Experts call for compassionate leaders over polarising ones
With the title 'Leadership for the 21st Century', PROA Comunicación has held a new session of its Current Affairs Dialogues José Antonio González, Global Director of Labour Relations at Hewlett Packard; Juan Carlos Campillo, executive and sports coach in High Performance; and Juan Rovira, expert consultant in Leadership and professor at ESADE.
Leadership is a topical concern in the corporate, political and talent management arenas, and is particularly relevant in a context of polarising and authoritarian leaders. In the last Current Affairs Dialogue from PROA Communicationheld at its headquarters in Madrid, three experts in the field, such as José Antonio GonzálezGlobal Head of Employee Relations at Hewlett Packard; Juan Carlos CampilloHigh Performance executive and sports coach; and Juan RoviraThe ESADE professor and expert consultant in Leadership and professor at ESADE; have exposed the need for an ethical and humanistic approach for those who are at the head of companies and organisations.
At the presentation of the colloquium, Lucía CasanuevaThe issue was framed as "a time when we Europeans are yearning for firm, courageous and charismatic leadership that will resolutely take the helm in a convulsive international scenario. In the United States today, we are confronted with a style of leadership we are not used to. A President Trump with a style that is brusque, fast-paced, to some extent ignorant of form, and bluntly pragmatic".
During his speech, José Antonio González raised the need to redefine leadership at the present time, in which "change is the context". "In organisations, we must be able to understand and interpret the context, but being a leader also means being non-conformist and getting involved in changing what does not work", he pointed out.
In this sense, Juan Carlos CampilloFrom his experience in high-level sports, such as the Spanish national football team, he pointed out that "the leader must have a great capacity for persuasion and inspiration", such as the coach of a team that leads figures who surpass him in terms of income and media impact.
For its part, Juan Rovira expressed that "the first quality of a leader is to know how to read the game, as well as to be flexible and to be able to use different tools for each moment. To do this, it is essential to apply critical thinking and emotional intelligence. And, all of this, preserving the essence of authenticity, what drives him/her and the place from where the leader does what he/she does".
The power of kindness
The three specialists are committed to values, kindness and consideration for others to channel contemporary leadership. "If I don't know where I'm going, I'm not going to convince anyone. Leadership is about self-knowledge," said Rovira, who identified four key attributes for a leader: being competent, aware of one's values, compassionate and committed to transforming society.
These are characteristics that are within everyone's reach, since, according to Campillo, "the seed of leadership is in everyone and can be developed in the right context". A strategy that has been implemented by large global companies and which González summarises as "organisations where everyone can be leaders based on a model of trust".
Given the proliferation of leaderships that foster polarisation, experts recommend addressing the root causes of the malaise from which these types of figures emerge. "In our society we are facing a crisis of fundamental values," Rovira said. "We have to ask these leaders who they are leading for. In the corporate world, correction mechanisms, the stakeholders can replace a CEO, but in the political world it is more complicated," he said.
Leading in times of telework
Remote work has created a new challenge for leadership and the development of corporate culture in many organisations. To mitigate its effects, experts agree on the benefits of hybrid models, which do not completely renounce face-to-face work and which are specifically adapted to each company. "The emotional connection, remotely, is very difficult; if there is no combination with face-to-face, leadership does not work because the emotional glue is missing", said Campillo.
At the end of the colloquium, which was attended by executives from the private sector, representatives of business associations and academia, there was also time for the exchange of ideas and professional experiences on leadership and people development in areas such as politics, business and sport.
Lucía Casanueva also recalled that PROA Comunicación is ranked 30th among the top 100 communication consultancies in Spain, according to the ranking by The Advertisercompeting "with infinitely larger companies, which is a market recognition of our qualitative approach". "We are a communications, public affairs and digital marketing consultancy founded in 2009. All of us at PROA come from large multinationals in our sector and our company is committed to a strategic approach to both communication and public affairs," he added.