The Bayor article “Exploring What it Takes to Lead in the 21st Century” written by Eric Krell outlines seven primary competencies a leader should have in the modern business environment. The author puts forward a claim that when it comes to the priorities in leadership, experts always tend to mention shared mission, stewardship, and values. Thus, Krell makes a list of competencies that were influenced by three top drivers of modern change: globalization, volatility, and technological change. These drivers of change influence every business as well as their leaders (Krell 8).
The primary competencies provided in the article include the qualities that successful leaders are devoted to becoming: continuous strategic planners, virtuous leaders, cultural caretakers, active listeners, change managers, virtual leaders, and open innovators. Moreover, according to Kirk Coleman cited in the article, there are also areas the business leaders should pay attention to – succession planning and leadership development (qtd. in Krell 11).
However, the two other attributes of a successful leader that were not mentioned in the article include personal adaptability as well as being able to leverage networks. The leverage networking ability means taking networking beyond the limits of the career and create a close relationship with customers, partners on strategies, suppliers, and most importantly, competitors (Benna par. 8). The adaptability competency means looking forward to new realities instead of thinking about the usual way business is done.
If I were to rank the attributes listed in the article with some changes, the primary competency would be adaptability followed by network leveraging that are fundamental in establishing relationships in the modern economy. The third and fourth competencies should include cultural caretaking and active listening that relate to establishing close connections within a company. The last three attributes should remain the same as listed in the article as they fully reflect important qualities of a successful leader.
Nike Strategic Management Assessment
Nike, Inc, is a company that has managed to establish an international business that is hard to contest. It produces sports clothing, footwear, accessories, and equiment worldwide and employs more than forty thousand workers (Ackerman, Claar and Jackson 5). For the company, innovation is a center point to the business as well as to its competitive and growth strategy. The focus to become better, change, and adapt to the modern market requirements has helped the company to create the most innovative products for devoted customers worldwide (Nike, Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report 5).
Furthermore, apart from the strict focus on innovation, the company has ambitious goals when it comes to environmental, social, and labor-related changes. The integration of the Sustainable Business and Innovation model has helped the company to track the corporate responsibility integration into the business process as well as develop solutions for enabling the transition of the company into a closed-loop model of business (A New Model and Shift to Sustainable Business and Innovation par. 3). As stated in their Sustainable Business and Innovation report, the main goal for the company is the development of ecologically friendly and innovative materials that are recyclable.
The success of Nike, Inc. can be summarized in the CEO Mark Parker’s thought: “Nike succeeds because we’re obsessed with innovation. We are relentlessly curious about our world and how we can make it better. We apply that curiosity to our sustainability efforts, and we continue to learn what is required for real, meaningful progress” (qtd. in Through the Years: Nike’s History of Sustainable Innovation par. 5).
Works Cited
A New Model and Shift to Sustainable Business and Innovation. n.d. Web.
Ackerman, Dawn, Brian Claar, and Angelica Jackson. Nike, Inc.: Strategic Assessment. 2013. Web.
Benna, Steven. Harvard Says there 8 Leadership Traits are Critical for Success. 2015. Web.
Krell, Eric. “Exploring What it Takes to Lead in the 21st Century.” Bayor Business Review 31.2 (2013): 1-11. Print.
Nike, Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report. 2009. Web.
Through the Years: Nike’s History of Sustainable Innovation. 2013. Web.