CACS 2022 Webinar

The world spent about $366 Billions on various leadership development programs. Yet, there is still no consensus even on the basic question of “What exactly is leadership”. Too many leadership development initiatives rest on the assumption that one size fits all and that the same group of skills or style of leadership is appropriate regardless of strategy, organizational culture. 

My own leadership survey (https://www.onbecomingaleader.net/survey) indicates that while over 82% of respondents stated that they’d asked themselves why they wanted to be leaders, only 39% of their organizations ever asked the same question! It is consistent with the hypothesis that organizations do not spend enough time and effort in understanding what motivate their aspiring leaders: leadership development intitiatives are often organization focused, rather than people focused. As a result, they tend to focus on leadership skills, rather than instilling courage and conviction to be leaders. Until that we can close that 40% gap between what organization wants vs. what aspiring leaders need, you are not going to have a motivated team that people can bring their whole selves to work. This is especially true during time of change or time of crisis as we are currently going through the pandemic. 

Aspiring leaders need to take ownership of their own leadership development, rather than relying on organizations for your development. No one else can understand your internal motivations for why you do what you do. Only you can chart your own unique path, control your own destiny, tell your own leadership story. 

全世界在各种领导力发展项目上花费了约3,660亿美元。然而，即使在“领导力到底是什么”这个基本问题上，人们也没有达成共识。太多的领导力发展计划是建立在“一刀切”的假设之上的，即假设无论战略和组织文化如何，同一组技能或领导风格都是合适的。 

我自己的领导力调查表明，虽然超过82%的受访者表示他们曾问过自己为什么要做领导者，但只有39%的组织问过他们同样的问题！这印证了组织没有花足够的时间和精力去了解是什么激励了有抱负的领导者：领导力发展计划往往是以组织为中心，而不是以人为中心。因此，他们倾向于关注领导技能，而不是灌输成为领导者的勇气和信念。只有缩小组织所需和有抱负的领导者所需之间的40%的差距，你才能拥有一个让人们能够全身心地投入工作的积极团队。在我们当下经历着疫情的变革、危机时期尤其如此。

有抱负的领导者需要掌控自己的领导力发展，而不是依靠组织来发展。没有人能够理解你的内在动力，即你为什么要做你做的事。只有你能规划自己独特的道路，掌控自己的命运，讲述自己的领导力故事。

Dr. Xinjin Zhao, a recently retired executive with extensive global business experience and always passionate about leadership development. He started his career in technology and subsequently led various aspects of business including global P&L responsibility for ExxonMobil Catalyst and Licensing business. He also spearheaded the development of the largest ExxonMobil investment in China, a multibillion dollar petrochemical complex. He personally attended multiple negotiation meetings with Premier Li Keqiang, Vice Premier Han Zheng and other national and provincial leaders. As a technology scouting and venture executive, he also worked with many startup companies around the world.

Born in China and educated at MIT (Ph.D.) and Wharton (Executive MBA), he always has the curiosity to try, the passion to learn and the willingness to share. Apart from his business success, Xinjin is also an empathetic people leader and excels at fostering an environment that allows people to flourish and develop to their fullest potential. He has a range of outside interests including reading, running, and photography. He completed thirteen full marathons in the last thirteen years. Xinjin also maintains a weekly LinkedIn blog with over 268K subscribers around the world on topics ranging from leadership, innovation, culture, running, and photography. He is particularly interested in observing and studying the similarities and differences between different cultures and seeing how different societies find solutions to the common problems we face.

For more information, you can connect with Xinjin at OnBecomingALeader@gmail.com or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinjin-zhao/).

赵新进博士，是一位刚刚退休的高管，拥有丰富的全球商业经验，并一直热衷于领导力发展。他的职业生涯始于技术领域，随后领导了各个方面的业务，包括负责埃克森美孚催化剂许可授权的全球业务。他还带领开发了埃克森美孚在中国最大的投资项目，一个价值数十亿美元的石化综合项目。他亲自出席了与李克强总理、韩正副总理等国家和省级领导人的多次谈判会晤。作为技术侦察和风险投资主管，他还与世界各地的许多初创公司合作。

他出生于中国，在麻省理工学院（博士）和沃顿商学院（高层管理人员工商管理硕士）接受教育，他总是有尝试的好奇心、学习的热情和分享的意愿。除了商业上的成功，新进还是一位富有同情心的人际关系领导者，擅长营造使人们能够蓬勃发展并充分发挥其潜力的环境。他的一系列爱好包括阅读、跑步和摄影。在过去的十三年里，他完成了十三次全程马拉松比赛。新进还维持着一个每周更新一次的LinkedIn博客，在全球拥有超过26.8万的订阅者，话题包括领导力、创新、文化、跑步和摄影。他尤其感兴趣观察和研究不同文化之间的异同，看不同的社会如何为我们面临的共同问题找到解决方案。 

欲了解更多信息，可以通过 OnBecomingALeader@gmail.com 或LinkedIn（https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinjin-zhao/）与新进联系。