Overview

Welcome to the 21st century: an age of complexity and turbulence where continuous disruption is becoming the norm; where information is no longer a source of strategic advantage, and where agility is fast replacing every other parameter of business success. The turbulence is the result of multiple, and apparently unrelated factors, that come together in unpredictable ways to create conditions in which old solutions no longer work as effectively as before. Globalization, digital technology, and a new demographic are colluding to create a new environment of complexity and demanding new ways of thinking and leading, and new ways of fostering innovation at the work place. It is no longer possible to solely rely on old ways of running our organizations, and leaders have to learn to thrive in complex and ambiguous situations.

Not since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1899 has there been a more momentous inflection point in history. The impact is going to be massive.

Most of our leadership theories are largely based on the image of the leader as a general leading “his” troops in a planned, predictable world where instructions are obeyed and strategy is king. So much of the 21st century bears little resemblance to a time when linear solutions worked. In a complex world of multiple, convergent causes and unforeseeable discontinuities, leaders have to learn to think and respond differently.

So, what are the challenges specific to the 21st century? For one, our organizations are being driven to act more like networks than hierarchies. It is no longer what we know that counts, but how we build significance out of what we know. Everyone has a role to play; the leader’s work is to help make it happen. Secondly, our organizations are under scrutiny from employees, stakeholders and customers who possess three unprecedented resources: ubiquitous access to social information; an expectation that they can engage anyone and everyone in conversation and shape the point of view of the community; availability of cheap and fast communication that allows them to react to events in real time. In reality, the “general” has very little control left.

So, competitive advantage is rapidly shifting to the generation of social relevance in an open system of global networks whose actions, decisions and interactions are beyond any management team’s jurisdiction and control. From a leadership point of view, this poses a challenge to the static and insular world-view that has shaped our very organizational form, our routines and behaviors at work and our interactions with the external world. In the 21st century, these are largely becoming irrelevant.

All in all, these factors have created five leadership challenges that are unique to the 21st century:

1. Anticipating Disruption
2. Proactively influencing the world around you
3. Authentically relating to others
4. Taking in new information and adjusting perspectives
5. Scaling communications for different audiences