Intelligent Leadership: All You Need to Know

The challenges facing today’s business leaders are unprecedented in history. This is not to say that the life of, say, Marco Polo was a cakewalk, but that challenges have sprung up from a connected, global economy that no one could have predicted even a century ago. Today, going international doesn’t require a business to be huge, and in many cases, it doesn’t even require a business to have branch offices in different countries.

Expectations are different too. No one wants to (or has to) wait for answers, and businesses have to be nimble and flexible while still providing value above and beyond what used to be expected. Information is power, and the people and businesses buying products and services have more information instantly at their disposal than ever. Usually if one provider disappoints, there are plenty of others ready to step in and fill the gap. What does leadership mean in the 21st-century world of business? In many ways, it means the same thing it always has: passion, commitment, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire, for example. But there is less room for trial and error, and recovery from setbacks has to be swift and sure. In short, leadership must be highly intelligent on many fronts.