Transforming the Next Generation of Leaders for Disruptive & Digital-Driven Era of Industry 4.0

INTRODUCTION

A company’s leadership pipeline is expected to deliver its “next generation” of leaders who are capable of leading now. Conventional leadership development practices are no longer adequate. Organizations need to incorporate the next-generation leadership competencies globally to address the development needs of their rising leaders. The current digital transformation that underpins the Fourth Industrial Revolution (also known as Industry 4.0) (see Figure 1) has ushered in a new business environment that is fast, open, and responsive, resulting in several organizational and leadership challenges [1].

Figure 1: The ‘Disruptive Digital Leader’ Suite of Competencies

Source: Sattar Bawany (2020). Leadership in Disruptive Times. New York, NY: Business Express Press (BEP) Inc.

Today’s businesses face unprecedented challenges operating in a global environment and for employees a workplace that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) (see Figure 2). The explosion of data and unprecedented advances in computer processing power globally have dramatically increased the capacity to support decision making within various functional operations in organizations across industries. The world has moved well beyond basic and enhanced process automation and is entering into an era of cognitive automation leveraging artificial intelligence and robotics [2].

Figure 2: The 'VUCA' Centric World of the 'New Normal' Workplace

Source: Sattar Bawany (2020). Leadership in Disruptive Times. New York, NY: Business Express Press (BEP) Inc.

The impact of advanced technologies touches virtually every industry and organization on many levels, from strategic planning and marketing to supply chain management and customer service. Today, many individuals and organizations across the globe are exploiting this change to disrupt every industry. Uber, Alibaba, Airbnb, Netflix, and Tesla are just a few famous examples of companies that have transformed lifestyles, including the way people travel, shop, and stay, and there are many more.

Leaders in organizations are also confronted with increased competition, globalization, demand for growing social responsibilities, and a stream of technological revolutions disrupting the marketplace. Hence, leaders need to challenge their mental models in their efforts to build and sustain a high-performance organization. Effective leadership is the process of impacting and influencing people to achieve the desired results and prepare for the future. Leading in today’s highly disruptive and increasingly VUCA-driven world is becoming much more challenging. There is no easy path to becoming a highly effective leader, and the challenge of being one seems almost insurmountable.

One of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is that they are facing greater pressure to develop future or next generation of leaders faster, in response to the dramatically changing digital and highly disruptive business landscape [4].

LEADERSHIP 4.0: NEXT GENERATION LEADERS ARE ALSO 'DISRUPTIVE DIGITAL LEADERS'

Leadership 4.0 is about both the current and future leaders (high potentials) creating their digital transformation strategy and ensuring that it is aligned with the business and growth plans of their organizations[3].

Leadership 4.0 is, in fact, more important in disruptive times than at any other, but its form has perhaps changed somewhat to take into account the more collaborative nature of the digital-driven workplace[4]. The digital revolution not only opens up new opportunities for how organizations arrange work and structure themselves but also how these future leaders are being developed.

Who are these next generation of leaders? What makes them great? What do business and HR leaders need to know about developing the next generation of leaders? What are the 'disruptive digital leadership' competencies and best practices tools that can be leveraged upon to lead successfully in today’s fast-paced, highly disruptive, and VUCA-driven business environment?

Our research has shown that accelerating the development of current and future leaders with the relevant critical knowledge, skills or capabilities needed to achieve the vision and executing the organizational strategy, will be the top priorities in the coming years. This would require the development of a different set of skills to navigate recovery and thrive in the future.

Although our research has revealed that some traditional leadership capabilities remain critical to successfully lead in the digital-driven workplace (e.g. critical thinking, effective communication, leading and managing change amongst others), there are also new requirements for leaders to demonstrate a dynamic combination of a new mindset and behaviours, digital knowledge, and skills that could be described as “disruptive digital leadership” suite of competencies (see Figure 3) including disruptive mentality, resilience and adaptability, empathy and social skills enabling them to successfully lead and engage their teams in the ‘new normal’ workplace.

Figure 3: The ‘Disruptive Digital Leader’ Suite of Competencies

Source: Sattar Bawany (2020). Leadership in Disruptive Times. New York, NY: Business Express Press (BEP) Inc.

CONCLUSION

In a highly disruptive, digital, and VUCA-driven future of work, the next generation of leaders needs to have a broader skillset, one that equips them to think critically and act globally. Conventional leadership development practices are no longer adequate.

