Page 29 - Appreciative Leadership

2 Appreciative Leadership

we drink, to the energy that powers our lifestyles, to the pain, hunger,
and sorrow in the eyes of children around the world. With the help of

technology, we have discovered, as if for the first time, something that
has always been and will always be: we are all related.
Acknowledgment of this interdependence leads us to profoundly

shift what we wish for and expect from leadership. Success in the
future will go to those who help us come into harmony, among our-
selves and with the planet—to those who help us to thrive as one
global community. President of the World Business Academy Rinaldo

Brutoco affirmed this when he stated, “Now more than ever, the world
business community must face the inescapable conclusion, at the core
of the Academy’s very existence: business must be willing to become
responsible for the whole of global society.” 1
To meet this challenge, leadership now—in the twenty-fi rst
century—must be aware of and respond to four trends currently defi n-
ing the social milieu of organizations and communities:

1. New generations have come of age. Younger people expect diff erent
things from work, from community, and from leadership than the
generations that preceded them. Today, people want to be engaged

and heard. They want to be involved in the decisions that aff ect
them and to be acknowledged for a job well done.
2. Diversity is the norm. Organizations and communities are no
longer homogeneous. Whether local or global, small town or
corporate, they are composed of people with a wide variety
of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, of differing ages and

preferences. Speaking many languages and sharing many
different histories, people in today’s organizations want

leadership to be collaborative and just.
3. Institutions are being reinvented. The context of leadership is no

longer stable or predictable. In all sectors of industry and society,
institutions have failed and are being reimagined and redesigned.

These new institutions are more fluid and more agile. In them,

distributed leadership and power emerges as people self-organize
to meet the needs of the whole.