Leadership competencies for the 21st century: a review from the Western world literature

Abstract

Purpose The proliferation of studies on leadership competencies have not yet provided a consistent set to guide the work of researchers and practitioners. This paper aims to generate a clear, literature-based overview of the relevant leadership competencies for the twenty-first century. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an integrative literature review and identifies four strands of literature on leadership, reaching back to traditional works. It reviews each strand to establish which leadership competencies remain relevant for the twenty-first century. Findings This paper shows it is essential to clarify and harmonize terminology used in leadership literature. It identifies 18 groups of leadership competencies required for the twenty-first century. The research reveals that leaders of the twenty-first century must be able to combine a strong concern for people, customer experience, digitalization, financialization and the general good. Research limitations/implications This paper is based on a non-exhaustive list of literature derived from studies published in Western journals, written in English. Future research should include papers beyond the confines of Western academia and entail fieldwork to test the comprehensive framework derived here. Practical implications This paper will help practitioners develop leadership training curricula and transform the leadership culture in their organizations. The competency list can be useful in recruitment and selection processes for leadership positions. Professionals will find it helpful as an index in self-diagnosis and personal development for their career decision choices. Originality/value The paper addresses the growing need for clarity on the required leadership competencies for the twenty-first century.

Differences Between Senior Human Resources Managers and Young Millennials Leaders on the Perceived Required Leadership Competencies for the 21st Century

“…Dinh et al, [25] in the review of the emerging leadership theories, identified relevant and significant new competencies in the area of strategic leadership, team and shared leadership, complexity leadership, authentic leadership, global leadership, e-leadership and servant leadership. Recently, the growing importance of digital transformation, sustainability, financialization of the economy, and the regular occurrence of crisis situations, lead practitioners to consider additional necessary leadership competencies [26].…”

“…Scholars in the science of leadership agree that there is a need to identify new leadership competencies to meet the requirements of the 21st century [33]. However, there is a lack of consensus on what these leadership competencies should be, on the terminology used to describe them, and on the number of required competencies [26]. In his review of the body of leadership literature ranging from 1869 to 2020, Ngayo Fotso [26] managed to provide a comprehensive list of the 18 required leadership competencies for the 21st century.…”

“…However, there is a lack of consensus on what these leadership competencies should be, on the terminology used to describe them, and on the number of required competencies [26]. In his review of the body of leadership literature ranging from 1869 to 2020, Ngayo Fotso [26] managed to provide a comprehensive list of the 18 required leadership competencies for the 21st century. The literature review on the required leadership competencies also show there is a lack of studies that investigate the perception of senior human resources practitioners and young millennial leaders on the required leadership competencies for the 21st century.…”

“…The objective of this paper is to assess to what extent senior human resources practitioners and young millennial leaders differ in their perception of the required leadership competencies for the 21st century. To do so, the extensive list of the required leadership competencies suggested in Ngayo Fotso's review [26] is being used.…”

Guest editorial

“…Over the years, scholars have coined different expressions for "training and development," witnessed by such labels as organizational learning (Senge, 1990;Argyris and Schön, 1992;Fulmer and Keys, 1998), knowledge-creating learning (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;Gherardi et al, 1998), learning climate (Cortini et al, 2016), action learning (Jones, 1990;Mumford, 1997;O'Neil, 1999), transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991;Hobson and Welbourne, 1998), implicit learning (Reber, 1993;Stadler and Frensch, 1998), reflective learning (Boud and Walker, 1991;Williamson, 1997), self-directed learning (Candy, 1991;Merriam and Caffarella, 1991), flexible learning (Lundin, 1999;Jakupec and Garrick, 2000) and lifelong learning (Moreland and Lovett, 1997;Oliver, 1999;Maehl and William, 2000).…”