Leadership change with AI and Gen Z

Who would have thought it – but we are on the verge of a major paradigm shift. Frank Thielen describes the innovation of AI / ChatGTP as similar to the innovation of the iPhone 17 years ago.  There is definitely an innovators race between Google, Microsoft, Baidu and Amazon. But for everyone else it is more important to understand the impact of AI on your businesses, processes and people. In this article, we want to evaluate and highlight why we need to reinvent our leadership today to be able to cope in the world of tomorrow.

Why do we need to reinvent leadership?

We are on the verge of a huge paradigm shift, and in the next five years, many processes and transactional tasks within companies will be handled by AI engines. 

This is also necessary because in Germany we will have 3.5 million fewer people in the labor market by 2030 and 7 million fewer by 2035. This means that AI is the right time to stop our talent shortage.

But it also means that the talent in your organization needs to become more creative, more intuitive, and more self-directed to become a meta-thinker and architect to drive the AI transactional processes. And the majority (over 70%) of your workforce will be Gen Y and Gen Z – so they will have a very new value system.

• Instead of hierarchy and power, they want dialogue
• Instead of respect, they want authenticity and credibility.
• Instead of goal orientation and assertiveness, they are motivated by purpose and meaning.
• Instead of structure and process, they want people orientation.
• And instead of competence, they believe that those with a compelling vision of purpose are the ones who must become the next leaders. 

And that means you really need to develop and evolve your leadership to the next level, which means your leaders need to become people-centric to empower them, to give your people hope and optimism to create and shape their own future. For us, it is very clear: we need to reinvent our leadership style towards a new and positive leadership style.

What is New Leadership?

New Leadership is a new way to lead your people, based on a human-centered approach. At its core, it is based on positive psychology. 50% of our character is inherited and genetic – but the other 50% is based on your values, beliefs, and actively directing your thoughts and mind toward a positive outcome.

New Leadership believes that all people in an organization can transform themselves into positive people; and that positive people are needed to become more effective in achieving goals and results. Anyone who wants to lead with positive psychology needs six fundamental layers. It all starts with

1. Self-awareness: You need to become aware of your Big Five. This is your genetically inherited character and describes your personality with (1) Openness – your level of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and preference for novelty. So, on the one hand, curious vs. cautious, and inventive vs. consistent. The second trait is (2) Conscientiousness: your tendency to be organized and dependable with organized vs. careless as well as efficient vs. easy going. The third trait is (3) Extraversion: your tendency to seek the company of others and talk with outgoing vs. solitary as well as reserved vs. energetic. The fourth trait is (4) Agreeableness: which measures your trusting and helpful nature with challenging vs. friendly as well as detached vs. compassionate. The final trait is (5) Neuroticism: which measures your predisposition to psychological stress with secure vs. sensitive and confident vs. nervous. As a new leader, it is important to understand your traits and learn how to use the 50% that are not inherited but adapted from your social environment and your own mindfulness reflection. 
2. Values: The most important layer to work on outside of your Big Fives is actually to become explicit about your personal values. Values are our own subjective way of assigning value to objects and behaviors. The more you work in balance with your values, the easier it is for you to achieve great goals and results. Especially as a leader, it is very important to become aware of your own value system.
3. Purpose: Having a purpose helps us connect the dots along all of our life circumstances. It helps us to overcome quick failures and understand why we had to experience them in our lives. A purpose is also needed to create a vision.
4. Vision: Is the ability to develop your own vision for your life and your role as a leader. Having a vision makes it easy to define important goals and a strategy to achieve them. Very often we see teams with a strong goal setting behavior but a lack of vision. This very often implies a lack of goal achievement because it is not compelling to everyone where the journey is going.
5. Positive Leadership: Means a specific mindset and skill set to lead oneself, individuals and organizations to achieve certain goals.
6. Goals: are the milestones of your vision that need to be achieved from time to time.
7. As a positive leader, you can develop these six levels for yourself. Of course, it may be easier if your employer already has the core of this foundation in place – but if not, it is even more important that you develop this structure yourself. 
8. Having these six levers in place and being aware of them is what we define as positive leadership.

What Skill and Mindset do New Leaders need?

New leaders believe in people, they have a purpose and a mine for themselves, and they have explicit and positive values.  

They have the ability to

1. Lead themselves: They know their five strengths and actively work every day with mindfulness and reflection to shift their mindset to a positive one. A positive mindset gives them more creativity, more intuition, and more self-efficacy.
2. Leading people: New Leadership is a people-centered approach. This means that a leader knows and uses the different strengths, internal and motivational drivers to achieve results.
3. Leading Teams: Because New Leaders know the individuals on their team well, they can easily create the right team dynamics and influence the team culture. They are good at building and sustaining a high-performing team.
4. Leading Organizations: New Leaders are uniquely qualified to establish the key elements of a high performance growth organization because they know how to manage people, shape culture, and achieve goals.

Are you interested to learn how to transform you and your colleagues towards New and positive leaders? Get in touch with us! Follow us on our social media: Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn. Subscribe to our English YouTube channel. And keep reading our blog!

Your Amaze Growth Team