The World Demands More
The old model for a leader—a top-down, unilateral, single-focus boss—isn’t effective in today’s workplace. That old model no longer attracts talent, invites collaboration, or gets the best results from the team. That leader’s time has passed. Yes, change has been slow, but times have changed. Why are these changes happening?
Disruption
We are surrounded by disruption as a result of the growing and longer-term impact of technology, society’s continued demands for social equality, and the obvious impacts of a pandemic. Let’s start with change driven by technology, beginning with the invention of the BlackBerry in 1999. The device improved productivity for the corporation because leaders could now easily be connected to their employees 24-7. But that meant the employee had to now be “on” 24-7.
From the BlackBerry to the cell phone to the laptop and to Zoom, work has increasingly had access to us. There is, of course, much good that comes from this (convenience, work-location flexibility, access to data, and on and on), but the demands and expectations on employees have also changed as a result. The work-life line has blurred, and our work-life has become so much of our day. The people with whom we work have now become critical people in every moment of our day, not just the business hours—and with so much time spent at work, today’s employees are looking to their leader to be more than just a professional tie. They want and need to connect in different ways.
The social media explosion and constant access to information have also elevated the need for leaders to reassure and guide because people at work can feel in a constant state of uncertainty. Any stressful public event elicits common reactions from most—alarm, anxiety, fear, concern for one’s job, worry about others, and on and on. Today these events—whether they be reporting on climate change, alarming newsworthy events such as the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or stressful statements and actions from world leaders—are instantly accessible, pushed to newsfeeds on our phones and computer screens. As people react to these happenings, leaders, of course, have to calmly use their heads, think through how their teams or organizations should react, and strive to protect their shareholders, their customers, and their employees.
There’s a sense of urgency as the inevitability of these events and their frequency amplifies the impact on all of us.
The growth of AI will only perpetuate, or accelerate, the disconnections created by that first BlackBerry and all the cell phones and social media platforms that followed. Whether it be Jasper or ChatGPT, or the newest iteration of the tools, eliminating much of the white-collar workload or “digital twins” taking on more and more real human-connection moments, AI will change the workforce. People will lose jobs during the transition, machines will enable fewer personal connections along the journey of solving problems, and we will grow more distant from one another . . . but we will still yearn for real connections. More than ever. The expectations of leaders to hold together a company culture as people are continually transitioning, to connect more personally with employees, and to show real care and compassion will only grow.
According to Kristin Peck, Zoetis CEO, today’s collective workforce embraces an intangible drive, a need, for something more than any workforce in the past. In an interview with Fortune magazine, she notes that millennials, who represent 50 percent of today’s workforce, want to work for organizations where the leadership shares their values. But Peck also observes that there’s another key trait this workforce seeks from leaders: “They want people who are more empathetic, who really engage with them in a very different way and communicate in a different way.”
Leadership will require skills beyond the basic and traditional methods to manage through these profound transitions and changes. Reacting with the head is no longer enough. There is a need for a more human-centered, bighearted, authentic way to lead. And, in this book, you will learn to become the kind of generous leader the world needs.
