Leadership requirements in the new era of Artificial Intelligence

Technology is changing the way we work, live, and interact with each other. The pace of technological change is much faster than it has been in the past. For example, it took 2.4 million years to control and use fire for cooking and only 66 years from the first powered flight to landing on the moon (World Economic Forum, 2023). This fast-paced industrial growth is also termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution Industry 4.0. It is marked by advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big data, and analytics, among others (Frank, 2024). Traditional leadership qualities will not work in this fast-paced world of change, i.e., Industry 4.0, so this paper will explore what makes an effective leader in this ever-changing technological and digitalized world, which is called Leadership 4.0.

Discussion/Analysis of the Question

Daft (2018) defines leadership as “Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes” (p. 4). Becoming a great leader is a journey of continuous learning and growth. It is a process — one that thrives on embracing challenges, seeking feedback, fostering connections, and cultivating understanding. On a day-to-day basis, leaders face challenges like operational issues, financial issues, remote work and learning, social and racial injustices, climate issues, technological advancements, and economic uncertainties. To face issues like these, leaders need to have a set of qualities to navigate their teams through these issues. Some of the essential qualities a leader should have are vision, self-awareness, respect, communication, collaboration, influence, integrity, courage, gratitude, and resilience (Leis & Wormington, 2024).

However, as the world is going through a fast pace of technological advancement and digitization, which is being termed Industrial Revolution 4.0, are the qualities of effective leadership mentioned above enough, or do leaders of today need additional qualities to be successful and navigate their organization through this change? In the context of Industry 4.0, effective leaders need additional qualities to ensure that their organization successfully navigates through this transformation, and here are some key qualities that the leaders of today should have (Microsoft, 2024).

1.???? Comfortable with data – Leaders need to make decisions based on data and feel comfortable and interpret what data tells them. Some key skills are.

a.???? Data literacy: Leaders need to understand basic data concepts, such as how to read graphs, interpret charts, and analyze trends. They also need to understand data-driven reports and use them to inform decisions.

b.???? Quantitative skills: Leaders do not need to be expert statisticians or do not need a degree in statistics, but they should have a grasp of quantitative methods. This includes understanding percentages, averages, and correlations.

c.???? Critical thinking: Leaders need to ask questions like: What does this data reveal? Are there any biases? How can we use this information strategically? In this way, leaders can avoid making decisions solely based on intuition or anecdotal evidence.

d.???? Data-driven decision-making: Effective leaders use data to ensure they make the right decisions. Instead of relying solely on gut feelings, they seek data and evidence to ensure they make the right decisions.

2.???? Long-term vision for technology – Leaders need to have a vision as to how these advanced technologies can protect and grow the organization’s market position and capitalize on any opportunities to make investments to drive disruption.

3.???? Aggressiveness in workforce development – Leaders need to invest in developing their current workforce so that their team members have the right skill set in data, technology, etc., to grow in the Industry 4.0 revolution.

Recommendation

Leadership 4.0 addresses the challenges of business and social environment as outlined in Industry 4.0. With the leadership 4.0 approach, “an organization is managed by human networks and collaborative decision-making. A leader aims to create a work environment that promotes innovation, collaboration and personal development while contributing to a company’s success in the digital and global economy” (Frank, 2024).

Core aspects of Leadership 4.0 are network thinking and action, agility and adaptability, empowerment and encouragement in decision-making, building digital skills, communication and transparency, and networking and further training.?According to Frank (2024), some of the benefits that Leadership 4.0 offers are:

• Increased agility and adaptability:?Leadership 4.0 enables companies to be more agile and react quickly to market changes, new customer needs, and technological advances.?
• Promoting innovation:?By cultivating open communication, employees are encouraged to contribute new ideas and develop innovative solutions. This also helps the company to remain competitive in the long term and achieve its vision.??
• Effective use of resources:?Helps companies use resources more efficiently. Teams are on one page even if they work remotely or in different geographies, and it also helps optimize the processes.

There is no doubt that Industry 4.0 brings more challenges, but if leaders can adopt to be more agile and follow some of the qualities of Leader 4.0, they will be in a better position to lead their teams in this new era of technological advancement.

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References

Daft,?R.?L. (2018).?The leadership experience?(7th?ed.). Cengage Learning.

Frank,?A. (2024, February 9).?Leadership 4.0: How to be an effective leader in a digitalized world. Docuware.?https://start.docuware.com/blog/document-management/leadership-4.0-be-an-effective-digital-leader#:~:text=Technology%20is%20an%20integral%20part,digital%20and%20networked%20working%20world

Leis,?M., & Wormington,?S. (2024, July 3).?12 essential qualities of effective leadership. Center for Creative Leadership.?https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/#self-awareness

Microsoft. (2024).?Copilot [Large language model].?https://copilot.microsoft.com

Renjen,?P. (2019, January 23).?The 4 types of leader who will thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.?https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/these-four-leadership-styles-are-key-to-success-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

Switzerland,?D. (2019, January 21).?New research by Deloitte identifies four leadership personas succeeding in the fourth Industrial Revolution. Deloitte.?https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/about/press-room/new-research-by-deloitte-identifies-four-leadership-personas-succeeding-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution.html

World Economic Forum. (2023, February 27).?This timeline charts the fast pace of tech transformation across centuries.?https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/this-timeline-charts-the-fast-pace-of-tech-transformation-across-centuries