Model of a modern manager

The Life: Simply putting a poster on the wall is insufficient to generate the right leadership transition. John Krenicki, president and chief executive of GE Energy, helps show how leaders can help a business move forward.

John Krenicki's leadership helped to transform GE's plastics business into one of the company's fastest-growing concerns. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg News

Conventional leadership approaches are not what is needed in the fast-growing emerging markets, given their market life cycles, complexities and vast opportunities.

In rapidly growing companies, employees are finding it difficult to keep pace with the evolution of those firms and the changing landscape. A new corporate leadership agenda is necessary.

The problem with applying previous experience, or any of the older leadership models, is that no one is experienced or knowledgeable enough to self-diagnose and self-prescribe a one-shot solution in the current climate of rapid growth.

Employees and organisations are having difficulty understanding and quantifying the impact of what they are facing.

Many are also finding it challenging to sort through and understand the competing solutions.

This is understandable, although it does not negate the need to break out.

Unlike the same old leadership agenda, this one has a business case attached.

Whether a company has, or is hoping to experience, growth in the emerging markets, it will create stress for the staff and chief executive, who may find it challenging to make the time to break away from the day-to-day operations and focus on the strategic side of growth.

An example of a leader who took the step towards the new leadership agenda is John Krenicki, a vice chairman of General Electric as well as president and chief executive of GE Energy.

Mr Krenicki turned GE's plastics business, which at the time was the company's biggest earnings concern, into one of the fastest-growing arms of GE.

Part of his strength as a leader was quickly simplifying complex issues. Because of his desire for the enterprise to act like a small company that is fast and flexible, Mr Krenicki spent his time finding out what was going on - whether with customers or people - and was decisive.

His ability to push people to learn and grow contributed to the business's growth turnaround. Mr Krenicki saw his main role as being a coach for his leaders.

Simply putting a poster on a wall and a screen saver on a laptop is insufficient to generate this leadership transition.

Making the organisational transition from a cost-leadership mindset to creating value in the workforce needs a shift - from holding back to pursuing growth.

In achieving this transition, it will be important to build a leadership culture in certain areas, including creating surplus value, driving productivity and sustaining growth over time.

Another important factor to consider is "cost leadership" versus the idea of capturing value.

When it comes to so-called cost leadership, the typical reaction is to strip out costs, trim the budgets and shrink the overheads.

Rather than focusing on cutting expenses to increase the bottom line, the idea of capturing value is to manage costs in a way that supports rapid growth. This transition is about making more money from what you have.

Organisations looking to move their leaders in this direction will have to do something, such as providing coaching, to support them.

Leaders lead in the way that has been modelled before them, and on the basis of what they have seen rewarded either financially, in earnings results, or within the organisation's culture.

Mr Krenicki is one person who can show new business executives how to lead.

Tommy Weir is an authority on fast-growth and emerging-market leadership, the author of The CEO Shift and the managing director of the Emerging Market Leadership Center