Is Leadership Obsolete?

The “Lights Out” Factory

“To be a leader means, especially, having the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who permit leaders to lead..” — Max De Pree

The acceleration of Digital Transformation has one of its “ideal” outcomes, in the domain of industry, the attainment of “lights out” factories where the technologies which comprise artificial intelligence have “electronically gifted” machinery doing all the work. I hold to the opinion that no matter how automated we become, owners of billion dollar assets will still want human beings walking around, keeping an eye on things, smelling things, listening for indicators of concern, and applying “intuitive” skills to make sure things are OK. They will, of course, be utilizing more powerful, more intelligent machines than exist today. Visioning and strategy and leadership will still be the domains of human beings. The beneficial outcome for human beings from the burgeoning emergence of artificial intelligence and automation is that it will free up people to do higher value work. According to an Institute for the Future (ITTF) report, eighty-five percent of jobs that will exist in 2030 do not exist today. Leadership will never become obsolete unless you believe there is a coming dystopian society where intelligent robots and computers take over the world.

Story: The Millwright Died

In the 1920’s at Herman Miller, Inc., the factory machinery was run by a single steam engine in a machine room run by a single person, the millwright. He was a very vital person. When he passed away the chairman visited the widow’s home after the funeral. She read from a book of poetry. “Who wrote it,” he asked. “It’s beautiful!” She answered, “My husband. He then thought to himself, “Was he a poet who did millwright’s work or a millwright who wrote poetry.”

“Who wrote it? It’s beautiful!”

There’s a lot about people we don’t know. Understanding the great variety of people’s gifts, skills, abilities, talents leads us to endorse the concept of persons and to begin thinking about being abandoned to the strength of others. (From Leadership Is An Art, by Max De Pree)

Divided Views of the Future

A recently published Dell Technologies article reports that they surveyed 3,800 business leaders from around the world to gauge their predictions. Half of the business leaders agree that automated systems will free-up their time, while half do not. Likewise they were equally divided on whether or not the wave of future automation will produce more job satisfaction by offloading the tasks they don’t want to do to intelligent machines. This level of uncertainty speaks volumes and cries out for the need for leadership. Those in charge of the Digital Transformation journey for their company need strong leadership skills more now than ever.

The Art of Leadership

The book by that name, written by the late Max De Pree, gives some powerful insights on leadership skills that cannot be replicated by machines. Here are some quotes from his book that is well worth reading:

Leadership is an art, something to be learned over time, not simply by reading books.

Leadership is more tribal than scientific, more a weaving of relationships than an amassing of information.

The art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling the variety of gifts people bring to corporations and institutions.

To be a leader means, especially, having the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who permit leaders to lead.

Leaders,

“When people talk, listen completely.” — Ernest Hemingway