Everyone has potential to grow, but not everyone, has the potential to lead a large, complex organisation in the near and distant future.
Companies need High Potential leaders (Hi-Po’s) more than ever before to help them adapt to today’s tumultuous, digitally-driven business environment. If you meet the ‘Hi-Po’ criteria, you're in high demand - and this book, by Ram Charan, ‘The High Potential Leader: How to Grow Fast, Take on New Responsibilities, and Make an Impact’ explains how to fast-track yourself, set the path and execute a winning plan in this digital age.
Criteria for Hi-Pos are changing markedly. In the past, fast-track leaders were;
• tapped mainly because of their cognitive abilities,
• analytical skills,
• imagination,
• thoroughness in finding solutions and
• even perfectionist tendencies.
In the new climate, other attributes will count more heavily:
• relationship skills,
• experience,
• judgment,
• abilities to engage, motivate, and draw out the best performance in others,
• strategic skills and
• even personal habits and behaviour style.
Above all, companies see Hi-Pos as people who have the capacity to grow quickly and step into new leadership roles competently.
Today's high potential leaders, or Hi-Pos, must be able to identify the untapped opportunities their companies will pursue and mobilise in the organisation. They should exhibit three characteristics that the previous generation of leaders did not always need:
1. They imagine on a large scale. Hipos can take in a ton of information from many different sources and almost instantly find what could be meaningful. For example, Alphabet, now the umbrella company for Google and other subsidiaries, has a whole population of people who are working to solve the world's biggest problems.
2. They seek what they need to make it happen. Hipos will talk to anyone. They don't just stay within the hierarchy. A young Steve Jobs didn't hesitate to call Bill Hewlett, co-founder of tech giant Hewlett-Packard, when he was seeking technical help.
3. They understand the concept of the ecosystem. Companies rarely act alone in delivering their product or service. Hipos understand the complex web of participants, from the makers of small parts that go into larger ones to the mom-and-pop shops or FedEx fleet that delivers the product.
Hipos will come primarily from the 53 million millennials in the work force now. Text messaging and Twitter train them to be brief and to the point. With a wide mental bandwidth and ability to absorb key information, they can construct a bigger picture very quickly.
The primary reason companies like Facebook, GE, Netflix win today is the quality of their generals. Never before has it been more valuable to have or to become a high potential leader; one who can set the path and execute a winning plan in this digital age.
Reference: Ram Charan: The High Potential Leader: How to Grow Fast, Take on New Responsibilities, and Make an Impact (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)
