Top Challenges for the Top Leadership Today

In today's complex and fast-changing economic, political, market, blink-of-eye-Technologies and consumer-preferences-and-habits => to say "that being the top boss is demanding would be the biggest understatement of our times".

Whether you are a CEO of the world's largest organization or a one-person start-up OR even someone looking for a job – you will have to master many-many more skills, than were needed say 20/30 years back.

In spite of all the right strategic planning [because of any of the external forces mentioned in the first paragraph above] – the outcomes could be totally unpredictable.

The earlier wisdom, solutions and techniques may not help – unless we too learn to learn* newer skills* faster than the rate of change.

Although there are no guarantees - In the climate of VUCA [Volatile, Complex, Uncertain and Ambiguous] – The future successes would come from disrupting the trends RATHER than following what is popular fads.

I have complied a list of 93 challenges that as a Top Business Leader you must address and overcome – Ignore them at your own peril.

These are Based on my interactions with numerous CEOs and Business-Owners [whose success-stories are worthy of case-studies to be studied at the Global Best Management Schools] – AND – also through implementing many simple yet un-thought of strategies and getting the results.

The idea is to help – the leaders to recognize, identify, learn, prepare and face these challenges head on – with informed action-steps.

Some of these are meant only for the top honchos of the global conglomerate – but most of the challenges are of almost all the people who would like to succeed beyond the extra-ordinary.

Even if you are about to jump into the entrepreneurial or job market – they would prove to be of the most effective skills and tools that you need to master and practice.

The word - Leadership - immediately creates an image of great men and women, who - in a moment of crisis, always rise to the occasion with the right response, the right decision, the right direction.

This is one of the biggest myths or misconception of leadership - that leaders always know what to do.

Most of the time leaders themselves - don't know what they're doing - any more than the rest of us do.

That's why every leader need solution tool-kit - that work against the most common challenges life throws at us.

