Leaders as Explorers

By Bia Affonso

Reframing what leadership means in the 21st Century has been a quest for us at Neu21 since our humble beginnings. 

We don’t claim to know it all. What we have done is experiment with ourselves first then with clients by advising, coaching, steering and facilitating teams to become high-performing not because of fear of punishment, but because they trust and are trusted by their leaders and are connected to and find meaning in the purpose and vision of the organisation.  

This requires leaders to show up in a very different way. 

We’ve started working on this notion of dissolving the old ways of leading that got us to where we are today and re-thinking what it means to lead in an incredibly complex and uncertain environment. Most of the challenges a leader faces today are neither simple nor predictable. 

This reframing led us to think of leaders as explorers. First, exploring and enquiring about self to orient themselves for openness, curiosity and agility. 

Once we develop this capacity for self-awareness, we can start discovering what works for our teams: how to connect, empathise with and empower people for sustainable performance where wellbeing is valued. 

The next level is to see the organisation as a whole, to identify the patterns and the surprises in order to provoke real sustainable change. This means also hearing the whispers and identifying the emerging trends and opportunities for the future, and stretching ones thinking to explore how leadership can positively impact communities, the environment and society at large.  

Exploration doesn’t mean chaos, and certainly doesn’t mean a lack of strong vision. It is an invitation to focus on ongoing learning as the bedrock of great leadership. We believe it is a life-long adventure that doesn’t finish when a leadership development program ends.