Leadership in the Digital Age: what sets the best apart?

The Identikit of a Leader

And you, do you have the leadership credentials? 

Let’s explore together the traits of leadership, starting with a few questions: what does a leader look like? How do they behave at work? What studies have they done? How many companies have they changed? But above all, do we all have the credentials to be leaders?

Raise your hand if you have not asked yourself these questions at least once in your life. Some before and some after, we have all asked ourselves them at crucial moments in our lives: before changing jobs, when starting a training course, or in our daily dealings with colleagues, customers and even friends.

Let’s be clear upfront, to avoid confusion: there is no single answer to these questions, nor are there any absolute right or wrong answers. But there are some very interesting numbers and statistics that can help us get our bearings.

Let us look at some of them:

• Over the last 10 years, the percentage of top managers holding an Executive MBA has steadily increased in all industrialised countries: in France, for example, it rose from 10% to 18%; in Germany from 12% to around 22%; in the UK from 20% to 28% and in Switzerland from 27% to 29%. Even in North America, 54% of CEOs have an MBA.

  

• The majority of top managers have developed an international profile, either by studying abroad or often by gaining work experience in countries other than their country of birth. Just think that, globally, 30% of “working-expats” (people who live and work permanently in a country other than their country of birth) hold a senior/specialist position, 17% occupy a middle-management position, and 13% are top managers/executives. The United States leads the ranking of countries by the number of stays abroad by top managers. In other words, many top managers have gained experience in the US during their careers before being appointed to the board of directors in the countries they come from.
  
  
• Now a figure that, on the one hand, worries us, but on the other hand also gives us hope. To date, unfortunately, women are still in the minority among top managers globally. But the data also tell us that the proportion of women on boards of directors has increased significantly in recent years. In the last 10 years, the percentage of women leading French corporate groups has increased from 8% to around 20%. In the UK it has risen from 11% to 25% and in Germany even from 0.5% to almost 15%. In Spain, there are 22% women in management positions, in Austria it reaches 24.7%, in Italy it is close to 20%, while in Ireland it is 19% and in Denmark even exceeds 30%.
  
• And to finish, some figures on salaries. Whoever occupies a top management position in a company today has very good salary prospects. In Austria, a top manager can earn €13,080 per month; in Italy, it is €8,140 per month; in Spain, it is €5,820; in Ireland, it is an average of €10,000, while in Denmark, it reaches DKK142,000. In short, they do not have bad salaries and do not have inconsiderable growth potential.
  

The “Receipt” for Leadership: Knowledge, Winner’s Mindset, and Intellectual Curiosity

Take the time to look at this data. Do you spot anything? Yes, that’s right. Although there are many differences, there are also some commonalities.

In short, it is true that leadership retains an individual and, in some respects, unrepeatable connotation, but in many cases, it results from the encounter of three qualities: excellent knowledge, the possession of a winner’s mentality and a great intellectual curiosity. 

Let us take a closer look at them. 

The basis of the leadership recipe is study and preparation. No matter what industry you work in, to master it you need to study and know it in depth.

We saw earlier that many top managers have completed an MBA education. But the really interesting thing is that there is no global standard for certifying a preparation of excellence before the MBA. On the contrary, each country adopts its own: in France, top managers go through the “Grandes Écoles”. In the United Kingdom, the privileged channel for higher education is the public schools, while in Germany it is the PhD that gives access to leadership positions in companies and public administrations.

A lot of preparation, then. But it is not enough. A leader has something that many do not have, namely the right mindset to face and overcome even the most difficult challenges. 

Yes, all right, but what does a winning mentality mean? Here, too, everyone has their say:

• Daniel Goleman wrote in his book “Being a Leader” that an effective leader, in addition to intellectual abilities, has self-awareness, knows how to manage his or her own emotions, understands the feelings of others, knows how to nurture interpersonal relationships and, above all, creates resonance (for example the ability to direct the group’s emotions in a positive direction).
  
• Howard Gardner says that the key to explaining leadership is “the ability to tell a story”. Which – beware – does not necessarily mean being able to communicate, but rather having the right and timely message to convey to others.
  
