforts to revitalize the public sector, with its focus on target-setting, has seen a return to controller leadership to some extent. The leader as controller discourse is still popular in industrializing nations such as China.
- Leader as Therapist discourse. This approach to leadership emerged from the 1930s, but was most popular in the 1970s. Essentially it is linked to the rise of the human relations movement, and focuses on employee motivation and engagement. According to Western, some of the central tenets of the therapist discourse are still popular, featuring as they do in coaching and in emotional intelligence. Western also points out that leadership development is heavily influenced by the therapist discourse.
- Leader as Messiah discourse. This notion of leadership was particularly prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s when transformational leadership was at its height. However, the leader as savior discourse has enjoyed continued popularity, (not least because this is how the annals of business history tend to be written).
Western is at pains to point out that the above leadership approaches are not mutually exclusive – they will overlap and converge in organizations. However, one type will tend to dominate in any given department and/or organization.
All Hail the Eco-Leader?
‘New’ leadership theories can be a disappointment. Scratch beneath the surface and what is often revealed are old ideas in new packaging. However, Western believes that a new and valid leadership discourse has finally started to emerge since the start of the 21st century.
According to Western, the growing interest in what he terms ‘eco-leadership’ comes from the following three areas[3]:
- New scientific discoveries , such as quantum physics, which have changed how we view the world.
- Growing environmental concerns which have made us reassess our relationship with the planet and its resources.
- Globalization and technological progress which have broken down barriers to communication, while, paradoxically, seeming to contribute to increased feelings of isolation, and a loss of sense of community.
Organizations now have to operate in an increasingly complex and changing environment, characterized by complex, decentralized networks. Leadership, according to Western, must therefore become less about control and more about navigating complex and diverse business eco-systems[4].
The ecology of leadership focuses on[5]:
- Connectivity – in other words how we relate to and interact with the ecologies in which we work and live.
- Eco-ethics which means acting ethically, and respecting and taking responsibility for the environment.
- Leadership spirit , i.e. it places an emphasis on human relationships, imagination and creativity rather than rational aspects of leadership.
With the eco-leadership discourse, leadership works to create and sustain an eco-system that includes stakeholders and competitors, building networks and collaborative relationships, and addressing future issues such as climate changes and the problem of finite natural resources.
While still in its infancy, Western believes that eco-leadership is becoming more and more common. An early adopter (some would say pioneer) of the eco-leadership discourse was Dame Anita Roddick, whose entire Body Shop business was founded on ecological principles. More recently, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has pledged to reinvest all the profits from the transportation sectors of his business to developing renewable and sustainable energy sources.[6]
It is important to point out that eco-leadership is not just about being socially responsible (a common assumption given its name). The eco-leadership discourse is also connected to the theory of distributed leadership, which offers a more flexible approach to leadership. By allowing and encouraging leadership[7] to occur in different areas and at different levels throughout the organization, wherever localized expertise and knowledge can be found, organizations can be more flexible and responsive to the ever-changing demands placed upon them.
Eco-Leadership and Ethics
‘Eco-leadership … is about connectivity, interdependence and sustainability, underpinned by an ethical and socially responsible stance.’[8]
In the past, business ethics tended to be concerned with issues within and in close proximity to the organization, e.g.:
- moral conduct of individual leaders
- ethical responsibility of the Board
- ethical conduct of direct suppliers
As the world in which we do business becomes a ‘global village’, organizations must now also consider the implications of their actions on far more distant relationships. For example, an organization may contract with a factory in India to have its garments produced cheaply. Even the most ethically minded organization may find some of this work is outsourced again to workers in sweatshops against the organization's wishes. The onus is on the organization to make regular checks to ensure this doesn’t happen. Worryingly, too many organizations have been tempted to ‘turn a blind eye’ to labor issues that they perceive as too far from home. The same has often been true about organizational attitudes to the environment.
Unquestionably there is a need for leaders to re-define the meaning of success for their organizations, by looking beyond the traditional metrics of growth and shareholder value, and making a real commitment to being ethical and socially responsible.
‘Leadership success will be to harness technological advancement, knowledge and our global trading platforms, to ‘provide’ for a better quality of life, and a sustainable future.’ [9]
Conclusion
Organizations and the markets in which they operate have become so complex and changeable that it is impossible for leaders to have all the answers. As a result, the notion of the heroic leader is finally in decline. Western believes that the emergent leadership discourse is that of the eco-leader, which takes a holistic view of the organization, its actions and its wider environment, in order to help create a healthy eco-system that will secure a sound legacy for the future.
