How many leaders today are stressed about juggling the complexities of today’s world and confused about how they can have the personal capacity to manage it all? With the advent of artificial intelligence, exploding connectivity, distributed organizations and the need to manage data responsibly leaders are being challenged at every level. We all won’t just be threatened by the digital revolution but also by the disruption to every day life and society that the revolution brings.
So what skills do leaders need for this brave new world? Bob Johansen from the Institute for the Future says in his book The New Leadership Literacies that leaders of the future will need to have healthy lifestyles, long term clarity about the future, to voluntarily face fear and develop grit to name a few. These are very different from the leadership competencies of the past. In fact, we might think of negotiating, team building and vision as sub-competencies in this world of which we sit at the threshold.
Almost all of Bob’s literacies require deep self-reflection, being very connected to the wisdom of the body, making wise and healthy choices and a profound commitment to openness and change. Think of oneself preparing for the Olympics and question, if you have the desire, the grit, the capacity for change necessary.