• Adam Grant, in his book “Being Original” wrote that the most important characteristic of a leader is not intelligence but mental predisposition - the growth mindset. The growth mindset, according to Grant, is the essential element to keep creative thinking alive. This is proven by the fact that it is now the strength of all big technology companies and the leaders who lead them. From Bill Gates, who brought a PC to every desk, to Steve Jobs, who understood that technology is primarily communication and aesthetics, up to Jeff Bezos, who valued customers over products and Mark Zuckerberg, who monetised social relationships.
  

Knowledge, mentality and creativity at the service of the firm

We have been talking about large Tech companies. But the same applies to any business. When a professional possesses the right mix of the three characteristics that make him a potential leader, it is not only the person who gains, but also the company in which they work. 

A company that is able to grow and cultivate leadership internally is also a company that is able to innovate within increasingly competitive markets. 

Let's discuss this further:

• In 2009, just over ten years ago, less than 66% of companies considered innovation a priority, and only 58% of these expected to increase spending to support innovation. Today, the situation has changed dramatically, the Boston Consulting Group reports. In 2023, 79% of companies consider innovation to be their top priority, 66% intend to increase spending on research and development, and even 42% want to increase this spending by 10% more than in the past. These numbers attest to the managerial imprint on companies' thinking and their growth strategies.
  
• Of course, not all companies innovate in the same way. Tech companies remain the most innovative on the market. In the ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world we find Apple in first place (and for the third year in a row), followed by Tesla (gaining three places) and then Amazon. Is it a coincidence that each of these companies is led by charismatic, knowledgeable and convincing leaders?
  
• The hunt for the next leader capable of leading a company to grow and prosper is now a truly global challenge. The most talented workers are also the most mobile. In the case of AI, for example, 53% of top-tier researchers work in countries other than the one in which they were born and in which they trained.
  

• The vast majority of global technology leaders believe that the digital evolution has improved performance and profitability over the past two years. In those places where there is less innovation, fewer companies capable of capitalising and exploiting the ideas of their global leadership are created. Europe, for example, has been struggling to create a solid pool of “digital champions”. Among the reasons, the lack of focus on innovation is considered particularly relevant. Just think that, between 2014 and 2019 alone, large European companies cut their spending on research and development by 40%.
  The case of cloud technology is quite telling in this regard. In 2019, four American companies alone invested $80 billion. On the opposite side, in China, 3 Chinese companies invested $10 billion. In Europe instead? In 2019, there was not a single company that invested more than $1 billion. Beware because the stakes between success and failure in the ability to innovate and grow with European technology are difficult to estimate: a McKinsey 2022 study estimates a figure of between €2,000 and €4,000 billion in added value by 2040, or 1 percentage point of European GDP per year.

How can leadership qualities be nurtured?

We have good news for you: if, at this point, you thought you did not have the gifts of leadership, you are off the mark. Admittedly, some among us are already predisposed to leadership. Everyone else, however, can learn to cultivate leadership skills through three simple steps:

• To begin with, look around and try to learn something that will make you more competitive than others. Take, for example, our digital creative business school Hyper Island: it is a learning path focused on digital skills subjects, with a strong focus on the impact these topics have on leadership. Moreover, the entire learning path is community-based. No one sits at a table alone. Each lesson is built to be a stimulus to overcome personal limits and learn to collaborate by sharing tasks and joining forces.
  
• Secondly, don’t remain stuck in one place, sometimes to evolve in your career you have to be ready to offer your skills to the most receptive markets. There are places where your chances of quickly climbing the corporate ladder are much higher than others. Some time ago, for example, we did a report on Dublin, explaining all the reasons that make it an incredible place to set up a business or change professions.
  
• Thirdly, stay aligned with the new technologies that are radically transforming the way we work, think and act in society. When we interviewed David Bevilacqua, the CEO of Ammagamma, some time ago, he told us that the leaders of the future will be people capable of using digital technologies to manage increasingly complex scenarios.
  

What Sets the Best Apart?

Summing up: we asked ourselves what qualities would make us leaders in the digital age. The sketch of leadership looks as follows:

• BE prepared. Whatever your professional field, you must know it better than anyone else.
• Think like a winner. Learn to listen to those around you; master the art of telling the right story at the right time to the right people, but most importantly, always make your own growth and that of those you work with your top priority.
• Hear, see, learn. Never stop learning new things, being carried away by curiosity and the desire to compare yourself with others. 

You will find that, in the end, the journey will have been worth the price.