Leadership is undergoing a transformation. It reminds me in a way of what the web went through between 2000 and 2005 when Web 2.0 and then social media changed the way we used it. Before that, the web used to be a one-way channel, where publishers published and readers read.

With Web 2.0 and social media, everyone became enabled and empowered to publish. This created an amazing revolution in content, in creativity, and in entrepreneurship.

I believe we are now experiencing a similar transformation in leadership. Leadership is no longer seen as being for the select few. It has expanded, and it is more of a shared responsibility between leaders and followers. We conducted a leadership survey recently, and about 70 per cent of participants indicated that front-line employees and individual contributors need leadership skills as well.

Another important observation relates to a question where we presented a list of 15 leadership traits and asked the participants to rank these traits. The traits included: Focusing on results, setting expectations, the ability to negotiate, motivating teams, managing conflicts, time management, stress management, organisation, taking initiative, technology savvy, social media savvy, having compassion, awareness of self, awareness of others, creativity, and innovation.

The three traits that ranked the highest were, awareness of self, awareness of others, and motivating others. This is a pleasant surprise, and in a way, it is part of the transformation I referred to above. What we see happening here is a growing need for increased awareness all around.

During our workshop at DKV’s Training Open Week, I break leadership down into specific behaviours that anyone can learn and practice, anyone who is willing, that is. Which in a way implies that leadership is not something that you either have or you don’t. It is something that you can learn, building on the strengths that you already have.

If you’re reading this article now and wondering, ‘Am I a leader?’ The answer is not a simple yes or no. The answer is: If you practice leadership behaviours, and take on this journey of awareness, then you are a leader in the making.

I believe that leaders are more “made” than “born”; however, let us not think that it is such a straightforward thing to do. It’s a process. It’s more than a process, it’s a journey, and it takes some real work.

This journey includes practicing new behaviours. The behaviours I believe can be broken down into five categories: Taking initiatives, focusing on results, developing people, thinking strategically, and learning indefinitely.

These are the broad categories, and within each, dozens of behaviours are included. Some are specific actions to handle certain situations, others are habits that one develops over time, and yet others are more comprehensive frameworks for addressing more complex situations.

Another important concept of leadership is speed. I break down speed into five elements: Physical, Mental, Strategic, Emotional and Psychological. Yes, the physical aspect of speed is about working faster. This is however the most basic element of speed. The more important element though is the mental aspect of speed. This is where breakthroughs start to happen.

Mental speed is about retraining our brain to be more focused and less scattered. It is more than just focus though. It is about working in bursts. Bursts of intensely focused time, followed by bursts of collaborative time, and then bursts of playtime.

Then come the strategic, emotional, and psychological elements of speed, which involve becoming much more aware of where our time and energy are, including our thoughts and feelings, and being able to transform them, and move them where we want them to be. And that is where quantum leaps happen.

Finally, I would like to comment on the discoveries of neuroscience and what we call neuroplasticity. As we experience new behaviours and new “eureka” moments, new connection form in our brain between the neurons, which are the brain cells. So when we practice a leadership behaviour, and experience related thoughts and feelings, and a “eureka” moment of some sort, we are basically creating a new connection between the neurons in our brain.

If we continue to reinforce the new connection, it’ll become stronger and overshadows old and ineffective connections. Over time, the old ones will fade away.

This is referred to as ‘neuroplasticity’, which means our brain is actually flexible and it can change. Essentially, we are rewiring our brain ...

— The writer is founder and CEO of People — On the Go, based in the US. He is helming the Dubai Knowledge Village hosted ‘Training Open Week’ from May 18 to 20.