Naewna on February 24, 2018

The comparison between 

the old generation leader, Nelson Mandela 

and the new generation leader, Elon Musk

When I write each article, I want it to greatly benefit the readers and give them more knowledge.

In the former article, ethical capital problem reflected that good leaders should not be smart as 4.0 leader. They must also have morality and ethics. They must be implanted during childhood at the family level. The educational system teaches them thinking skill to analyze fake news and do the right things even though there is no controlling law or authorities.

Leadership education in a part of human capital is important. It is right to mention about leadership in all dimensions. We must select some items to be useful for the readers to apply. Therefore, the study of leadership must look at the context and apply 2R’s Theory: Reality and Relevance.

Last week, at the National Housing authority, there was a 9-day the program and workshop. Mrs. Pitchabhuree Chandrakamol and I conducted workshop. We cited Elon Musk as an interesting new generation leader.

Elon Musk is an American businessman. He was born in South Africa. He is about 47 years old now. However, he has long vision. He promotes private sector’s role in space business. Formerly, it was fully state-owned. He says that, the future world will force human to search for the new place to live. For example, they will need to occupy the space for the long-term survival. His vision like this differs from other businessmen like Amazon or Google looking at only technology and making profit from the customers.

I would like to cite some leadership styles of the old generation leadership which remain important and can be partially applied. Mandela’s 8 rules of leadership are as follows.

1.  Courage

2.  Lead from the front--but don't leave your base behind

3.  Lead from the back--and let others believe they are in front

4.  Know your enemy--and learn about his favorite sport

5.  Keep your friends close--and your rivals even closer

6.  Appearances matter--and remember to smile

7.  Nothing is black or white

8.  Quitting is leading too.

They are suitable for the politics, team management and harmony creation. They are still important. Elon Musk’s vision on future role should be important issue for everyone to set the new vision for the world. Besides setting the vision, Elon made it. I searched for information on Elon’s leadership style. It can be useful for us to learn about leaders with Value Diversity. There are diverse leadership styles combining the old and new generations.

Elon’s leadership rules are as follows.

1.  Lead by Example. The leader must always do hard and impossible works.

2. Lead with Purpose. This is not normal purpose but the one which drastically revolutionize the world.

3.  Be Creative

4.  Be Collaborative. The leaders do not work alone but with others.

5.  Encourage Innovation

6.  Be Decisive

7.  Be Comfortable with Change

8. Hire Carefully. They must select smart people to work so they must be very careful in recruitment.

9.  Set Exceptionally High Standards

10. Put the Right People in the Right Role

 In conclusion, despite being a new generation leader, his leadership styles are like King Rama IX’s Philosophy. It means that he does something essential and makes it simple. He focuses on people, purpose and execution.

Such lessons can help add value to the study of leaders of the old and new generations and can well be applied.

Prof. Dr. Chira Hongladarom

Please click this link to see pictures.

https://cdn.gotoknow.org/assets/media/files/001/287/846/original_naewna_eng_24022018.pdf?1519995228

Source: Learning from Reality with Dr. Chira Column. Naewna.

             Saturday 24 February 2018, p.5