Leading in the Digital Age 2019

A wit on Radio 4 recently said that when his 12-year-old daughter asked him what it was like to grow up in the 1980s, he showed her by disconnecting the internet, taking away her mobile phone and ushering her out of the front door to play in the street. It was a story sparked by a round table discussion considering the impact of digitisation on human behaviours and the assembled experts grappled with issues which the presenter said, ‘shows us that we are living in an era of the greatest transformation since the Industrial Revolution.’ An arguable point perhaps, but it is undeniable that organisations around the world, armies included, must consider the impact of digitisation on their business. Indeed, being disrupted into oblivion by lithe, agile competitors (or enemies) due to obsolete technology and old ideas can render an organisation irrelevant more quickly than ever before. Wider society, meanwhile, is seeking to understand how digitisation influences everyday life, not least in the realms of education and the workplace, with some also pondering the ethical challenges posed by autonomous technologies and the unbounded power of Artificial Intelligence. So are our concepts of leading and leadership outdated and useless in this challenging age of digitisation?

Every period that sees new technology and associated ideas challenging established norms also poses questions about its leaders and leadership: Has the role of the leader changed? What attributes and skills does a leader now require? How do leadership styles need to adapt if they are to remain relevant? How should leaders develop in the next decade and what methods should be use? While the list of potential questions is limitless, it is worth reflecting on the fact that similar inquiries would have been as relevant during the Neolithic revolution in agriculture 12,000 years ago and new manufacturing processes introduced during the late eighteenth century as they are today. Yet while each age and organisation have their own unique context that shape the answers to its questions, history reveals that putting a premium on people alongside new technology is the way to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.

The Centre for Army Leadership 2019 Conference sought to assist our people in becoming better prepared to meet the many and various leadership challenges that we all face on the cusp of the third decade of the twenty-first century. I hope that you find these Conference Proceedings useful in that task.

Centre for Army Leadership, Leading in the Digital Age: 2019 Conference Proceedings and Summary (Camberley: Centre for Army Leadership, 2019) © Crown Copyright