Leadership styles and strategies are evolving, and former U.S. Ambassador James Joseph is encouraging the new generation of leaders to take advantage of unconventional forms of capital to build not only successful organizations but successful communities as well.
“The old leadership paradigms may be helpful, but it would be a mistake to assume they are necessarily fixed or final,” Joseph, a U.S. ambassador to South Africa in the 1990s and professor emeritus of public policy at Duke University, told a small crowd today during his keynote address at the 2015 Advancing Leadership in Economic Development conference on Southern University’s campus.
The speech from Joseph, a Southern alumnus, focused on organizational leadership in the 21st century and the SMIRF plan, which advocates that organizational leaders have at least five forms of capital at their disposal: social, moral, intellectual, reputational and, of course, financial capital.
“The resource for leadership, particularly organizational leadership, is much broader than financial assets alone,” Joseph said. “It is important in times of scarcity, when financial capital is in short supply, that organizational leaders be able to develop and employ the many other forms of capital available to them.”
Joseph also emphasized the need to understand that leadership strategies are shaped in many ways by culture and context. In some cases, the old, authoritarian style of leadership is needed, but in other situations, a collaborative and collegial style of leadership is more appropriate.
Leaders should also realize that others often have a contribution in their own success.
“The organizational leader who recognizes that his or her success benefits from the contributions of others is more likely to stow up the kind of social capital that can be an enormous asset that enhances the capacity to lead,” Joseph said.
—Annie Ourso
