Steven Chai

By Steven Chai

We commonly think of corporate leaders as strong personalities who imprint their will on compliant organizations. However, in the current world of turbulent and unpredictable business environment hierarchical/command-and-control approaches of leadership are simply less effective.

The fundamental shifts in today’s business environment compel leaders to rethink the nature of leadership. Adaptive leadership can be distinguished from more traditional models in the following dimensions.

First, adaptive leaders know how to navigate uncertainty and to chart a course amid today’s turbulent conditions. In an uncertain world, rigid rules are counterproductive. Therefore, adaptive leaders manage the context in which actors interact, not the instruction set.

They cultivate a diversity of perspectives and de-emphasize hierarchy. They constantly question the world around them. Adaptive leaders are always looking outward and realigning their organizations with a shifting environment. They read between the lines to intuitively grasp patterns that may be masked by complexity.

Second, adaptive leaders create a shared sense of purpose and manage through influence rather than command and control. They see the world through the eyes of others. By understanding alternative perspectives, adaptive leaders cultivate and embrace the cognitive diversity that underpins adaptive organizations.

Their ability to empathize with colleagues, competitors, and other stakeholders enables them to exert influence across functional and corporate boundaries. They are also adept at creating a shared sense of purpose. Because a complex and dynamic environment requires people to act autonomously and intuitively, often without explicit instructions, this is more important than ever.

Third, adaptive leaders encourage experimentation. Of course some experiments will fail, but that is how adaptive organizations learn. They enable individuals and teams to learn through experimentation. These leaders develop platforms that enable experimentation and learning, including opportunities to reflect on successes and failures. They also align rewards with experimentation in a way that doesn’t punish failure. They increase the agility with which the organization is able to correct itself.

Fourth, adaptive leaders know how to create win-win solutions. In other words, adaptive leaders focus on sustainable success for both the company as well as its external network of stakeholders. They build platforms for collaboration because in many industries, the success of a company depends upon the engagement of its extended ecosystem of suppliers and collaborators.

Adaptive leadership requires a higher level of sophistication and courage from the part of corporate top management. By focusing on the four dimensions above, leaders will better equip themselves for today’s turbulent and unpredictable business environment.

Steven Chai is senior partner and managing director of The Boston Consulting Group. He is co-head of BCG’s Seoul office.