We can be outraged by the new generations tendency to question purpose of delegated assignments, their constant status upload of what they had for breakfast to social media, their thirst for praise and “like”-hunting, their expectations of fast promotion and inclusion in executive decision making. Or we can curiously deep dive into a new psychological era of how people best collaborate, use technology, get passionate about their job, and end up with a huge competitive advantage. To make real innovation and change fast enough in the new reality, we need to understand the next generation of employees and change the accessibility of management. Reality is that you today can facebook your idol and get a response. Consequently the new generation expects the same easy access to CEO’s. They do not understand the organizational hierarchy of communication gateways, the rituals of sweeping floors before they are admitted to participate in “the real job”. But they do want to play, create, share and learn. And by the way their parents feel the same. They are also sick of bureaucracy, slow changes, corporate politics, re-organizations and top-down change process. Knowing the next generation is what equips us to get a competitive advantage.

We help leaders:
• Understand the new generation of employees and customers
• Know how to attract, and excite employees with the new age mindset
• Engage employees in the new generation of development of products and services
• Get a competitive advantage by knowing the next generation

We believe that innovation is for everybody, but someone has to take charge. Although innovation and new ideas are welcomed from all over the organization and not just R&D; and top management, truth is they rarely do. Unless management makes a deliberate effort to direct and facilitate innovation, it is likely nothing extraordinary will happen. Innovation requires both, “hard” management skills and “soft” leadership skills. Chances of great innovation are multiplied with leaders in charge who can plan, structure, direct, and at the same time establish high trust and energy, facilitate others to discover, and think the unseen and unthinkable. Sadly enough, we’re still stuck in a managerial-focused world where most leaders are too busy defining and following up on KPI’s, leaning and implementing top down change initiatives. Short on breath, blinds spots and new opportunities are left untouched, and customers and delegates are not truly involved in real innovation. This is a gap that is missing out on tomorrow’s competitive advantage. Too busy with fast execution, we neglect to lead employees into the slower mind processes, where we observe, ask questions, explore, play, fail, reflect and learn. Research has shown that managers still monitor 3 times more than needed post crisis. It’s time to sharpen the skill set of leading innovation and reestablish the leadership approach. To lead innovation is a deliberate effort every day.

Digital strategy is the new black in most executive teams. Management acknowledges that standing still will get them killed, and that the rise of the digital age; social media and “The Internet of Things” is a game changer. However, simply embracing and mastering technology to stay competitive is not the answer. All organizations have to be ready to reevaluate their entire game plan, to disrupt and reinvent themselves. Additionally, we see organizations are challenged when it comes to converting digital strategy to real organizational changes. In general, it’s due to lack of clarity of the actually behavioral changes entailed in the digital strategy, but just as often digital leadership is overlooked. Too many times we map and make decisions on new processes and call it change. But if the people of the organization don’t change, all we will have is the illusion of change. For instance, introducing ‘collaborative software’, that enables people to share knowledge and ideas virtually and at a distance will not create collaboration per se, or transform an individualistic culture into a gregarious collaborative. For that we need a behavioral and cultural change and leaders in charge who masters change in a digital context. Digital strategy takes digital leadership. Research shows that organizations who excel in both dimensions, mastering technology and digital leadership are 26% more profitable than their industry peers. We need to integrate leadership into digital strategies.

Leadership is not the same as it used to be. It has become less about powerful men in dark business suits shaking hands, making contracts, declaring must-win battles, burning platforms and other military lingo. Driving an organization with war metaphors simply does not match the new generation of millennial employees who were brought up with Steve Job’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s life philosophy, and for whom “follow your passion” and “the digital sharing economy” are fundamental values. Thus, for leadership to be successful, we have to rethink leadership and leave the old industrial paradigm behind. To lead now means more than ever that we have something to give the world that will make it better, and that we need to take responsibility for more than ourselves. New leadership is all about vision, and a burning desire to create, share, learn, grow and make a meaningful difference. This new way of leading is still a youngster, but the competitive advantage in aiming for mastery and contribution is high and growing. This requires a whole new way of leading, where leaders are aware of themselves, their values, strengths and weaknesses, and are curious about how to lead the next generation. It take leaders who can dissolve power distances and bureaucracy in organizations, and instead build a flexible “holacrazy”, that continuously adapts and reinvent their products and services.