Without Leadership 4.0 “Industry 4.0” is a deadly trap

The first and second industrial revolutions in the West happened about a century apart, the former at the end of the 18th century, the latter around 1870, when electricity became widespread and unleashed mass production. The third too, more or less, took a century to happen, if we place it in the ’70s of the XX century, when IT spread and started to influence heavily almost every industry. But times are accelerating at a scary pace: we are laboring through the delivery of the 4th industrial revolution in just less than half that time, and we are hardly coping, although some signs of hope are visible here and there.

The fact is that IT stretches the human mind to its habitual limits, challenging its capacity to develop and express the potential that for thousands of years it hadn’t to use. Indeed, the human mind is so powerful that for hundreds of thousands of years the homo sapiens only used a tiny fraction of it in order to survive and manage its daily tasks. A few used more of it and we called them geniuses, hardly intrigued by their amazing accomplishments. Sometimes they were even persecuted because they were too “out of the ordinary” and challenged the quietness of the status quo.

The problem with IT is that it has fast become a direct challenge to the “habitual activation” of the human mind. If we only focus on trivial things, like repetitive tasks, meaningless operations, obeying orders and following procedures, frankly speaking, a computer is quite often better than us. We are yielding more and more power and control over our lives to computers and IT networks, while at the same time using less and less of our intelligence to improve our lives. Indeed, the quality of human life is decreasing, unnoticed, until one day human society will collapse. Don’t be mistaken: the fact that humanity is developing technology at a fast pace is not a sign of progress: the social and overall quality of our communities is degrading. Without going into too much sociology, if we only look at the rate of depression, burnout and other signs of unbalance in humans today, there is enough to be scared.

What about the role of the leadership, then? Well, business leaders have a great responsibility today, because business, especially in the so called “developed world”, has become the focus of all the society’s activity. Besides, humans spend the majority of their awake time at the workplace. Those who are unemployed still fall under the collective responsibility of business, social and political leaders, thus the call from this article is for all who are in a position of leadership. Once we accept that the focus on technological development is inevitable and that we are going in that direction with a “Industry 4.0 type of society”, leaders have a responsibility to foster in any possible way the human development of their people. This is the only way in which humans will always remain ahead of machines and will avoid the destiny they suffered in prophetic 2008 WALL-E Pixar-Disney movie.

Since I am specifically writing this article for business leaders, those who will lead the “Industry 4.0” revolution and steer its organizations, let’s focus on some specific points for now:

1. Seek continuous education of themselves and their people a priority. Like the Olivetti example taught us, education of the leaders, the workforce, and the community at large, is a priority either for a business company, for an institution or any other organization. The fast pace at which society is evolving requires that the quality of education is absolutely at the top and that it never ends throughout life. This of education is one of the saddest shortcomings of our society and our average leadership. Lack of education, not only professional training or technical one, is a plague of contemporary societies. Ignorance, and the lack of a wide gaze upon life are at the roots of the majority of conflicts that human society is experiencing today. Poorly educate leaders are not at all leaders: to lead, one needs a very wide and far sighted vision that comes only from knowledge combined with a well trained intuition.
2. Provide their people with meaningful objectives to pursue through their work. This can only be done by leaders – and organizations – pursuing themselves meaningful and socially valuable objectives. It is apparent, I think, that such status can only be achieved by a thorough ethical reflection. Sustainability, in its true meaning, is a safe path to follow for that objective. “Making money”, in the long term, is meaningless for any human being in its healthy mind state, especially if for an individual benefit only. An Industry 4.0 with a financial-only focus and without a Leadership 4.0 is the perfect storm that will bring doom upon us.
3. Implement new organizational models and leadership styles that put the human person at the focal point of their actions. This is another critical aspect and indeed the essence of Leadership 4.0. More and more organizations, business, healthcare, political, administrative, have lost the focus on the fact that they exist in order to serve human beings and their communities. Some of the most successful enterprises in history, business and not, achieved unimaginable goals because they were focused, first, on being opportunities for the development of the people involved. Engage your people, consult them, give them responsibilities – starting from the level they can take and help them become confident… Once people begin savoring the taste of meaningfulness they can easily become addicted, and give you their very best.
4. Foster social interaction at the workplace. This can be done, e.g., by mandating “thought time” in work teams so that people have a safe environment to discuss, brainstorm and develop creative solutions for work problems. Also important is that people have opportunities to interact without a work-related focus. The current social structure gives less and less opportunities to create social relationships, thus part of the 4.0 Leadership skills is to kick-start a new dimension for social interactions that will then spread and re-vitalize society. Of course a business organization has to be focused mainly on providing good products or services to its customers, in a sustainable way. However, the well being of all of its stakeholders, which implies sound social relationships, is part of its assets and it has to be taken into account.
5. An apparently trivial, but very practical and important hint: make sure that no one is given repetitive and boring tasks. Motivation, which by the way is a key factor of productivity, stems from innate human curiosity and the need for a sense of purpose in human activities. Few things are so damaging motivation and the vitality of the mind potential in humans like boring activities and repetitive tasks. Machines are much better at this. Let them do the boring job! Humans must instead be given the opportunities to research, develop, at various levels – not everyone needs be an astrophysicist, their creative potential and express it.
6. Make sure that your people keep contact with reality. Too tempting it is to emphasize the Web and the virtually connected world, secluding people within the walls of the organization while they see “reality” only through the screen of their computers. Home-work, which has advantages in some cases, is another major risk: people could end up like prisoners in their houses and completely abstract themselves from the real world and real contacts with others and the environment. A sort of social autism is already plaguing our societies: let 4.0 Leaders be the ones who will free humans from this condition and use innovation to generate well-being and not alienation.
7. Finally: remember that nothing is beautiful as something that is imagined and created by the hands of a man or a woman.

   I hope that these reflections, which are but an initial brainstorming on the need for a Leadership 4.0, will help my readers think about this and develop their own points of view and suggestions. I’d be happy to read comments and to discuss the point. You can email me directly or comment on my blog or here on Linkedin.