Zeti Akhtar Aziz: International thoughts on leadership – “Too many bosses, too few leaders” Opening address by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the launch of Leading Voices and the International Centre for Leadership in Finance’s (ICLIF) latest publication, Kuala Lumpur, 23 May 2011. *  *  *  Today I am pleased to launch the first session of LEADING VOICES, an international thought leadership series presented by The ICLIF Leadership & Governance Centre. This is where you will come up close and personal with exceptional and extraordinary leadership from various industries to exchange leadership thinking and realities in our now highly dynamic operating environment. Any individual who has assumed a leadership role – at any level in any type of organisation needs to have a platform that will provide an opportunity to meet other leaders and leadership thinkers to exchange and learn from each other's leadership experience. Leading Voices is that platform. These sessions will be arranged by ICLIF, starting with this inaugural session today. While leadership requires distinct behaviors, there are wide ranging leadership styles and approaches that have been successfully adopted. Moreover, the now highly dynamic operating environment has become more complex, ambiguous and uncertain. What are the ways then to lead and bring success to our organisations in this more challenging environment. While the foundations for leadership are essential, we also need to keep abreast of the new developments taking place and the new leadership capabilities needed in this ever changing environment.
ICLIF is also currently expanding its outreach beyond the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African regions. These initiatives are based on the conviction that human capital development needs to also include the leadership level. Human capital development in general is of strategic importance and is integral to the success of any organisation. Building human capital capability has never been more important in today’s world. Successful businesses of the future will be the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  ones that are able to fully harness their pool of talent. This more difficult operating environment demands new abilities to manage the new challenges and the new emerging opportunities, and the ability to deal with the high level of unpredictability. The role of leaders in such an environment is to create organisations that are able to effectively respond to the changing environment and at the same time nurture flexibility and innovation. Also important is that it is also supported with high values. Effective leaders in this era, will be those that can deliver results in this environment. It is all about having clarity of purpose and aligning the entire organisation to achieve these goals. Thus, the investment in leadership development is vital to equip leaders and future leaders with the necessary capability to perform their role in the organisation.