Leadership development is the task of preparing leaders today for a future that we can’t foresee in detail. Here’s what Gerald Kane writes on the Sloan Management Review blog under the heading “Leaders must develop new skills to effectively guide their organizations into the uncertain future of the digital age.”
“Strong digital leaders are very much in demand, as our digital business research clearly shows. We asked more than 4,300 global executives whether their organizations need to find new leaders to succeed in the digital age: 68% indicate that their organization does, in fact, need new leadership to compete. Even more striking, there is surprisingly little variance across maturity categories for these responses: 77% of respondents from early-stage companies report that they need new leaders, as do 55% of respondents from maturing companies. On the whole, more than half of digitally maturing companies still say they lack strong leadership.â€
That sounds pretty scary, but it doesn’t need to be. In most important ways things aren’t much different than they were for generations.
Leadership development and the basics
The basics of leadership haven’t changed for centuries and digital business won’t change them. Leaders in the digital age will still set the direction for their organizations. They will still have the challenge of finding the people to make the journey and helping them make it through tough times.
Leadership development and the generations
Today’s aspiring leaders come from a generation who grew up in a world that’s different from today’s senior leaders. They bring a fresh perspective and different strengths. This is not new. It’s where leaders have always come from.
Leadership development in real life
Will tomorrow’s leaders be able to meet the new challenges of the digital age? Of course, they will. Their decisions will shape that world. That’s what leaders do.
