A new brand of leadership

Can you imagine a city where public health officials have a “health internet?” Real-time data will enable them to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

What about a city where doctors focus on people, not on paperwork?

Or a city where medical records keep people healthy--not confused?

This is our vision of a smart city. But transforming the world’s cities into smarter metropolises requires more than technological innovations. It requires a new brand of leadership.

In our 2010 Global CEO Survey—the largest known study of its kind—CEOs overwhelmingly reported that creativity now tops every other leadership characteristic. Creativity is the new competitive advantage, especially when it comes to leadership.

We often portrayed yesterday’s leaders as superheroes. They forecasted the future. They led armies of employees to charge the hills. They were the generals of the global economy.

But today’s world is a totally different place. It is a complex, interconnected, interdependent reality: a global system of systems. And more than issuing orders from on high, today’s leaders need to lead by listening.

The mark of a leader used to be how big his empire was; how much information he controlled. Today’s creative leaders are known by the breadth of their networks and how quickly they can disseminate information.

Today, a strategic, five-year plan is not the end-game. Leaders like myself need to sense, manage, analyze, predict and react to changes in real time. We need to excel in an increasingly uncertain world. We need to thrive in ambiguity.

To connect and inspire a new generation, creative leaders are interacting and managing in an entirely new way. Creative leadership is about connecting and linking, not commanding and controlling.

Creative leadership is about exerting influence. Not issuing edicts.

Creative leadership is about building interconnected systems. Not silos.

All over the globe, creative leaders are re-architecting management systems so that they are based on inclusion, collaboration and transparency.

Today, we need to foster an unprecedented level of collaboration between the kinds of stakeholders who historically have never cooperated—much less worked with one another.

To be specific, leadership in health care now requires executives to bring together public health agencies, hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and private insurers.

These groups often have opposing agendas. Creative leaders find the places where their needs meet. This often requires a creative approach to building informal coalitions and executing soft diplomacy.

In many places including the Philippines, the health care system is not a system. It is a series of silos. Creative leaders are breaking down these silos and building bridges in their place.

The solution is to take a sick system and make it healthy. Make it smarter.

The mindset has to change, too. A world as complicated as the one we live in, cannot be approached with an intent to dominate. Rather, today’s problems must be approached with humility. Creative leadership requires an intent to serve.

Creativity is what we need to solve today’s global challenges. Creative leaders can help us get there.