As the Chinese proverb goes, the tree prefers calm, but the wind will not subside. Manufacturers know this better than most. I’ve written before about the unabating challenges buffeting the sector – the overlap and interconnection of technological, social, political and demographic changes in recent years which have impacted the sector like never before.
To meet this challenge, today’s manufacturing CEOs are evolving their leadership qualities in ways leaders of the past likely could never have predicted. Recently, Manufacturers Alliance Foundation surveyed hundreds and interviewed dozens of CEOs, and found – as detailed in our recent paper with Egon Zehnder, ”The Evolution of the Manufacturing CEO” – that today’s leaders are rapidly, deliberately transforming their mindset and behavior to better fit the extraordinary challenges of today’s manufacturing.
They don’t have a choice. As quantitative futurist Amy Webb has observed, today’s business leaders cannot gain total control over the countless co-dependencies and variables in today’s tumultuous global marketplace.
So, how can this generation of CEOs manage these gales of change? By discovering new ways to balance old business polarities – and by building greater leadership capacity in areas that, frankly, would have been discounted by most 20th-century leaders: self-awareness, relatability and adaptability. Executive coaches call this “vertical development,” a reference to leaders expanding their mindset and changing the ways they think and act. In other words, inner growth, a concept rarely discussed in a bygone business era, is being embraced by next-gen leaders.
Emphasizing Soft Skills
Let’s take a closer look at these behavioral adaptations.
- Self-awareness. I’ve been working with manufacturing leaders for three-fourths of my four-decade career, and I know this isn’t a trait CEOs of a bygone era would have openly discussed. But the times, they are a-changin’, and so are the leaders. Most of the CEOs we talked with acknowledged that, to become a more effective leader, they needed both internal reflection and external guidance. Our research uncovered a significant trend towards a proactive approach: More than 8 in 10 of today’s manufacturing CEOs acknowledge seeking personal feedback from a variety of trusted sources. While longer-tenured leaders tend to turn primarily to their senior leadership teams for honest input, leveraging the collective expertise within their companies, newer CEOs also like to rely on guidance and perspective from board chairs. Either way, the commitment to soliciting feedback underscores a growing realization among manufacturing leaders that self-awareness and continuous learning are imperative for business growth.
That makes so much sense: Daniel Goleman, in his studies on emotional intelligence, says self-awareness is the cornerstone. That, in turn, is the key to the next behavioral adaptation: relational intelligence.
- Relatability. Manufacturing may depend on machines and software, but people design the products, manage supply chains and run plants. In an era of generational change and skilled worker shortages, today’s leaders understand the need to relate and be relatable to their employees. Again, not a trait that many 20th-century leaders openly deemed necessary. But as one CEO observed, relational intelligence is an increasingly critical leadership trait. “Employees have become a great deal more important part of the overall performance equation in recent years.”
To that end, while there’s always been a consistent emphasis on financial and growth performance, CEOs now consider health and employee well-being metrics of high importance as well. In fact, our survey showed that when it comes to the prioritized metrics that drive business decisions, health and safety metrics now follow closely behind financial and growth metrics.
In addition, today’s leaders are recognizing that, beyond traditional metrics, effective leadership also encompasses qualities such as authenticity and empathy – qualities that a quarter century ago I never heard cited by a manufacturing CEO. As one leader admitted, “I have to be so much more aware of how people actually listen, not just how I would like to communicate.”
- Adaptability. This leadership trait goes without saying – except that now the concept goes beyond simply an ability to adopt new business strategies. Contemporary leaders are trying to build cultures of adaptability in relationships. Our survey showed that a remarkable 96% of CEOs felt that relating with empathy and authenticity were very important. These leadership qualities simply weren’t discussed when I first started working with manufacturing leaders in the 1980s. Moreover, 94% felt that boosting the collective ambition of their workforce to continue adapting was critical.
“Today you have to be prepared for anything all the time,” one CEO explained. “You have to make decisions not knowing all the answers.” Without the ability to control all external factors, “Eighty percent has to be enough … it doesn’t have to be perfect – perfect costs too much.”
This goes to futurist Amy Webb’s point: As today’s CEOs simply cannot get their arms around the myriad factors affecting their businesses, they must lay an enterprise-wide foundation of adaptability, where employees understand the imperative of forthright and genuinely compassionate, human-centered communication. It’s the 21st-century model of leadership.
