Leading in the Digital World: How to Foster Creativity, Collaboration, and Inclusivity

by Amit S. Mukherjee

Overview

The definitive book on leadership in the digital era: why digital technologies call for leadership that emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity.

Certain ideas about business leadership are held to be timeless, and certain characteristics of leaders—often including a square jaw, a deep voice, and extroversion—are said to be universal. In Leading in the Digital World, Amit Mukherjee argues that since digital technologies are changing everything else, how could they not change leadership ideologies and styles? As more people worldwide participate equally in business, those assumptions of a leader's ideal profile have become irrelevant. Offering a radical rethinking of leadership, Mukherjee shows why digital technologies call for a new kind of leader—one who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity.

Drawing on a global survey of 700 mid-tier to senior executives and interviews with C-level executives from around the world, Mukherjee explains how digital technologies are already reshaping organizations and work and what this means for leaders. For example, globally dispersed businesses can't reserve key leadership roles for people from exclusive groups; leadership must become inclusive, or fail. Leaders must learn to collaborate in a multipolar world of networked organizations, working with co-located and non-co-located colleagues. Leaders must lead for creativity rather than productivity. Focusing on practice, Mukherjee outlines goals and strategies, warns against unthinking assumptions, and explains how leaders can identify the mindsets, behaviors, and actions they need to pursue. With Leading in the Digital World, Mukherjee offers the definitive book on leadership for the digital era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262043946
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Series:	Management on the Cutting Edge
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Amit S. Mukherjee is Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Hult International Business School at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. He formerly held the same title at at IMD. His book The Spider's Strategy was named “one of the thirty best business books of 2009” by Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The rise of digital technologies has, as Amit Mukherjee argues so persuasively, made existing models of business leadership obsolete. Leading in the Digital World is a must-read for every leader who hopes to remain relevant in these transformational times.

—Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days

Curiosity, collaboration, and creativity fuel the engines of transformation in the world today. Digital technologies can give us answers, but we need creative minds to ask the questions, explore new possibilities, and break barriers. Amit Mukherjee has beautifully outlined the techniques that leaders of the future can use and raises important questions on the values they need to instill.

—C. P. Gurnani, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra

An important read! This book takes you beyond the rhetoric of 'disruption' and lays out the critical principles of how to lead in today's highly collaborative and transparent world, to ensure that mindful digital transformation leads to both company and culture success.

—Linda Bernardi, former Chief Innovation Officer, IBM; coauthor of The Inversion Factor

Digital transformation is about more than technology. Today's business leader must create context, inspire action, and unleash employees so they are free to innovate and drive change. This book offers powerful insights and practical steps for all executives who seek to evolve into transformative trailblazers.

—Bryan Palma, former Cisco, Boeing, and PepsiCo executive

Mukherjee's thoughtful analysis of the seven principles that drive leadership in the age of digital technologies is a real gem. Its implications for your leadership and organization are extremely useful: the collaborative leader with a broad wingspan who is values-driven and committed to engendering creativity is what we need here in Asia. His action orientation will help you succeed!

—Arnoud De Meyer, University Professor, Singapore Management University; coauthor of The Ecosystem Edge

A robust, data-driven manifesto for a philosophy of leadership for a new technological epoch. With Leading in the Digital World, Mukherjee brings the leadership literature fully up-to-date in turns witty and wise, and consistently anchored in the most important leadership attribute: the ability to ask 'Why?'

—Chris Kutarna, founder, rebase; coauthor of Age of Discovery

It's easy to see how technology is changing 'business as usual.' It's not so easy to know what to do about it. In this engaging book, Amit Mukherjee highlights the new skills and mindsets necessary for leaders to make the most of the digital future.

—Dennis de Munck, Head of University Relations, Ferrari

Mukherjee succeeds in demystifying digital leadership. He makes an eloquent case for building 'T Prime' leaders with a great breadth of knowledge and some depth in niche areas. He combines technology, psychology, and economics in a readable manner to provide you a holistic approach to the topic. This book will make you rethink how you approach the digital transformation in your organization.

—Charles Dhanaraj, H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest Professor of Strategy, Fox School of Business, Temple University

Future leaders will have access to the skills and creativity of workers, not just in their own companies, but in the partnerships they make with other firms to develop innovative new products. This will be the gift of the digital age. It will need a new kind of leader. This book will surely make the reader think.

—R. Gopalakrishnan, author and corporate adviser; former Director, Tata Sons

Editorial Reviews

"A canny manual...Among the welter of books claiming to direct leaders in the digital age, Mukherjee's swiftly executed, neatly encapsulated view of digital changes' impact on business is specifically focused enough to deliver value; it doesn't provide answers to all the questions, but it does lay out solid starting points for framing them."
—Publishers Weekly

“Mukherjee makes a convincing case that digital technologies are creating new contexts for leadership.”
—Strategy + Business

"In 'Leading in the Digital World,' Amit Mukherjee argues that since digital technologies are changing everything else, how could they not change leadership ideologies and styles? Offering a radical rethinking of leadership, Mukherjee shows why digital technologies call for a new kind of leader―one who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity."
—Harvard Business School Alumni News

From the Publisher