The Evolution of Leadership

style of the new generation. In a global study involving 389 leaders from 28 countries, The Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) found that 83% of the leaders surveyed believe that the definition of effective leadership has changed in the past five years. These changes to leadership styles can be attributed to a combination of issues including a shift in people’s attitudes as well as advances in technology. There is an imperative for leaders of organisations, including HR Managers, to plan ahead and adapt to the movement of these evolving trends to ensure the best outcomes for their organisations. The move has shifted from Authoritarian leaders who believed in top-down management, strict rules and exact orders, to a progression into white collar careers with more individualised thinking and individual ownership over tasks. It was here that participative leadership styles settled in, and this style is now one of the most common leadership styles in contemporary society. Changes in leadership styles can be seen across Asia-Pacific too as a Harvard Business School Professor explains that, “As Asian companies seek access to world capital markets, they will move toward professional managers who will employ leadership styles more akin to those now used in the United States” . The participative style of leadership management is where the group is central to the decision making process, and not the leader alone. The work environment is more flexible and managers feel at ease in regards to drawing on the knowledge of experienced followers. Today’s leaders speak in terms of “open” dialogue and “collaboration, and indeed if you ask the great leaders of today ” they will invariably point to their close collaborators and mentors as being part of the leadership. in workgroups developing into “teams” with an emphasis being placed on team leadership as