This is a highly useful and intriguing book that offers truly innovative ideas about leadership, for use now and through the next decade. Author Bob Johansen presents a number of breakthrough concepts that will give readers new ways to think about moving groups of people from one point to another, which is one way I like to define leadership.
One idea I especially connect with is that in the past leaders were expected to solve problems. Now and for the coming 10 years or so, however, leaders will be faced with dilemmas not problems. Dilemmas, says Johansen, are by their nature not solvable. There are no cut-and-dried answers, which means that leaders will be called upon to navigate through confusing situations that persist and that also change shape as time passes. Thus, those who would lead will need to hone their senses of timing so that they take action at the right moment. This involves finding the window of opportunity between judging and acting too soon, before the dilemma fully reveals itself, and acting too late because of a desire to collect additional information.
Another interesting concept is Johansen’s observation that people are increasingly networked in new ways, one of which he calls “corporate diasporas.” These are extensions on the classic idea of diaspora, in which people of a similar race, ethnicity or national origin are scattered over a wide geographical territory. In the corporate diaspora, former employees of a company (or, it seems to me, a nonprofit or government organization) remain in touch with the employer and with each other. This creates a network with certain shared values, as well as shared channels of communication and influence. I thought of social media such as LinkedIn, which organize people according to where they work/ed. And there are also the college alumni networks, which thanks to technology, are increasingly organized into affinity groups that can be mobilized at the drop of an email message to take action on an issue or donate to a cause.
And there is much, much more in this valuable little book that make it a “must own” for any serious student of leadership and, by extension, effective communications. I plan to make this required reading in a graduate course that I am teaching on leadership this fall.
--Bonnie McEwan