Cost cutters were the rock stars of business in 2008 and 2009.

Now, pared to the bone, businesses will have to find new revenue streams and visionaries to make that happen, says executive coach Karen Kodzik, founder of Cultivating Careers.

"This is especially important right now because we've been in very turbulent times where companies were watching the bottom line very closely," says Kodzik.

"Now that we're moving forward, it's going to take a leader who has a sense of vision as to how to come out of this time."

Kodzik says companies she's talking with are looking for people who have a hybrid combination of skills, including good communication skills, vision and top line focus, as opposed to concentrating solely on the bottom line.

"Their leadership team now moving forward has to be looking at revenue generating top line; it's identifying multiple streams of income to help grow the company, because there's no more to cut."

Kodzik says managers aren't necessarily leaders, and leaders aren't necessarily managers.  However, employees are hungry for good leaders -- and so are their employers.

"Leaders leverage people's strengths," says Kodzik.  "And that's beyound just using people how they need them to achieve objectives.  It's really looking at their employee pool and saying, 'What are you best at, and how does that help the organization?'"

For her clients who are looking for high level jobs, Kodzik says come prepared for a job interview with examples of leadership skills, and also something that might not be apparent on your resume -- integrity.

"Major organizations cruble to the ground because of the lack of integrity of its leaders," says Kodzik.

"Integrity is important because it increases both employee and consumer confidence, and both of those things are necessary to move us beyond the recession into recovery."

 

(Copyrightt 2010 by KARE. All rights reserved.)