What is Leadership Today?

Today my new book- The Fifth Age of Work– has finally arrived.  In the book I outline the various points of convergence between the growing world of freelancers and small businesses, on the one hand, and a rapidly transforming corporate world, on the other.  For firms interested in thriving in the Fifth Age, as opposed to just hanging on to previously fought battles, a new form of leadership will be required.  While I’m not sure exactly what that will look like, I am beginning to cultivate some ideas.

For starters, Gen Y does not do alpha males.  Gone are the days where someone rises to the top because he is tall, in shape, and used to play high school football.  Today, men and women who have hard technical chops (design, engineering, analytics) are the ones who get respect, not the blokes who are good at golf or who kicked ass in the Dale Carnegie program.  Also, a much higher premium is now being placed on collaborative influence over individual influence.  As IBM CEO Ginni Rometty recently said, people are now being valued for what they share, not for what they know.  This may seem like a small and simple point, but I suspect as we go forward this observation will become increasingly profound.

As I said above, I’m not altogether sure where this leadership bus is heading, but I suspect it is heading to some place we haven’t been before. Probably wise to buckle up and keep our eyes open!

Source: Drew Jones Daily Drip


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