81% of people in the surveys said that “power today is about influence rather than control.”

When people around the world were surveyed about the ideal modern leader, 64,000 people in 13 countries–from China to Canada–wished their leaders were slightly less polarizing and more collaborative.

In dividing our sample, my co-author and I asked citizens to identify 125 different human traits as either “masculine,” “feminine,” or neither. The other half was asked to define which traits were most important to leadership and success today. By modeling the data, characteristics like “resilience” and “decisiveness” were seen as more male-skewing and essential to leading. But even more correlated to the ideal modern leader were the skills of “collaboration,” “flexibility,” “sharing credit,” and “selflessness,” which were viewed as more feminine. Interestingly, the male attributes of “ego” and “pride” where the least correlated to leadership.

This desire for a more inclusive and flexible leader is a reflection of an increasingly social and transparent economy. When asked of today’s challenges, 70% of people feel the world is becoming less fair, while 85% feel there is too much power in institutions. On a personal level, people feel greater skills in engaging others are necessary for career management. 84% say that “today a successful career requires greater collaboration and sharing credit with others.” And 77% believe “it’s more important to be practical than stick to one’s ideologies.”

But business isn’t kindergarten, as any CEO knows. This is why a new breed of innovative leader is profiting by envisioning business models with “multiple positive outcomes” for as many players as possible.

In the U.K., Social Finance taps private wealth to address societal issues. Over tea, Emily Bolton described for us how social impact bonds were issued to lower the rate of re-offending prisoners by 7.5% in order for investors to profit. Bondholders responded as “activists” with enlightened self-interest and offered job training and counseling that helped inmates reintegrate into society, which also lowered future government costs.

In Berlin, startup founder Tim Kunde emphasizes relationships, social virtue, and accountability to build a profitable insurance company called Friendsurance, which is based on buyers’ groups that use friendship and peer pressure to reduce fraud. The product of a classical business school education, Kunde’s breakthrough idea involved harnessing the power of friendship to save people money and make their lives less susceptible to losses. “People pay the same insurance premiums at the start of the year and then we give them a payback at the end of the year,” he explained. The refunds, which can total as much as 50%, are based on the number of claims against the insurance made by your network of friends.

And this is where capitalism and community intersect. We asked people around the world: “Would you rather have 100 new friends in your social network, or $100?” Despite bleak economic conditions in many of the countries we polled, the majority of people–54%–chose friendship. Intuitively leaders understand a zeitgeist is changing in the rules of business. 81% of people in our surveys said that “power today is about influence rather than control.” In the sharing economy, the chances of winning are increased if you help others along the way.

Photo credit: Reginald Milton

Via Fast Company