For too long we have tended to think of leadership purely in terms of individuals and objectives. We imagine Presidents, Generals, CEOs, setting ambitious targets and managing large groups of people to achieve them. When the goal is achieved, we see the person in charge as a great leader. But should we?
Instead of thinking about leadership in terms of successful strategies, might it not be better to think in terms of the kinds of goals being pursued, and the experiences of the people working under them?
In short, isn’t it time we saw leadership in the 2020s as values based?
Success without diversity is its own kind of failure
I have spent my professional life in Private Banking. Today, I am one of the very few chairwomen of a bank anywhere in the world.
This experience has given me a good amount of insight into the kinds of leadership we should reject, and the kind we should value.
Over the course of my career, I encountered countless successful and enterprising leaders. But for many, it was success on their own terms.
These leaders achieved enormous success for their firms without ever questioning or correcting the antiquated culture of their businesses. They failed employees from marginalised backgrounds or minority groups, because they did not support them. These failings had little effect on how people saw their leadership, but that may be changing.
In recent years, we have seen a fracturing of old certainties. From MeToo to Black Lives Matter and beyond, there has been a reckoning as the downtrodden, the marginalised and the underrepresented have said “enough – we deserve to be recognised”.
These changes are now confronting the financial world, which remains deeply patriarchal. Indeed, to this day there are few opportunities for women to rise to senior positions, a fact reflected in the board rooms of most financial institutions.
A recent study by the UK Financial Conduct Authority found that gender diversity in senior roles varied wildly from firm to firm, ranging from 40% at a peak, to as low as 5%. This variety matches my own experience: I am the only woman to chair the board of a Swiss bank.
Leading beyond the balance sheet
Leadership doesn’t just mean thinking about the structure of your organisation, but also the impact of your decisions on the world beyond your organisation’s immediate objectives. It means factoring in the impact on communities and the environment.
The climate crisis, not the pandemic, will be the long-term challenge for business, society and the economy. The dangers of climate change are inescapable. The need to act is becoming ever more real – and will only increase in force and impact in the years and decades to come. We owe it to our children, to the next generation, to act.
Encouragingly, businesses are lining up to outline their latest sustainable initiatives. In my own industry, ESG funds are now forecast to outnumber conventional funds by 2025, with investments in sustainable assets reaching £6.8 trillion worldwide.
At S. P. Hinduja Banque Privée, we are pioneering a raft of sustainable investment vehicles, allowing clients to tailor bespoke portfolios centred on climate action, clean water and sanitation projects, economic empowerment and food sustainability initiatives.
The rise of ESG values is something to celebrate, but it is important that we do not simply think of such shifts as exceptional, as a reaction only to climate change, or in isolation. We must think of it as a part of a holistic approach to true, values-based leadership,
Businesses should always marry their short-term objectives with wider considerations.
Leadership is more than just a job
During my time in banking, I have worked with clients to show them some of the ways that their investment can both make a healthy return and advance some of the causes they care about.
Indeed, these goals are often complementary, because social impact and innovative thinking go hand in hand – whether that is investing in community projects or in a tech start-up working to improve sustainability in agriculture or to develop clean energy innovations.
The growth of start-ups today in renewable practices, from sustainable agtech to clean energy, makes it clear that for many entrepreneurs, impact is at the core of their business model.
That approach is now taking off, driven by a new generation of leaders. Investment in UK technology start-ups which are addressing one or more of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals has increased nearly ten-fold in the last six years.
People’s expectations have changed about how businesses should behave, in turn what we expect from our leaders has changed with it.
It is not enough for organisations to simply tout their social impact measurements. Their leaders have to now embody those values, believe in those values, and encourage their peers and the next generation to carry them forward as well. True, values-based leadership means learning from your experience, and then applying your values to help others.
A new kind of leadership
The time when leaders could live in silos, cloistered away from the issues of their local community, avoiding responsibility for the role their organisations, or families, play, is over. The concept of leadership has expanded. A leader’s remit is now more than to rally the troops or even to serve as an example. Today, it is to be a channel for putting values into practice.
Professor Shanu S. P. Hinduja was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration and the title of Professor of Leadership of the University of Bolton’s Institute of Management in December 2020.