The 93 Top Leadership's Biggest Challenges

• 1.Attracting investors
• 2.Reducing time to make money
• 3.Making the business reach the break-even point and then to make it reach the profitable scale
• 4.Accepting full responsibility [as a founder or the boss – even your employee's mistakes are yours] for anything and everything that goes wrong – AND – the pivoting correctly
• 5.Facing problems and being a problem-solver
• 6.Developing and Empowering your people to be problem-solvers
• 7.Being comfortable in Asking for help – when you don't have a clue what is wrong OR what you need
• 8.Understanding and accepting – who is the real BOSS – NO it is not YOU – They are Your Employees, Your Customers, Your Board etc etc
• 9.Taking actions even if it paralyses you with fear
• 10.Understanding that There are no guarantees – ONLY THAT – after each failure – you NEED to improvise take action again
• 11.Asking the questions constantly - What Skills, Talents, Products, Processes, Strategies etc - do we need in our organization today that we don't have right now
• 12.Constantly learning about the strengths they need to create for the next disruption OR preparing themselves for it-Best leaders don't just leverage the strengths they have, they also identify the strengths those they don't realize they have
• 13.Having a right team of Mentors, Coaches and Advisers to help you learn, change and grow
• 14.Going for the Top talents – AND -Ensuring that you best people are highly engaged and are excited for what their organization is about and the impact they are making
• 15.Dealing with uncertainty through candid communications and conversations
• 16.Reinventing themselves and their organizations by looking for and experimenting with newer ways of doing things
• 17.Going for enhancing the horizon of knowledge for wider-ranging subjects, topics, fields and areas
• 18.Nurturing strong trustable relationships all stakeholders – external as well as internal
• 19.Recruit and retain top performers
• 20. Learn to reach the crux from the maze of big-data to avoid Information overload
• 21.Go for pro-active Change
• 22. Overcoming the fear of firing – by letting people who don't support your values – humanely
• 23. Becoming expert in Execution, improvisation and follow-through
• 24. Following your own plan with disciplined approach
• 25. Going for creating culture of most admired organizations in the world – it is expensive in short-term BUT very profitable in long term on sustainable basis - You as the CEO creates the culture and set the tone
• 26. Learning to handle Difficult People*
• 27.Say No*
• 28. Developing Ability to handle Pressure without tension
• 29. Dealing with Adversity*
• 30. Delivering Bad News
• 31.Staying Motivated and inspired
• 32. Being Respectable and not likable*
• 33. Developing and Maintaining Focus*
• 34. Pivoting fast* – when any major project doesn't work or the event is a bust or When something new is about to start OR When something is about to end OR When times are tough OR During transitions
• 35. Facing and handling Public criticism, especially uninformed criticism, of your group or mission – like - Crises, which could be tied to finances, program, politics, public relations (scandals), legal concerns (lawsuits) OR Opposition and/or hostility from powerful forces (business groups, local government, an influential organization, etc.)
• 36. Resolving conflicts
• 37.Being objectivate
• 38. Looking for building collaborations
• 39. Going for 360-degree feedback and using it to set the wrong right
• 40. Observing* the trends and disruptions
• 41.Communicating* your vision* passionately*
• 42. Living your values* - values-based-leadership*
• 43. Setting an example
• 44. Maintaining effectiveness
• 45. Creating sustainable excellence*
• 46. Avoiding burnout*
• 47.Sharing the burden by Surrounding yourself with good, competent and committed people who support and share your vision
• 48. Becoming part of group or creating a group like Mastermind* with whom you can discuss your challenges and realities of leadership
• 49. Ensuring taking self-care*
• 50. Developing New organizational competencies in future context
• 51.Identifying the Where are the biggest gaps – which are giving you ulcers – AND – then working to fill them with both short-term as well as long-term capabilities
• 52. Nurturing and Refreshing leadership from within the organization
• 53. Polishing your personal leadership style
• 54. Experimenting AND Giving permission to yourself to fail
• 55.Learning to Handle the Millennials as well as the Generation -Z
• 56. Improving the quality and level of coaching and mentoring in your organizational culture
• 57.Keeping a culture of agility
• 58. Making use of technology
• 59. Elevate and retain female leaders
• 60. Business Up-SCALING WITHOUT SACRIFICING CULTURE
• 61.Up-scaling only after consolidation
• 62. STAYING LEAN
• 63. MAKING PEOPLE CARE ABOUT YOUR CAUSE
• 64. LETTING GO AND DELEGATING
• 65. Focusing on the Development of Frontline leaders – Preparing frontline leaders for their critical leadership moments
• 66. Developing result-giving and conducing habits*
• 67.Not leaving development to chance or individual efforts
• 68. Learning to lead several generations
• 69. Emphasize accountability yours and everyone's
• 70. Managing Changing Customer Relationships and Expectations - effectively
• 71.Staying Competitive and Creating Growth
• 72.Using Big Data and Decision-making science in most effective ways - Managing Information Flow
• 73.Managing Your Energy*
• 74.Creating new business models suitable to Disruptive technologies and market preferences Developing next-generation leaders
• 75.Creating a learning agile culture
• 76.Investing in inclusion and diversity for Fostering emotionally agile leadership
• 77.Launching more female leaders
• 78. Creating a High-Performance Global
• 79.Tackling Expectation of High Performance in a Short Period of Time - through creating robust tracking and monitoring systems
• 80.Creating Strong Brand Loyalty - by bringing something unique and practical to the market
• 81.Learning the fineries of Financial management and Cashflow Management
• 82. Creating a cultural of Innovation
• 83. Making the processes involved in running a business easier to monitor and take action
• 84. Using all the available Marketing channels to your best advantages - Direct, social, online
• 85. Creating Differentiation through very strong stakeholders value proposition'
• 86. Mismatch of Current Talent And Future Strategies
• 87. Lack of Digital Expertise
• 88. Loneliness at the top
• 89. Balancing competing interests and priorities*
• 90. Providing employees with the tools they need to be productive
• 91.Becoming more adaptable to change
• 92. Creating culture which promote employee well-being
• 93. Identifying emerging trend and right preparation