BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
re we in a ‘new normal’? The world certainly seems a very different place in 2021. The Coronavirus crisis has been a huge wake-up call for everybody, not least for those in leadership positions – and that includes Business Schools. In the early days of the crisis, I read
Business School), in my book, The Social CEO . What the past year has demonstrated is that Carvill’s message has never been more relevant or urgent. It’s not about corporate messages. It’s about personal communication. Sadly, many Business Schools – and their senior staff – seem to have been totally unprepared for this revolution. Leaders now need to be explorers As a result of all the uncertainty around us these days, a new kind of leadership, called ‘exploratory leadership’, has been proposed. As described by executive coach, Jen Frahm, and Jillian Reilly, Founder of learning experience provider Antacara Frontiers, this is leadership better suited to unknown futures and more equipped to deal with a crisis. We’ve had ‘adaptive leadership’, ‘servant leadership’ and ‘agile leadership’. Now, they argue, it’s time for a rethink: ‘Every time our external circumstances change and embed as a sustainable change (i.e., not just a blip, spike or something fleeting) we need to adapt as an evolutionary response. We need to step into unknown circumstances and navigate novelty as a way of doing business. We need to adopt an explorer’s mindset.’ What Frahm and Reilly are saying is that, because Coronavirus came so quickly, with little time to prepare, it’s been one of those rare global crises that required an evolutionary response. Leaders had to adjust or sink. We don’t know when the next crisis will come along. It may be just around the corner, or it may be 10 years away. In some ways it’s irrelevant. We need leaders who have the skills, understanding – and mindset – to use social media to maximum effect every day, not just in a crisis. This is where Business Schools – and Business School leaders and professors – need to catch up, and urgently. Not only do they need to ‘get social’ – they need to teach their students how to adapt to the social age too. Curricula need to be updated and made more relevant for these new, uncertain times. Students need the tools and training to compete with startup CEOs and solo entrepreneurs who understand social media and use it effectively. There is a highly influential report that comes out every January called the Edelman Trust Barometer . It looks at all aspects of trust: in governments, in journalists, in politicians – and in leaders. It is, in my opinion, one of the best analyses of where we are as a global society. One of the most consistent findings every year is the need for leaders to stop ‘hiding’ and become more visible – to speak out about the societal issues that their stakeholders care about. The triple crises of Covid-19, the related economic downturn and the urgent need to address systemic racism, have upended peoples’ fundamental values, priorities and expectations, and are profoundly testing our trust in societal institutions. As a result of this, people now expect those who run these institutions – and that includes Business Schools and universities – to stand up and take the lead. They want them to speak out about issues they care about. There is a desire for leaders to demonstrate their humanity, to be seen as trustworthy and to be authentic. To be human . In the social media age – where confusion, mistrust and disinformation are rife – effective leadership in the business
many articles on ‘the dos and don’ts of leading during Covid-19’. The key message was: communicate . Leaders were urged to be open and honest about what was happening, to keep people up to date, to engage and reassure people – to be a source of hope, as Ryan Holmes, the Founder of Hootsuite, said at the time. How were they encouraged to do this? Via social media of course. What better way is there to communicate remotely with an often large and varied audience? In light of this, what are Business School leaders and professors doing to improve their social media literacy and to be better communicators? And, more broadly, what are Schools doing to equip their students for the social media age – to help them become ‘social leaders’? Everything has changed The Coronavirus crisis has been, for better or worse, the moment where ‘social leadership’ came into its own – the point when the value of social media as a leadership tool has become obvious. Suddenly, leaders were being told to ‘use social media to communicate,’ but many didn’t have a clue where to start or – more worryingly – how to go about it. What should they say? What if they said the wrong thing? ‘Communication is personal. There’s an expectation from audiences, both internal and external, to have more direct and open conversations with the people who lead them or who lead the organisations they care about or buy from,’ wrote Michelle Carvill (author of of Get Social and a graduate of Kingston
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