Polymathic Leadership
as an Opportunity
for the Real Estate sector

ESG, digi­tal­i­sa­tion, new work, AI and a fore­see­ably unsta­ble market — managers in the real estate indus­try today face a complex web of chal­lenges. It is becom­ing increas­ing­ly diffi­cult to keep a prop­er­ty compa­ny on course in such stormy seas with unilat­er­al expe­ri­ence and exper­tise alone. Howev­er, this is also an oppor­tu­ni­ty to try out new strate­gies. With “poly­math­ic leadership”¹, we present a model approach in our Valdivia Future: Gover­nance news­room series that has recog­nis­able sustain­able potential.

The prin­ci­ple

At its core, poly­math­ic lead­er­ship works by harmo­nious­ly combin­ing special­ist and applied knowl­edge from differ­ent areas. It does this by combin­ing a deep under­stand­ing of these areas and orches­trat­ing inter­dis­ci­pli­nary teams and tasks. Michael E. Araki describes poly­math­ic lead­er­ship in his work on the subject as“a model of lead­er­ship behav­iour that promotes the achieve­ment of a high­er level of breadth, depth and connect­ed­ness of learn­ing in the group. It is about rising above diffi­cult prob­lems togeth­er and making posi­tive changes and contri­bu­tions to soci­ety.” (page 136/137)

The poly­math­ic approach differs from the gener­al­ist manage­ment style in that it requires a deep­er, more detailed knowl­edge of the vari­ous special­ist areas. Deci­sion-makers should be able to assess the poten­tial contri­bu­tions of all those involved and recog­nise new, even unfa­mil­iar connections

The advan­tages

Poly­math­ic lead­er­ship is geared towards look­ing at chal­lenges from differ­ent angles and find­ing holis­tic, creative answers. Some of the “out of the box” solu­tions for convert­ing vacant office build­ings that we present­ed in an arti­cle in 2024 can serve as an example.

Impor­tant char­ac­ter­is­tics of poly­math­ic lead­er­ship are flex­i­bil­i­ty, open­ness, curios­i­ty, empa­thy, but also self-crit­i­cal and profound think­ing. This combi­na­tion enables poly­math­ic managers to deal with differ­ent points of view in an open-mind­ed way and thus address and inspire inter­dis­ci­pli­nary teams. Espe­cial­ly in times of upheaval and rapid change, they strength­en the resilience of the entire organ­i­sa­tion and are better able to over­come complex challenges.

Further train­ing as a foundation

It is obvi­ous that poly­math­ic lead­er­ship requires contin­u­ous further train­ing and ongo­ing contact with devel­op­ments in the vari­ous disci­plines. A combi­na­tion of meth­ods is ideal for managers with a busy schedule:

• Microlearn­ing
  Phas­es of tradi­tion­al further train­ing on larg­er subject areas can be supple­ment­ed by self-direct­ed microlearn­ing. These are short learn­ing units on specif­ic topics or skills. Such content is conveyed through videos, podcasts or micro online cours­es, which expand knowl­edge, recall exist­ing knowl­edge or train a specif­ic skill in just a few minutes.
• Learn­ing in a group
  Accord­ing to a study², 84% of all managers learn partic­u­lar­ly success­ful­ly in groups. As many compa­nies are increas­ing­ly focussing on self-direct­ed or digi­tal learn­ing, colle­gial learn­ing groups are recom­mend­ed as a supple­ment that strength­ens respon­si­ble learn­ing and offers a space for prac­ti­cal exercises.
• Assess­ment
  In view of the large number of possi­ble topics and a tight time budget, tests and self-tests are an impor­tant tool for manag­ing further train­ing: Which topics should be priori­tised? What progress have I made in area X? Which areas can I current­ly skip? A regu­lar review helps poly­math­ic manage­ment to system­at­i­cal­ly recog­nise the essen­tials and not let any topic slip into the background.
• In-house exper­tise
  The experts in your own or part­ner compa­nies are a valu­able source of knowl­edge. Managers can obtain target­ed and effi­cient infor­ma­tion from them about current devel­op­ments or impor­tant prin­ci­ples. Suit­able formats range from infor­ma­tive discus­sions and indi­vid­ual presen­ta­tions to prop­er in-house congresses.

Support­ing struc­ture of the properties

At the core of poly­math­ic lead­er­ship are breadth and depth of thought as well as the abil­i­ty to recog­nise possi­ble new connec­tions. Araki (page 138 ff.) also mentions other success factors of this lead­er­ship style, including

• “Ambidex­ter­i­ty”, i.e. the abil­i­ty to utilise seem­ing­ly disparate or oppos­ing skills, atti­tudes or concepts equal­ly well and in a balanced way;
• Confi­dence in one’s own abil­i­ties and the courage to actu­al­ly tread newly recog­nised paths and ques­tion the tried and tested.

With all these char­ac­ter­is­tics, poly­math­ic lead­er­ship not only works at the oper­a­tional level. It starts with the compo­si­tion of teams and the devel­op­ment of employ­ees and has a posi­tive influ­ence right down to psychoso­cial factors such as self-percep­tion, norms and the mind­set of the entire organisation.

Partic­u­lar­ly for an indus­try such as the construc­tion and prop­er­ty sector, which has often been char­ac­terised by tradi­tion up to now, poly­math­ic manage­ment is there­fore an ideal instru­ment for exploit­ing neces­sary upheavals and devel­op­ing new, sustain­able busi­ness models.

(foot­notes)

• Michael E. Araki, “Poly­math­ic Lead­er­ship: Theo­ret­i­cal Foun­da­tion and Construct Devel­op­ment” (Rio de Janeiro 2015) — an early, detailed presen­ta­tion; the English full text is avail­able for down­load.
• Devel­op­ment Dimen­sions Inter­na­tion­al, Inc, “Glob­al Lead­er­ship Fore­cast 2021”

(Image source: KI-gener­at­ed by DALL‑E)