1. After World War 2, engineers became important managers as their rational problem-solving skills were well-suited to rebuilding the war-torn industrial sector. However, as technology advanced with the internet and new industries emerged, leadership required different skills beyond just analytical intelligence.
2. In the current era, creativity has become the driving force for economic growth. Future leaders will need strong relational and emotional intelligence to understand people, collaborate in teams, and adapt to constant change. They can no longer rely solely on analytical and mathematical skills.
3. To succeed as leaders tomorrow, people will need a combination of different types of intelligence beyond just IQ. Tomorrow's leaders will be oriented toward others, well-rounded
1. 1
IQ : to be a manager, is not enough !
As I wrote in a January 2016 post — "Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com: the new players
who are reshuffling the cards" — the post-war years saw the emergence of a new
category of managers, mainly engineers. Of course, there were many reasons that
could explain this rise, the most obvious being the need to rebuild an industrial sector
totally destroyed by the chaos of the Second World War. In fact, from that time on,
engineers became the decisive factor in returning Europe to a flourishing economy.
We know those disasters, wars, devastation, are often followed by happier periods,
where everything seems possible again. This was unquestionably the case for the
three decades of the post-war boom, known in France as the "Glorious Thirty". Those
years were all the more important as they witnessed the birth of the consumer
society!
“A world of rationality”
In the years before the war, ideas were dominant — uptown students aimed to obtain
their baccalaureate in Philosophy before conquering the “Ecole Normale Supérieure”
in the same discipline — but after the apocalypse, everything was turned upside
down. Rationality became imperative. Problems were therefore analysed
methodically and logically. Of course, this had always been the case, but not in such
a mechanical way. Operational methods changed, as did systems of management.
Difficulties were dissected into sub-problems in order to find the perfect solution. An
equation, some variables, one or more unknowns, but one and only one solution. In a
rational world, an engineer or a scientist is more at ease than anyone else. He has
2. 2
become the leader role model, and has been moving into management positions for
more than fifty years. Sometimes with different features. When financials and the
markets emerged in the 1990s and the early 2000s, they displayed characteristics
that were ultimately quite similar to those of their elders. In fact, they were often
engineers who simply added an MBA to their diplomas.
“Technological advances have changed
everything”
The birth of Internet completely changed the situation. Suddenly, we entered the third
industrial revolution, the information age. Overnight, or almost, knowledge, which
ensured a form of power, became accessible to the majority or, at least at first, to a
greater number. From this point on, it is no longer a question of having knowledge as
such, but having the right information at the right time in order to make the right
decision. Information has become the fuel of the new economy. The profiles of
leaders now underwent a complete transformation. We began to reason in terms of
use or of need. But it is the arrival of the fourth industrial revolution that will surely
push the world into another dimension. Here, technology is no longer a restraint.
Everything becomes possible. The cloud, big data management, agile development
and connected objects will lead to all kinds of extravagance and release of energies.
It began in the middle of the years 2000, and it is as if all barriers have been
removed. Certainly, technology cannot explain everything. We know that human
capital, in the broad sense of the term, and a capacity for change often prove to be
determining factors. But a mastery of technology remains a precondition. When the
first wave of start-ups emerged in the years 1995-1999, this was lacking. In any case,
it was one of the main reasons for the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2000, as the
technological promise did not materialize in the end. Nothing similar today.
3. 3
“Creativity, the new driving force for world growth”
There is no doubt that we must have a new generation of leaders to meet the
challenges we are facing today. These challenges are different from those that
previous generations had to deal with, those we described earlier. Future leaders will
have to open up new routes for the greater good. They will have to be sources of
inspiration for all, to give meaning to both joint and individual action, and to place
communal issues at the heart of the action. In tomorrow's world, work will become
collaborative. Many disparate but complementary skills will have to work together. A
different approach will be needed to better understand current developments, to
make intergenerational relations a reality, and to truly integrate diversity. It is all the
more important as we move from a world of goods and services towards an economy
of ideas. This transition will involve deep changes. At all levels. First, as far as skills
are concerned. And secondly, there will inevitably be an impact on the societal
model. For decades, we have been reasoning in terms of working hours and
productivity, while the notion of produced added value has gradually been emerging.
In the past, we tried to measure the number of goods produced by one person in one
hour. In the future, we will evaluate the clever ideas that people come up with at work
that speed up progress or, even better, that provoke change, thus giving a
competitive advantage. Value will no longer be measured in the number of hours
worked but in the added value generated. Obviously, current social models will
change profoundly in the future to adapt to this major development: Creativity has
become the new driving force for the world economy. In this new world, unlike
before, there is not necessarily just one single solution, the engineer has his place
but he is no longer the sole master on board. Mathematics is no longer the only
selection criterion.
4. 4
“In the future, intelligence must be multiform”
For decades, we have focused on just one form of human intelligence. The one we
describe as analytical. First because it corresponds well with the issues we have
been dealing with since the post-war period, and then because we know perfectly
well how to measure it, by IQ (Intelligence Quotient). But there are six other forms of
intelligence: spatial, physical, musical, linguistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. To
consider only the analytical form is to reduce human potential to a single form of
expression. In reality, two of them stand out as vital in training the leaders of
tomorrow: Relational intelligence and emotional intelligence.
Of course, we do not mean to diminish the importance of logical-mathematical
intelligence. It would be complicated to manage a company or a government with a
low IQ. Indeed, the complexity of today's world demands sharply-honed minds. But
conversely, the finest intellectual machines may seize up if they cannot choose the
right people to work with, or take advantage of the sensibilities of those around them.
If they cannot manage their emotions and those of others, they may quickly have
difficulty finding the necessary compromises, understanding where the blockages
are, and assessing the level of opposing forces and resistance. In this new world
where relationships and networks dominate, these are essential assets. And while
creative people occupy a central position today, let us wager that it is the combining
of the different forms of intelligence in order to better comprehend our society and
better react to its evolutions that will truly make the difference.
Tomorrow's leader will be oriented more towards others. Well-surrounded, sensitive,
5. 5
agile, reactive, human, he will have extraordinary qualities of perception and will
often rely on his intuition. A good analysis will not be enough to succeed. On the flip
side, it will be a necessary but not sufficient condition to be a manager. He will have
to experiment, make mistakes, modify, change direction, work in a team, in a
collaborative spirit. In order to write new chapters in the economic, social and societal
model that we know.