Organizations globally need to incorporate the 'disruptive digital leadership competencies' to address the development needs of both their current and upcoming or future (nextgen) leaders. But how do organizations develop the next generation of leaders to meet the challenges of a disruptive and digital-driven era of the future workplace?

This Webinar is designed to provide insights into an understanding of the best practices and contemporary approaches to the development of future leaders of an organization with a focus on the suite of 'disruptive digital leadership' competencies.

REFERENCES

References

[1] Sattar Bawany (2020). Leadership in Disruptive Times. New York, NY: Business Express Press (BEP) Inc., LLC. ISBN 9781952538360

[2] Sattar Bawany (2020). The future role of HR in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis: Transformation of the digital-driven workplace in the ‘new normal’. HR Strategy & Planning Excellence, May 2020, Vol. 8 No. 5

[3] Sattar Bawany (2019). Transforming the Next Generation of Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). New York, NY: Business Express Press (BEP) Inc., LLC. ISBN 9781949443042

[4] Sattar Bawany (2020) Talent management for a digital-centric future workplace: the competency-based selection of future ‘disruptive digital leaders’. Talent Management Excellence, December 2020, Vol. 7 No. 12

PAST WEBINAR ON THE THEME "TRANSFORMING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS FOR INDUSTRY 4.0"

WEBINAR HOSTED BY ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (AIT), BANGKOK, THAILAND

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Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021

Time: 14:00 - 15:30 hrs. Bangkok time

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Extention: https://extension.ait.ac.th/

Synopsis

Disruptive events, including, crisis, have no borders and boundaries. They can happen anytime, anywhere, and to any organization—profit, not-for-profit, public, or private. The interconnectedness of the global economy and its political realities can magnify the ripple effect of any single crisis, making it a common feature of organizational life.

Disruption is happening everywhere and in every aspect of our lives. It is happening at a scale and speed that is unprecedented in modern history, impacting diverse industries, from financial services to retail, media, logistics and supply chain, manufacturing, education, professional services, health care, and life sciences. Leaders are finding it challenging to navigate the near-insurmountable challenges resulting from the impact of these disruptive events on their operations and have to reinvent their operating and business models to ensure their survival.

Not every disruption is driven by advances in technology, as we have seen in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020, where organizations all over the world face an uncertain future in a global business environment that is highly disruptive and increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (collectively known as VUCA).

We face a new era of radical uncertainty and disruption brought about by other challenges such as climate change, financial crises, terrorism, Brexit, demographic changes in the labour market, health/disease risk, mass migration, and rapid developments in digital technology and its impact on transformation at the workplace. The management of shocks and crises is becoming an everyday occurrence. Organizations also need to be agile and leverage opportunities and drive innovation to remain competitive in the face of challenging conditions.

Organisations need to develop their next generation of leaders with the new suite of "disruptive digital leadership" competencies which is critical for organizations to thrive in a disruptive business environment of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).

The Webinar aims to answers the following questions:

1. How should we define leadership in such a highly disruptive environment?
2. Are the current leadership practices and competencies still relevant in the face of such disruption?
3. How can leaders set themselves up not only to survive but also to thrive as they navigate the challenges of disruptive events and crises?
4. What factors have helped leading global organizations such as Microsoft, Starbucks, DBS Bank, Netflix, Uber, Grab and others to successfully manage the disruptive challenges when implementing digital transformation at the workplace?

The Webinar will include the latest global best practices and strategy for the successful digital transformation journey of agile organizations in an environment characterized by rapid and continual disruption, which are detailed in the books “Leadership in Disruptive Times” (Business Expert Press, 2020) as well as “Transforming the Next Generation Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)” (Business Expert Press, 2019).

ABOUT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER: PROF. SATTAR BAWANY

Prof. Sattar Bawany is CEO of the Disruptive Leadership Institute (DLI), Singapore. He is the author of the books “Leadership in Disruptive Times” (Business Expert Press, 2020) as well as “Transforming the Next Generation Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)” (Business Expert Press, 2019). 

He has over 30 years’ international business management experience, including 20 years in executive coaching, group facilitation, and leadership development and training with global management consulting firms. He is currently the Professor of Practice with IPE Management School – Paris for the IPE MBA in Disruptive Leadership.

 ABOUT "LEADERSHIP IN DISRUPTIVE TIMES" (2020)

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