Good leaders inspire us. They motivate us and encourage us to be our best selves. Is that any different when the focus is on digital connection?
Leadership in the digital age looks a lot like leadership at any time, but with the bonus of instant connection. Thanks to the connections we can make today online, at any moment we are close to potential mentors and managers who can help us find the right path, answer our needed questions, and consider something anew.
Mentorship can be extremely beneficial, for both mentors and mentees. However, finding a mentor can be a challenge. Not only can it be intimidating to reach out to a rock star in your field, it can be tough to carve out time to connect. Still, taking the time to build skills, feel inspired, and grow your network is invaluable. So, how can it get done? Fortunately, social media and the online world make jumping into mentorship a bit easier. Established leaders and managers may think they are past the point of receiving mentorship. After all, they are already in positions of leadership. That is all the more reason to dive into leadership in the digital age. Managing skills and leadership styles are always in development.
If you have a few minutes and are in need of some leadership, we suggest these TEDTalks themed around leadership in the digital age for inspiration and motivation. We hope you’ll check them out or explore the leadership topic on your own!
Digital Leadership and Culture
According to Charlene Li, “The biggest barrier to digital transformation is culture—and leadership drives culture.” A social media and innovation thinker who encourages leaders to thrive in an age of digital disruption, Li encourages people to rethink what they know.
In this TEDTalk, Li, questions how today’s culture of rapid decision-making and technology has changed leadership. What does it mean to be an effective leader today? For Li, it’s about empowering employees. Listen to Li to better understand efficient leadership in the digital era.
Diversity, Leadership and Media
Is it true that diverse companies are better at creatively pushing the envelope? Media and telecommunications consultant Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out.
“My personal experience working with diverse teams had been that while they require a little bit more effort at the beginning, they did bring fresher, more creative ideas,” Lorenzo shares in this TEDTalk. “So I wanted to know: Are diverse organizations really more innovative, and can diversity be more than something to comply with? Can it be a real competitive advantage?” Tune in to Lorenzo’s talk to dive into how diversity makes teams more innovative.
Good Leaders Forget Everything?
Jim Whitehurst, former Chief Operating Officer of Delta, had long looked at leadership one way. “I thought I was the person ultimately responsible for solving the problems facing my organization,” Whitehurst says in this TEDTalk. “I was the one who was supposed to bring order and structure.”
But, when he changed organizations, he got a lesson in leadership. As CEO of Red Hat, an open-source software company, Whitehurst discovered unexpected changes and challenges. Could leaders benefit from giving up everything they know? Whitehurst muses on the answers he discovered when he asked himself this surprising question.
