This month, the Director of the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International institute for Cooperatives, Eric Brat, has contributed to an article on leadership in the cooperative world, published by the consulting firm Egon Zehnder. The article discusses the questions of authenticity and agility in decision making through the prism of the cooperative model, in an era where the young generation of leaders is demonstrating a marked interest in coop values. Read an excerpt below and find the full version here.
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“Because they are operating in a world of ever-increasing complexity, today’s leaders cannot rely on what they “know” or what worked in the past. The most successful CEOs are embracing a mindset of ongoing growth and adaption–they are far more inclined to dismantle old, limiting habits and push ahead with agility and determination. These leaders tend to be more collaborative than their predecessors, capable of both delegating and working collectively, to drive strategy as well as fuelling growth through innovation. In short, much has changed over the past two decades and changes will continue: “The era of the hero CEO is over,” as Edilson Camara, Egon Zehnder’s CEO, recently put it. Having worked alongside many co-ops and mutuals over the years and after interviewing co-operative and mutual leaders around the world for this article, we believe that co-ops are uniquely positioned to lead by example. As one co-op executive recently shared with us: “The winds of change have been blowing for a while in co-ops.””