LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW ERA

In a time of rapid technological change and economic uncertainty, the successful businesses will thrive through encouraging employees at all levels to take an active role in leading themselves and their organizations. The aim of this book is to help you – whatever stage of career you’re at – to think proactively, take responsibility, and excel in work and life through strong leadership.

The business environment is rapidly becoming more fast-paced and global, and the young talent that companies are competing to recruit is of a new generation that will not accept traditional hierarchies. Consequently, the leadership approach has to change.

Most existing leadership books are still rooted in a pre-digital era. This book will help established managers and entrepreneurs update their approach and stay relevant in a changing environment, as well as giving those at the beginning of their careers a head start.

Building on my experience of start-up companies, and trying to create agile and flexible organizations through leadership at all levels, and encouraging innovation and proactivity, the book outlines concepts and tools to make everybody a leader. This book is a response to a need for a new approach to leadership. It starts with the vision that we can all be leaders – and we must be, to meet the challenges of today’s business world.

Not since the Internet boom of the early 2000s has there been such a strong entrepreneurial movement in the world, driven by the opportunities created by new technology (and the decreasing cost of technology), the global infrastructures for communication and social networks, new consumer behaviour and lifestyles, internationalization of venture capital, and the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

This time it is happening not only in the Western world but also in all of Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and Africa. There is a crisis in the macro economy, but start-ups are soaring in the tech sector. At the same time, business is so fast today that it requires new thinking in management, entrepreneurship and leadership.

There are three main trends underlying the book:

This a leadership book for a new generation of leaders. The success of modern companies does not derive from the authority of a few in formal leadership positions but relies on a flat approach (some would say ‘bottom-up’, but that would imply a traditional hierarchy) where everyone takes responsibility, drives innovation and acts proactively. This approach to leadership is a solution to the challenges many companies are facing in fast-growing markets. It also appeals to the talented people that companies want to recruit.

Hopefully the book will change the way people think of leadership, from the traditional view where a few leaders rule the roost to a modern view where leadership is important at every level of an organization. In a world crowded with business and management books, the contributions this one makes set it apart from the rest in four main ways:

• First, leadership books are usually aimed at a target group that can be defined as traditional leaders: the CEOs, the ‘captains’, the heads, leads, directors, managers, bosses, chiefs. The typical leader in literature, both in fiction and non-fiction, is a man with a vision, guiding a large corporation, a war or a grand project to success. This book is not only for Formal Leaders but also for people who work anywhere in an organization, as well as people who want to be better parents, for example, and want to take charge of their lives and relationships in different contexts; the informal leaders, what can be called the Mindset Leaders. Every situation potentially calls for leadership, and everyone can be a leader. Leadership is not a position, it is a state of mind.
• Second, this is an attempt to bring the rather pretentious and somewhat abstract subject of leadership down to earth. Many leadership books take a heavy and academic approach that would scare most people away from the topic. Why can’t we make leadership something plain and simple, hands-on and easy to put into action?
• Third, most books written on the subject are from the USA, the birthplace of business, self-improvement and inspirational books. This is also where we find the greatest companies, the largest market, the smartest academics from the best universities and the CEOs with the biggest egos. I admire the dynamic US business culture and many of the leading US companies and entrepreneurs that it created. But US organizations can also be quite traditional and hierarchical. I wanted to write a business book from Scandinavia, home of the flat democratic organization, where decisions are made in a culture of equality.
• Fourth, this is not a book primarily for big corporations or grand organizations. It is for leadership in the small and growing business, the organization or company that is evolving and where all people at every level play an important part in shaping the outcomes. I don’t claim to have expert knowledge about running big corporations, since I have spent most of my professional life with start-ups, new ventures and small growing businesses. However, this book can also be useful in transforming large and traditional companies, which are facing the same – or even greater – leadership challenges in this era of rapid change.

In short, this book is simple, Scandinavian and for everyone in every situation. Does this sound like a leadership book from IKEA? Well, the book comes in a flat package. But unlike assembling a piece of furniture from a manual, leadership cannot be spelled out in diagrams and instructions. You learn by doing, reflecting on the outcome and following your heart. Leadership is always individual. So maybe this book is more like another Scandinavian company – LEGO. You put together the pieces any way you like. And I hope you have fun doing it.

Finally, I did not write the book because I’m a leadership expert with a mission to share my wisdom, but because I’ve made a lot of mistakes and had to think hard about leadership, and have had to practise to be a better leader. I discovered I was a rather poor leader, and I have had to learn to improve. Maybe I’m just like you. I have gradually and painfully gained insights into what maybe works and what doesn’t.

I have organized the book into 100 leadership concepts, each with its own name and a TLA (three-letter acronym). Using TLAs is a way to learn by summarizing an insight into a meaningful concept. It’s also a bit of a joke: the business world is full of TLAs, and even in my own companies I find a baffling excess of acronyms, such as GMM (group management meeting) and KAM (key account manager). Anyway, by using TLAs I hope I’m not only poking fun at this tendency but also offering a few useful ideas.

My main driver has not only been to make my own leadership better but also to spread good leadership and inspire others in my organizations. I truly think that everybody is, and can be, a leader.

Fredrik Arnander

London, 2012