Leadership failure is epidemic, claimed Will Marré, leadership expert and the author of a new book, Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner (Capitol Books, Sept. 2009), at the recent Excellence in Workplace Forum in San Diego. As evidence, he pointed to the successive failures of corporate leaders and the demise or bankruptcies of companies ranging from Enron to GM as well as the bailouts of our global financial system. In his remarks, however, Marré inspired senior executives and human resource leaders to be apart from these leadership failures by embracing a new leadership framework.

Marré proposed that leadership development has been dominated by business schools over the past forty years which has led to a “dumbing down” of leadership to a set of skills and attributes. He proposed that reducing leadership to abilities such as decisiveness, discipline, vision and inspiration fail to distinguish the critical difference between Hitler and Churchill or Stalin and Roosevelt. “The core problem,” stated Marré, “is that we’ve abandoned the first principle of leadership which answers the question, what am I trying to accomplish? If we are going to have a sustainable future leaders must have a noble intent, a purpose beyond self-interest.”

Leaders want to make a change in how they do business. A recent global survey by McKinsey and Company reveals that over 70 percent of global leaders say they need to improve their performance in solving social and environmental problems but are not sure what to do.

Research reported by Ashridge Business School reports that 76 percent of CEOs and senior executives believe that it is important that senior executives have the necessary knowledge and skills to respond to trends like climate change, resource scarcity and doing business in emerging markets marked by poverty, corruption and human rights violations. Alarmingly, however, only 8 percent believe that these knowledge and skills are currently being developed very effectively by either their own organizations or by business schools more broadly.

Marré has the answer for this leadership development dilemma, his new leadership framework he calls REALeadership. He stated, “If we are going to avoid the massive potholes in our future – resource depletion, environmental collapse, trade wars, massive unemployment, market disruptions and corporate extinction – we need leadership of a different kind, now.” Marré’s REALeadership framework creates a new, three-dimensional business model that “REALeaders” must take on in order to thrive in the coming decade. To find out more about REALeadership, visit Marré’s blog, CSR and the 4 Ideals of Socially Responsible Leadership.

Marré truly believes that REALeadership is the only leadership for a thriving future. In “The Future of Work: Engaging Employees to Drive Innovation” Marré discusses how leadership in the 21st century workplace based on creating a sustainable future drives employee engagement and innovation based on shared values where value is added to both the future and the bottom line. Furthermore, in his leadership development workshops, Marré shows organizations how a future of environmental sustainability, increased world health, and educational and economic opportunity create the greatest business opportunity in history.

About Will Marré:
Will is an Emmy Award-winning writer, leadership speaker and coach. He is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and CEO of the REALeadership Alliance where he helps leaders identify, communicate and implement new socially strategic business models. Will has been a personal leadership coach and advisor to multi-billion dollar global companies such as Disney and Johnson & Johnson. For the past 10 years he has focused on making corporate social responsibility strategic. His book, Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner will be released in fall 2009.

Via EPR Network
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