Tomorrow became a little distant from today in 2008. With the challenges facing businesses today–versus even six months ago–emerging leaders find little solace in the best practices that have worked so far. So what can help us cope with the challenges ahead? I have put together 10 mantras that might guide us ahead:

1. Listen to the Cry for Accountability

Across the world of business, there is a blood cry for ‘accountability’. With the most revered role models run aground–and more being bailed out–it is high time we open our windows to let the feedback in, even though we know it will not be pretty.

Leadership is accountable to customers, investors, shareholders, regulators – but most of all, to our own people. As navigators, we are accountable for keeping the ship on course – more so in stormy weather. So rather than blot out the questions, we need to put into place systems and processes that foster transparency and make leaders more accountable.

2. Get into the trenches

Emerging leaders are moving up to the top floors. To corner suites. Away from the shop floors and the real action. We need to roll up our sleeves and get back into the trenches. I cannot repeat myself often enough – we need to demolish the ‘CEO office’. We need to break down the walls of hierarchy, for our future role as leaders is not about leading from the top, but co-innovating at the front lines.

3. Get emotional

Have we perhaps forgotten the price of Marie Antoinette’s statement “If they don’t have bread, let them eat cake?” With the increasing commoditization of people as “resources selling time,” we risk not seeing people as individuals any more. And these individuals – employees and customers alike – are hurting and wary of the future. As leaders, we need to feel their pain and find the right solution. Its no longer about improving the top-line by simply reminding our sales force to upsell and say: “Will you have fries with that?” We need to understand the real pain points of our customers and help them find real solutions to their business problems.

4. Chase the rainbow

As everyone watches the thunder, emerging leaders are the ones who will look hard into the dark and spot the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a rainbow waiting to break out, and abundant opportunities beyond. The sooner you spot it the greater the advantage your organization can reap.

5. From Me to We

Collaboration is the need of the hour. In the US, President-Elect Barack Obama has proven just that by co-opting the strength of his former arch rival, Hillary Clinton. History has shown us that, be it the thawing of the Cold War or the formation of the European Union, dealing with cross border terrorism or cross border recession, the power of collaboration is our only answer. The world needs the collective strength of all countries, organizations and individuals to pull together today.

6. Nimble feet

The world will continue to flirt with unpredictability for a while ahead. As leaders, we need to stay agile, alert and nimble footed to change tactics mid-course with our eyes unwavering from the goal.

7. Keep it Simple

The sub-prime crisis has made the world wary of complex financial instruments and foggy conditions. Somewhere along the way, complexity has gained respect in the world of business. It is time to wipe the mist off the glass and master the art of converting complexity into simplicity.

8. Ask the right questions

Leadership today has changed from providing all the answers to asking the right questions. Keep an open mind and let fresh minds provide you with fresh ideas. The battle between grey hair and grey matter has never been more fierce, as Generation Y stakes its claim to leadership. Innovation is the passport to success and ‘Green’ might just be the colour that pulls businesses out of the red.

9. Adapt to the new work order

Business today works across geographical borders on the back of a cross-culture, cross-currency, cross-product, cross-time zones workforce. Markets too have transformed, with the West no longer the only or even predominant market. So in 2009, emerging leaders will have to adapt to the reality of time zones, to multiple cultures, multiple currencies, multiple pricing. We in India, and particularly in the IT services industry, have learned this lesson very quickly. In fact, insights into how to run a global corporation will come out of the Indian multinationals.

10. Yes we can

I think we have all realized by now that there are no question marks about this. Change comes to those who believe in it. As leaders, our greatest responsibility is to bring back confidence and the forward momentum and catalyze the positive energy of our people today to light the way to a brighter tomorrow.

It is raining trouble outside…and at times like this, it is easy to forget about the rainbow that appears at the end of the rain. But difficult as it may be to think positive, that is just what we did at Unstructure, the unprecedented HCL Global meet, where 600 business leaders met in Florida, US, last month. Together, we hunted for the rainbow behind the dull shades of the business environment today – and we came away richer for it, with the ideas that we shared with each other, carrying back with us the seven colors of hope.

Before I share with you the exciting colors that we discovered, I’d like to post a simple question to you: When you look at the color white, what do you see? Do see just the color on the surface or do you look deeper to discover the vivid spectrum within.

Behind each bright white surface is a hidden promise – of colors just below the surface. It is for us to discover these and, in them, the vast potential they hold. And in a bleak business environment, it is these colors and the possibilities they embody that merit attention.

Each of the seven colors can represent one priority and remind us each day of these individual focus areas, even as they blend into a consolidated white merging into our overall strategy.

The very first priority in today’s environment should be our employees. Within HCL, our ‘Employee First’ philosophy recognizes that these are the people who hold the key to our collective success. In today’s environment where we are all seeking solutions to the global economic crisis, it is important to remember that it is the leaders who created this crisis. And the solution will be found when we look for it beyond the leaders, in innovative ideas emanating from our people at each level of the organizational pyramid. This priority is symbolized in the color Indigo.

The next priority today is aligning technology to business. Rather than offering technology solutions, our industry needs to focus on aligning with our customers’ business goals and offer a solution to their business problems . This is assigned the color blue.

The next is the color of harmony. With each and every one of us is agonized by the recent terrorizing events in Mumbai, it is top of mind for all of us now. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this color in our world today. The color violet could represent harmony.

The call of the hour is for green focused companies. At HCL, we take our responsibility towards the environment and sustainable development very seriously. Besides our ongoing corporate initiatives, we even made a special effort at the Unstructure meet to ensure that our entire conference was carbon neutral, leaving no adverse ecological footprint behind. This priority, logically, is presented with the color green.

