It is a daunting task to figure out what the company expects out of you. But one thing is sure, that the world is not expecting rising leaders to be generalists any more. Not so long ago, the prevailing wisdom was that climbing the corporate ladder in organizations meant transitioning from specialist to generalist. The belief was simple: the higher you ascend, the more of a jack-of-all-trades you needed to become. However, the rapidly evolving and intricate nature of today’s business landscape has flipped this notion on its head. The old-school image of corporations run by armies of professional managers is becoming obsolete. Instead, what’s emerging is a vibrant ecosystem where specialists not only thrive but are also the ones steering the ship, adeptly managing and leading through their depth of expertise.
As Wanda Wallace attributes, several forces have contributed to this. First is the dominance of knowledge economy resulting in companies putting greater emphasis on content, expertise and experience. Second has been the delayering of the organizations due to recessions of the 80s, 90s and 2000. Third is the increased oversight by regulators more as an aftermath of financial crises forcing companies to place experts in high level positions.
Wanda Wallace introduces a fantastic term called “Spanning leader” which captures the idea that your leadership can no longer be based just on your specific knowledge and instead needs to span groups that have differing knowledge bases”. But this transitioning is not easy and that is what the book is all about. It helps us understand what it takes to be both a Expert leader and a great Spanning leader—and how and when to choose which mode and in which combination.
Wanda Wallace emphasizes that Expert leadership hinges on what she terms as the “wisdom of depth,” that involves guiding with a deep understanding of specific content. Conversely, the concept of Spanning leadership, is about “wisdom of breadth.” This type of leadership focuses on a broad mastery of perspective, enabling leaders to oversee multiple fields, each with its unique technical aspects, and to discern the interconnections and the ripple effects of decisions made in one domain on others.
But why do we find it difficult? The simple reason is when we are leading based on knowledge / expertise in a particular field, the key elements of leadership choices that go into it are adding value tangibly, controlling quality and risk, contributing specific knowledge, and doing it yourself.
Wanda Wallace recommends a three dimensional framework for transitioning to a Spanning leader:
- How do you add value?
- How do you get the right work done
- How do you interact
I call this a practical guide because after the Wanda Wallace completes presenting the framework through a series of interesting stories, she devotes the rest of the book for the readers to explore themselves and carry out their own self assessment.
A no – nonsense practical guide!!