INTRODUCING THE NEW LEADERSHIP ERA

by Herb Rubenstein
ODK ’74,Washington and Lee University

An “era” used to last a long time. The “industrial era” lasted for over a century. The “information era” lasted decades and many suggest that we have entered the “knowledge era” and that it will also last at least a full decade.

Today, organizations are investing millions of dollars in developing "knowledge capture" and "knowledge management systems." These new systems allow companies to "mine" gigabytes of information and extract kernels of knowledge that can only be discovered by those organizations who know how to store and analyze information properly.

The knowledge era will only last several more years. Humans and organizations will quickly learn how to extract knowledge from data and this era will meet its limits when humans and organizations fully realize that knowledge is no longer power because so many people and organization will possess great knowledge. When the knowledge era hits the wall, what will be the next era to follow?

Based on the work that we have performed at Herb Rubenstein Consulting and the results we have published in our new book, Breakthrough, Inc. – High Growth Strategies for Entrepreneurial Organizations, it is clear that the “leadership era” will take hold both in capitalist countries, socialist countries and throughout the world. The leadership era will be based on the notion that it is no longer only the role of the CEO, Chairman of the Board, President, Senator or other elected or appointed ‘leader’ to serve as the leader of an organization or even a country. The central organizing elements of this new leadership era will be the concepts of evolving leadership, where systems of communication and power/decision making will be developed that will allow people in the ‘lower ranks’ or organizations and societies to demonstrate real leadership within their organizations and their countries, and leadership at every step where leadership is not considered an act that occurs once in a while, but rather is a process through which more and more leaders live their entire lives.

Communication systems now exist through email and intranets for a worker to be able to communicate with all of the other workers of an organization without top management being able to capture or filter the message. Evolving leadership will result because the two key elements of leadership, access to special knowledge and access to communication channels will become open to everyone. In the leadership era, ‘leadership’ will be taught in our schools, organizations and cultures that promote a more open leadership participation system will be richly rewarded through creating the innovation and flexibility advantages that exist when everyone in an organization and culture is willing and eager to lead.

The role of the officially designated leader of a corporation or non-profit organization during the leadership era will be to get everyone in the organization focused on the goals of the organization and involved in every stage of planning, decision making and implementation of changes within the organization. Similarly, leaders of countries are well advised that in the upcoming leadership era, it will be their jobs to promote the growth of new leaders coming from all walks of life, and not just the elite or currently politically favored few.

The high valuation of Internet companies relative to their meager profits is actually one of the most profound economic votes for leadership that we have witnessed in decades. Initial Public Offerings for Internet stocks reward leaders who have already used the internet successfully to create and to lead communities. The new Amazon community, the ebay community, the American OnLine community and many other Internet related companies have already started the new leadership era. Each of these communities all allow and promote that their community members actually lead activities. Amazon lets readers become “reviewers,” a role previously jealously guarded by newspaper, magazine and syndicated columnists. Ebay allows people to sell and evaluate products on the internet. American OnLine has created roles for hundreds, if not thousands, of people to serve as monitors and leaders of chat rooms.

In the leadership era we will find that high growth organizations will create and promote leadership opportunities very far ‘down’ in their organizations. Janitors will not only be told to clean buildings, but will also become leaders in designing cleaning systems that are more effective and efficient than could be created in ‘top down’ organizations. Companies and enlightened non-profits that jump on the leadership era’s promise quickly will have strong competitive advantages in recruiting and retaining better workers, in securing better productivity from their workers and management, in speeding up innovation cycles and in creating a real community around their organization that will include all of their stakeholders.

The leadership era will require a new approach to sharing information (“open books”), creating new communication systems to include everyone in the organization and most importantly will require that everyone know that they will be given an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in their careers, in their charitable work and in their every day lives. This will be the direct result of the industrial, information and knowledge eras and will transform how we work, how social problems are addressed and how we view what is a complete education for our children. Welcome to the leadership era.

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