Expert Humans: Critical Leadership Skills for a Disrupted World by Michael Jenkins By Mastufa Ahmed
radical rethink of leadership will require all leaders, no matter what their gender, to embrace those qualities that ordinary people want to see – namely altruism, compassion, and empathy. But that’s just the start. Above all, we need leaders who are competent and can actually do the job they are paid to do. You might be the kindest, most thoughtful leader ever – but if you are unable to plan, to communicate effectively, to be consistent, and to act quickly and decisively – then your chances of success are likely to be significantly diminished.
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he unprecedented nature of the COVID19 pandemic has set in motion one of the most abrupt disruptions in decades giving rise to a lot of new trends while accelerating some existing ones. The crisis has been a brutal reminder of how fragile our world is and how vulnerable our civilization is to global disruptors like the COVID-19. The risk to global health is just one of the global disruptors that author Michael Jenkins looked at in his book Expert Humans. Michael also delves deep into some very pertinent pointers including sustainability, digital transformation, inequality, and the erosion of trust in institutions worldwide. While no vaccine can save the environment, writes Michael, on the positive side, COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief our capacity as human beings to care for others and to show altruism, compassion, and empathy. The big question is: will our awakening around these crucial human attributes continue in the post-COVID-19 era? This is a very valid question that has put leadership to a test. It’s time for a radical rethink of leadership, argues Michael. There is a growing
| APRIL 2021
Purpose and sustainability demand for a different kind of leadership for the postCOVID-19 era -– one which transcends generational differences, according to him. We're seeing a confluence of frustration across the world arising from several sources of which one, in particular, is the persistent inequality that we see in all countries of the world. Gender inequality is a clear inhibitor of human progress: we have incontrovertible evidence that societies benefit hugely when women can enjoy access to educational opportunity – and power – of the kind already enjoyed by men. Hence, the
The issue of purpose and sustainability has suffered in terms of focus, writes Michael. For some companies, sustainability has been part of their corporate strategy for a significant period of time already, so these organizations continue to make (some) progress even in the grip of the pandemic. In Expert Humans, Michael made the point that purpose and sustainability have to go hand in hand: employees need to be reassured that their top leaders – the CEO and other C-level leaders – are authentically behind the sustainability drive and that their words
