The digital economy needs a different kind of business leader - not in terms of core principles of human values but in terms of skills that make the most of a connected age.
- Collaborative - in a connected economy the traditional approach to leadership has to change from command/control to collaborate/decide. It is not about deciding by committee, it is about listening, asking, working with people, valuing people.
- Filtering - The digital age is wonderful but it can be overwhelming - now more than ever leadership and management is about consuming all the information and being able to filter out the 'noise' both for you and the company.
- Learn, look and live. We must learn to learn from the past, look to the future BUT live in the now.....ok, we have always had to do this but now change is happening so fast that if we only do it at the end of projects, the year end etc then we will have fallen behind. Social business needs social leadership that is constantly looking at what have we done, what do we need to do and therefore what can/should we do now.
- Networking - A digital economy runs on a network. The web, the Internet are networked based and it needs social leaders to make the most of all their networks. The mass production age needed people to perform on their tasks, the networks need people to generate ideas, passion, growth through their networks.
- Desire to learn - As mentioned before change is all around us.....change is a constant and the skills of five years ago are not the skills of today. Social leadership is about evolving with the new technology and knowing enough to assess how technological advances can bring your networks closer and stronger. Technology is not the driver - you are! But to be the driver you need to understand where you want to go.
- Decisive - Networks and collaboration doesn't mean the leadership style is not decisive. Social leadership is about filtering all the information from the learning, networking and collaboration and making a decision. Decisions need to be made......decisions remain flexible for new information...but never confuse social leadership for pleasing everyone! You never can and you never will!