User:Pjdevilliers/sandbox

New economy leadership is a leadership style that represents the shift in values in high performance organisations as they move from the old economy  to the new economy. A new economy leader is an authentic leader, a leader who is self-aware, knows his / her strengths and weaknesses, and builds complementary teams to complement and counter these. Above all, a new economy leader has a strong moral compass and holds himself / herself and his / her colleagues to high ethical standards.

Background
The new economy represents a fundamental shift, not only driven by technological change, but also by the need for sustainable organisations. To meet the demands of operating in the new economy, organisations will need a new breed of leader representing a profound transformation of values.

According to Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana, this new economy leadership takes us into the fourth era of modern corporate leadership.

The first era was defined by the company founders such as John D Rockefeller and Benjamin Goodrich. This era was dominated by leaders who founded and created companies.

The second era beginning in the 1920s and lasting to the 1970s was defined by relatively anonymous leaders, dedicated to ensuring the continuity of the firm. This era was termed the era of the "organisation man" by Fortune (magazine) editor William H. Whyte.

In the early 1980s the third era of leadership began. This era was defined by the charismatic or hero leader such as Jack Welch or Lee Iacocca. Leadership become focussed on the individual whose sole goal, driven by compensation, was to increase profits.

In the fourth era of leadership, the charismatic or hero leader is no more. The focus has shifted from handing down orders from the top to creating conditions for things to get done.

In the fourth era of leadership a new type of leader is born, the new economy leader.

New Economy Leadership
New Economy leadership is a leadership style that represents a shift in values from the Old Economy first and second waves of behaviour to the new economy third and fourth waves of behaviour in order to create a high performance organisation that drives sustainable competitiveness.

Under New Economy leadership, everyone in the organisation needs to develop and live third and fourth wave values, with the primary intent of collaboration and co-creation.

Characteristics of a New Economy Leader
The leaders in high performance new economy organisations are not individualistic leaders. Instead, they are leaders who achieve success by enabling their employees through the way they work together.

New economy leaders are committed to the mission and goals of the organisation and not to individualistic goals or glory. According to Vanourek and Vanourek, new economy leaders employ 5 essential leadership practices to create high performance with integrity. These 5 essential leadership practices are:
 * 1) Deploying effective managerial skills. Leaders need to be able to organise, plan, assemble essential information, communicate effectively, make decisions without complete information and align diverse groups for effective performance.
 * 2) Developing a healthy personal core by ensuring physical, mental and emotional well-being.
 * 3) Employing leadership versatility, thereby being able to vary leadership style when demanded. A versatile new economy leader will shift between hard and soft edges as the situation demands. A hard edge is leader centric, making use of positional authority to make a decision or enforce a deadline. A soft edge is collaborative, aligning stakeholders and empowering colleagues. If there is no crisis, a leader should typically work towards the soft edge.
 * 4) Draw out and articulate a compelling and collaboratively developed shared future that encompasses the organisation purpose, values and vision.
 * 5) Encouraging “plural” leadership throughout the organisation. In plural leadership no single person is the leader all the time. Instead, leadership is distributed throughout the organisation with leadership flowing amongst diverse, aligned and committed people as the situation demands.

Leaders in high performing organisations are self-aware, know their strengths and weaknesses, and build complementary teams to complement and counter these. New economy leaders are authentic and true to themselves, they do not try adopt someone else’s leadership style. Above all, new economy leaders act from a strong moral compass, holding themselves and their colleagues to high ethical standards.