Opinion Minds without borders

The view from the backstage could be even more fascinating. For instance,one finds that the face of leadership is changing. It is younger,agile and multicultural. The Arab Spring and other youth-driven people’s movements have catalysed the young generation into action. Globalisation’s three pillars — flow of people,money and ideas — have created a fourth one,that of the globalisation of politics,where representations of citizenship are transferred from one country to another. The youth in different countries in the past year have thus been able to transcend international borders by learning from each other,acting often in similar ways,taking leadership towards initiating action and negotiations for political change within their governments. Role models for the youth have now emerged in erstwhile dormant regions. The global focus on youth-driven social movements in the past year has had a snowballing effect for young leaders to emerge out of complex social contexts and lend a hand in finding solutions. This change was reflected in the participation of young leaders at Davos too.

In fact,approximately 200 participants belonged to the Forum’s Young Global Leaders and the brand new Global Shapers communities. Angela Merkel also emphasised,in her remarks in the opening plenary of the annual meeting,the urgency of catering to the needs of the youth in Europe. Indeed,youth may be no panacea for guaranteed success but an awakened youth taking leadership at this time are harbingers of hope towards a different kind of future.

With the backdrop of incredible change and global reorganisation in the past year,there is a desire within the new generation of leaders to want to break silos,re-create,build and be architects of change. It could be the creation of a start-up,a book,or a movement — the lacunae today are many and so the variety of initiatives rapidly increases. Many of the young leaders have left behind six-figure salaried jobs to pursue their personal quest that have resulted in successful disruptive ventures. They have typically excelled in their fields but have also taken the path of giving back,to their community,society,or even at a global level. Perhaps because prosperity that the world had once taken for granted now appears to be crumbling,young leaders are setting their thoughts instead on how fully they can lead their lives.

Further,multicultural leadership is emerging as the antidote to the “wicked” interdependent world we are living in. So far,multicultural leadership has been associated with multinational corporations — understandably so,given the cross-cultural challenges MNCs face in expanding across international borders. This has now gradually been embodied in individuals themselves who are products of global endeavours and experiences. Of course,markets and overall workforces are becoming equally diverse as well,where change is so rapid that decision-making needs to be broadly distributed across the organisation. Yet,in such an interconnected and interdependent world,there is a need for leaders to be global thinkers and provide well rounded solutions that work in a larger context.

Also,leaders are even coming from lesser known or developing regions of the world,and from there they slowly build their global acumen. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Fellows programme dedicated to developing the next generation of world leaders,20 nationalities are represented. In its most recent cohort of 30 fellows,three are Indians from the diaspora. The profile of leaders participating in Davos this year has also been the most diverse to date,but with 0.5 per cent being Indians. Indeed,the intense global focus on talent identification,more because of the need of competitiveness in a crisis-struck world,leaves prejudices of origins far behind.

The writer is manager for the WEF’s Young Global Leaders from Middle East,North Africa and South Asia regions,and is a global leadership fellow at WEF
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