The Leadership Crisis

In today's fast moving, ever changing, and highly competitive world there is a serious and overlooked crises. The crisis is a lack of leadership. More than ever our government, businesses, religious organizations, and our educational institutions need leaders.

This crisis has arisen in part because of the end of the Industrial Age. With the coming of the Information Age that we are now living in, many of our institutions have been reinvented. Life is therefore uncertain for many people, which makes leadership much more risky.

With the coming of the Information Age the Internet has connected the world together like never before. This new way of communication and doing business has brought change in a whirlwind fashion that has never been seen in history. Yet in the midst of all this change that has supposedly brought the world closer together, never have so many people felt so isolated from one another, disconnected from their roots, and unsure of their future.

This feeling of isolation for so many people has happened in large part because, as the world becomes more virtual the skill of human relations is quickly becoming lost. Thus, never before has the skill of human relations been more valuable. In the near future, almost every person will have an e-mail address and every business will have a Web site. The only way you will be able to differentiate yourself and your business is by becoming exceptionally skilled at leading and persuading others.

In the Industrial Age of hierarchal organizations, big government, and traditional families the need for leadership was evident. We knew what the rules were and we needed the leaders to hold us to those rules. However, in the Information Age of Internet based businesses, two career families, and the increasing irrelevance of government we no longer have a clear set of rules to follow. What's more, the command and control leaders that try to hold people to seemingly arbitrary rules, are no longer successful.

What's needed today are the type of leaders who can inspire and motivate others within this virtual world, while never loosing sight of the timeless leadership principles that never change.

Throughout history, great leaders were never invited to become leaders by their followers. They stepped into leadership roles by their own initiative. They formed the habit of doing what needed to be done, whether it was their job to do it or not, whether or not they were paid for it.

It's increasingly clear that drugs, gangs, illiteracy, poverty, crime, and the breakdown of the traditional family, put every aspect of society at risk. Leaders of the future realize, further, that government and social groups aren't going to solve these problems. It's not their fault; they need a broader network of helping hands. Everyone thus needs a sense of responsibility and stewardship for the community.

We also need to develop a similar sense of responsibility in young people. Begin by becoming a role model for your family. Are you serving the community in some way? Are you working to understand community problems to see how you can help solve them? Are you organizing service opportunities for the entire family?

Create a vision for a better society and help bring it to life!