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Styles or Skills

February 26, 2023

By Hakan Kapucu

People wish to have great leaders teaching and guiding them, or they might even have a bigger dream to become one of those great leaders. A small tour of job networks and social media can tell many people to dream of being a democratic, a servant, or an authentic leader. Or they may want to adopt one of those new styles and be a self-disruptive or technoversal leader.

The question of which leadership is the best will make us part of a continuous debate. A debate that the answer will usually be subjective and relative. But the leadership journey is already long and hard, and such a grey area can make it even longer and harder. It may be one of the reasons there are not enough leaders.

One Is Not Enough; All Is Not Possible

Detailing the problem a little further, imagine a prospective leader who adopted and somehow gained one of those leadership styles. Considering global corporations working in different cultures and situations, will one leadership style fit into every situation? I feel like hearing the answer, which is not very likely. Let’s look from another perspective. As one leadership style may not fit everywhere, what if a prospective leader tries to exploit all great leadership styles? I feel like hearing the same answer, which is not very likely. Because each leadership style has its definition and core ideas, and a prospective leader cannot possess all these great core ideas and qualities. It will lead the situation into a contradiction that I defined earlier as ‘’One Is Not Enough; All Is Not Possible.’’¹

A Style Must Offer an Aspect for All

There is such a contradiction, so how can a leadership style be meaningful? It must go beyond traditional business concerns (positive leader-follower interaction, growth, and profit) and contain universal elements such as considering other living—biodiversity, and nature. Today’s world requires everyone to act upon these more than ever.

And, of course, the leadership should answer business concerns. And to answer business concerns under a situation called One Is Not Enough; All Is Not Possible, there must be neatly selected and mostly needed skills of our age, the technology age. Skills and behaviors will take a prospective leader into a state free of style concerns. When and if leadership contains these aspects, it will offer a greater meaning to focus on leadership styles. Otherwise, skills and behaviors can do well for conventional business concerns.

Gaining Skills That Take a Leader Ahead of the Crowd

As we uncovered a leadership problem and gave insights about the solution, we can go further with the classical debate. It is the skills and behaviors that a leader needs today and tomorrow.

Research and analyses showed that leaders, employees, and researchers consider a set of behaviors significant. These behaviors are Agility, Problem-solving efficiency, Adaptation, Respect, Techsavviness, and Seeking perspectives. So I coined the acronym APARTS. It can tell a skill-based leader apart[s].

Also, experience and observation make another set of behaviors significant for leadership success. They are Diligence, Opportunism, Empathy, and Resilience. So I created the concept of DOER. As you already got it, it is not a person fulfilling a task. But it is a leader who possesses these skills. APARTS and DOER behaviors make gold and silver skills for prospects and leaders. Thus they become the Big Ten of Leadership.²

TAGS: DOER Leader, APARTS Behaviors, Big Ten of Leadership, Technoversal Leader, DOER Behaviors

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About the Author

Hakan Kapucu has founder roles at companies and projects. He has over 20 years of work experience. He has analytical thinking, and he is a polyglot.

He contributes styles and concepts to the literature. He has novel works in leadership, technology leadership interactions, and leadership-biodiversity loss-climate correlations.

Hakan took courses from the top universities and respected institutions in different parts of the world. He is an MBA with Summa Cum Laude.

He traveled to many countries on different continents of the world. Hakan believes in ethical working, the power of knowledge, and conscience as he wishes to spread the good. He regards it as a right that all flora and fauna exist for their own sake, so humanity ought to give them a chance to keep going.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/1hakankapucu

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