FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Julie Hyde
Email: Julie@distinctiveleadership.com.au
2011 – THE YEAR OF THE LEADERSHIP CRISIS
Leadership expert explains how rapid economic change, unseasonable weather, the absence of client service and untested leadership present significant challenges to business leaders this year.
Twenty10 saw business leaders under enormous leadership pressure. Relentless business demands and constant change tested our leaders in ways they have not been tested before and placed huge expectation on them. Some are equipped with the skills to handle this pressure and rapid change. Most are not. This places enormous risk on their business.
Change will be constant moving into 2011, this is something you can rely on. A majority of the change is something that business leaders can not control. Take for example the Australian Dollar being on parity with the US. The threat of interest rates increasing further. The pressure that ‘traditional’ retail sales is currently facing. Mother Nature’s lashing of our great land creating strain on people and the economy. It has been reported that even the Coca Cola companies are looking at reduced earnings of as much as 40% as a casualty of the cooler temperatures and floods in Australia. That is only one example of how a company is affected by the weather. A very high profile and well known business leader in Australia has recently lead a campaign to try and get people back to ‘traditional’ retail businesses. While the GST issue may be a factor, the absence of old style client service is another huge factor as to why people are avoiding retail outlets. How are these factors affect your business and importantly your clients and how they do business with you?
Add a further dimension into the mix, we are entering a period of untested leadership in Australia with our new Prime Minister Julia Gillard facing into the same challenges and many more political issues at a national and global level. We have no evidence of how she will perform, let alone what she actually stands for as a leader. In Victoria, we have a newly elected Premier, how will he perform? He is also an untested and unproven leader at this level. How will this affect business in our country, particularly small to medium business? We don’t know and again, this is something Business Leaders can not control.
Leaders have been reactive in Twenty10 while being under pressure to keep up with and communicate change. It has tested their communication skills, their courage as a leader, their vision and importantly their ability to inspire a team in a time of rapid change while maintaining connection with their clients. 2011 calls for leaders to be proactive, to be creative and innovative and position their business for growth. The constant call by people in business is that they are looking for leaders, they need leaders and they want leaders. True leaders. A recent article in The Age newspaper on reform agenda supports this "We want leaders who have the courage to strengthen our economy and ensure that it benefits all Australians." If that is the case, leaders need to change how they are doing things, have clear vision and implement a success structure to ensure they can inspire a team towards a common goal and ensure they are delivering outstanding client service. They need to stay close to their clients and keep their ear to the ground, ensuring they are seen as a trusted advisor to all in their sphere to have any chance of growing their business.
Distinctive Leadership supports Small to Medium Business owners to improve their profits through leadership by providing simple success structures to grow the key areas of business that they can control. These being the leader, team, clients and sales giving back time, profits and power to business leaders.
If you would like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview with Julie Hyde, please contact Distinctive Leadership on 0419 33 22 58 (+61) or email leadership@distinctiveleadership.com.au