Leadership and the art of listening

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The Business Times – Leadership and the art of listening

In an interview with The Business Times, Egon Zehnder Chairman Damien O’Brien reflects on the 50-year history of the firm and the evolution of leadership. In this context, O’Brien notes that today, autocratic leaders will be less attractive in a global market that faces a rising talent issue. ”Today, young, talented people want to follow a leader who listens, who is more humble, more inclusive and more inviting of participation. […] Leaders these days need to create teams, and the answers come from within the teams.” At the same time, traditional qualities of leadership still prevail. These qualities include integrity, curiosity, resilience and the ability to inspire followers. O’Brien expects leadership across all cultures to coalesce around these attributes in the future. To attract top global talent, companies, especially in Asia, will need to ”create more inclusive, open cultures, making it more compelling for the best in the world to want to join them.”

Full story: Vikram Khanna: Building leadership, an interview with Damien O’Brien in The Business Times (25 October 2014).