Literature Review on 21st Century Leadership

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW ON 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
Literature review on 21st century leadership
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1LITERATURE REVIEW ON 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Key competencies for 21st century leaders:....................................................................................3
Relationship with classic leadership capabilities:............................................................................5
Contributing factors to the transition in leadership styles:..............................................................7
Comparison of academic research on this topic:.............................................................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
Reference list:................................................................................................................................11

2LITERATURE REVIEW ON 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
Introduction:
In the current age, the extreme predomination of competition in the corporate world has
made survival extremely difficult in the dynamic economy. And hence, there is need for modern
corporate competencies in the professionals so that they can continue to sustain in the market
overcoming all the challenges and hurdles that are presented in the path. One of those core
competencies that the corporate professionals need to have in their arsenal before anything else
for optimal scope of growth in the corporate world is adequate leadership capabilities. It has to
be mentioned in this context that the corporate domain functions in the team environment in the
current age, and the path for progress in the corporate world can only be attained through
adequate leadership skills (Chhokar, Brodbeck and House 2013).
Leadership is not by any means a novel concept, the term leadership is age old; and it can
be stated that with time the concept of leadership has changed considerably as well. There can be
found vast differences in the basic understanding of leadership capabilities in the current age
from what it used to be in the past century. For instance, according to Warren Bennis, he defined
the leadership competencies to be the capability to materialize visions into reality. And on the
other hand a rather modern argument on leadership had been provided by Bill Gates, who stated
leaders of the next century to be the ones empowering others (Schein 2010). This assignment
will attempt to review the literature on the topic of leadership in the context of 21st century and
attempt draw a link between the transitions that has occurred in the leadership competencies
from the traditional leadership concepts and the leadership competencies required in the 21st
century.

3LITERATURE REVIEW ON 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
Key competencies for 21st century leaders:
In the current scenario of organizational structures, it is crucially important for the
corporate professionals to understand the importance of the modern leadership competencies in
order to be able to address the leadership needs and requirements that the professionals can use
for their advantage. There are a few modern competencies that can be discussed in the context of
21st century leadership, although the most vital element of modern leadership capabilities is the
transformational leadership capabilities. First and foremost, in the current age of leadership,
emphasizing on both interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies is crucial. First and foremost
leadership competency that the future leaders in the organizational sector need to emphasize on
is the critical thinking and decision making skills. Johansen (2012), has discussed on this
context that the importance of critically analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of an
opportunity that presents itself to the leaders. In the current age of competition, the business
organizations need to stay one step ahead at all times to retain and expand their consumer base
and hence, if the leader of a particular corporate team is not capable of recognizing the right
opportunities, it is close to impossible for the corporate organization to continue to sustain in the
market.
Along with that, another core competency that the millennial leaders must have in their
arsenal can be the art of effective communication. According to the DuBrin (2015),
communication is a key pursuit that is an essential element of the corporate world. The corporate
world functions on the basis of a co-operative collaboration of different employees and without
effective communication between them it is completely impossible for them to attain the mutual
understanding to make the optimal use of an opportunity and perform in a successful and
efficient manner. Along with that, it also needs to be mentioned that in the age of multinational