Unlike organizations with a unilateral focus on our cities and urban centres, we can learn a great deal from our villages, which are still home to 70 per cent of India. Rural innovation, impressive as it is to the outsider, is considered ‘business as usual’ in the villages. Our people there live each day with a firm belief that whenever there is a crisis, it can be overcome with innovation. We respect this with the color yellow, reminiscent of the bright yellow mustard in the green fields of the village.

 We can also learn great lessons from rural art, in particular the Maharashtrian art form of Warli painting. It has taught us the power to achieve creative – and sometimes complex – solutions while keeping the brush strokes of our efforts simple and straight. As we strive to find and take these art forms across India to the world, we attach a vivid orange to the beauty of this art.

And finally, we come to the color of celebration – a nice bright shade of red. I do believe that God has given us a great opportunity to celebrate. We must be thankful for what he has given us, rather than think about what we don’t have. There is no reason for us to stop celebrating because of a crisis. If you look back, there have been many a crises which have come and gone. When god gave us humans a mind to create crisis and complexity, he also gave us the mind to solve these crises. So remember, just across the bend, will be time again to celebrate. And in the end, it all comes together to white. The choice to unveil and enjoy the colors within is entirely yours. We made a good choice to discover the rainbow at Unstructure and carried it back with us in our hearts. I’d like to wish each one of you happy hunting as you look for and discover the joy of your rainbow. I have no doubt that if all of us collectively find these colors and carry with us the hope and promise of a rainbow, the world will be a better place tomorrow.

So you’ve found the leadership at the bottom of the corporate pyramid – those smart hidden gems with the iPod earplugs peeping discreetly through carefully careless hairstyles:Generation Y, the young Millenials termed by Fortune as potentially most high-performing generation in history. A generation that is entering the workplace with more information, greater technological skill, and higher expectations of themselves and others than any prior generation.

Now that we have identified them as potential leaders, what do we do? Get them into leadership training post haste and start mentoring them to take the next step up the corporate ladder. Right?

Maybe wrong.

For this generation, the start point is the creation of a need for change. This need to change must be intrinsically felt; else the response will be superficial.

I call this approach: ‘Mirror, mirror…’ Only, instead of the proverbial mirror on the wall telling them “who is the fairest of them all,” this mirror reflects the truth and triggers the need to change by a process of embracing the reality. By accepting imperfections as catalysts, it initiates the process of transformation rather than brushing the issues under the carpet.

Often, managers have a misplaced assumption that by shielding the employees from ‘truth’ they are protecting them, but the fact of the matter is that hiding realities demotivates talent today by making them feel excluded.

This generation has grown up with on-demand information and communication. They are known for their sense of entitlement. They believe they can make a difference. All through school, they have been treated as ‘young adults’, leading “saying no to plastic” campaigns; making posters against pollution and doing their bit to save the environment.

Rather than living in a house of wax that is afraid of melting in the heat of reality, Generation Y wants to know the truth, no matter how harsh it maybe – so that they can do something to change it, make a contribution to the solution.

This creates a sense of ownership and the change that happens thereafter will be driven grounds up, which will ensure that the process is sustainable and not just a flash in the pan.

Clearly, this is a journey of continuous transformation and not just a short-cut to reach present milestones. In order to be successful it needs to thrive on a culture of transparency and trust, which is the topic of the next blog post.

Who is the future leader? One who asks the right questions or one who provides the right answers? A shepherd or a catalyst? The one in the driver’s seat or the navigator who sets the direction? Would a future leader be a financial architect, a social architect, or the green architect?

The dark clouds gathering around business were overlooked for a couple of days in Florida last week as 600 business leaders searched for the rainbow beyond the storm at Unstructure, the HCL Global meet. Powerful questions, debates and thought provoking ideas stamped the proceedings. I cannot help but come away feeling positive, recharged and optimistic that the world of business is in safe hands.

So what do the roles and responsibilities of the future leader look like?

It has been obvious for a while now that leaders have no option but to be good change managers. Markets have changed, circumstances have changed, business plans have to change. We can either make change a proactive decision or a reactive compulsion.

The leaders of today have the responsibility to shape tomorrow. It is definitely not a time to feel sorry about tough circumstances. It is an opportunity, a new day.

At the conference, the participants engaged furiously to brainstorm “survival” techniques in the recession. The interesting question here is: What does survival really mean? Does it mean simply “not to die” or does it mean “succeed”? Leaders, who understand this difference today, are likely to adapt, innovate, re-create and not only survive, but thrive.

Looking at the nuts and bolts of business management, in order to carve success, a future leader would need to focus on sustaining a healthy balance between business and technology; taking advantage of the unique opportunity of emerging markets coming centre-stage; finding ways to enhance and monetize innovation; creating a lean business that optimizes efficiencies without sacrificing quality; and finally – and most importantly – aligning employees with business.

Issues viewed as a challenge today will open new opportunities. It is for us to hunt them out. Former US Vice President and the champion of Green Planet, Al Gore, inspired the participants to eschew short-sightedness and embrace a long term strategy for sustainability. He stressed that companies who think green, also end up becoming more efficient and cost effective businesses.

Is green then the new opportunity awaiting us? It is our planet and saving it is in our hands alone. Is it time for business to come centre-stage? If we still look away, will we be doing injustice to our subsequent generations?

While some might argue that the leader of tomorrow would be the Chief Risk Mitigator, there is no doubt that this leader would need to be the Chief Motivating Officer.

As Warren Bennis, a recognized authority on organizational development, leadership and change, and also a participant at Unstructure, puts it simply: “A leader doesn’t just get the message across – a leader is the message.” And the biggest message a leader of the future can give his people is that of confidence and positive forward momentum.