How the Fourth Industrial Revolution Is Changing Your Leadership

You know something we don’t: the winner of the US Presidential election. We’re writing this article well before the polls close.

Regardless of who becomes America’s next Chief Executive, they’ll have to lead with a different set of skills than Presidents of the past. The world has changed far too much. In fact, we’re entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Our podcast guest, Dr. Éliane Ubalijoro, shared what is emerging, and how leaders must change to succeed within it all.

First, what is the Fourth Industrial Revolution? According to the World Economic Forum, it’s the rise of cyber-physical systems. That sounds a bit sci-fi, but it really boils down to technologies that are fusing digital with the biological and physical worlds. The factor affecting leadership: it’s evolving at a far faster pace than any prior industrial revolution, and it disrupts nearly every sector it touches. And here’s Dr. Ubalijoro’s surprising perspective on it: Africa and other emerging economies may be better positioned to take advantage of it than traditional “industrialized nations.” Their leaders are more flexible, ready and eager to embrace the new, instead of doggedly trying to hold on to outmoded leadership styles and perspectives. Those RTO mandates in the U.S. may well be a symptom, if not proof, of this.

So what does future leadership need?

Start with ethical responsibility. With societal shifts and tech disruptions, we’re all at risk. Leaders’ new role now includes acting ethically to maintain their people’s stability, motivation, and engagement. That means transparency and communication are priority practices; prioritizing collective well-being is a must. Workers, on their side, must adopt an adaptable mindset, and be willing to regularly enhance their skills. We’re seeing this play out at the root of recent strikes, including from longshoremen and Boeing employees.

That parallels with leaders having their own growth mindset and adaptability. Workers aren’t the only ones who need to continually learn and grow. As your team and industry change, you must change with it, and learn about the new tech and practices. Otherwise, your decisions become less and less relevant, endangering your organization. We saw this a few short weeks ago in a leadership development training for a national firm. The cohort brought up an assessment of jobs easily replaced by AI, with “CEO” in the top group. The students agreed; so many CEOs have barely changed, with so little human interaction and so little knowledge of the front line, “they might as well be AI right now.” (Bonus: AI would bring a lot of cost-savings at that salary level!)

Remember you’re not alone. No leader works in a vacuum anymore. The world is fully interconnected. Economies, health, cultural trends: they’re all global systems now. The COVID pandemic provided abundant proof of this: the bulk of the human population went into quarantine, slow-downs in one country would cripple an entire supply chain, pet videos surged worldwide…the list goes on. Your business and your leadership ultimately depend on many, many others.

Finally, your leadership decisions – directly or indirectly – put lives in the balance. A whole relatively new science of epigenetics posits that traumas can influence our genetics; in broad terms, they implant in our bodies, and their effects cascade through generations. Other studies, meanwhile, show that stress can shorten our telomeres, strands capping the ends of our genes. Shortening telomeres appears to shorten life. So you may, quite literally, be reducing your team’s lifespan if you stress them out (Fortunately, the counter also appears to be true: a study of meditating monks hinted that calm may lengthen telomeres).

This isn’t your mother’s Wharton MBA curriculum. But this isn’t that Wharton MBA’s industrial world anymore, either.

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our remastered podcast episode Leading with Purpose and Compassion in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

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