My Leadership: Agility and Backbone Mix
When asked about the kind of leader I am, the answer is simple: I am a Modern Leader. A single style doesn’t define modern leadership; it combines agility, empathy, authenticity, a growth mindset, collaboration, and a focus on well-being.
These qualities can be seen in traditional leadership styles, including coaching, democratic, pacesetting, and visionary approaches.
AGILITY is one of the essential traits for any leader, and it’s where I begin to coach my teams and clients. In leadership, we speak of cognitive agility, but the concept of physical agility can help clarify its essence. While “adaptability” is often used instead of “agility”, I believe agility is more proactive, whereas adaptability tends to be more reactive. Korn Ferry further breaks learning agility into five parts: mental, people, change, results, and selfawareness. Early in a career, the ability to learn agility is the best predictor of leadership talents.
The second quality I emphasize in developing leaders is strengthening their BACKBONE. Authentic leadership requires standing firm in our values and ideas, challenging the status quo, making tough decisions, having difficult conversations, and being decisive. A leader is the ultimate decision-maker.
Modern leadership is a dynamic mix of agility and backbone. Agility allows leaders to navigate change confidently, while backbone ensures they stand firm in their values and decisions. By cultivating both, I always tried to inspire, drive progress, and create lasting impact in my teams and organizations while fostering a culture of growth and decisive action.
