- To get started let's do an exercise to really understand
what it means to be a digital leader,
and to do that think about the best leader
you've ever had the privilege to work with.
It could be your current leader.
It could be a coach from your childhood.
Think about that person, have them in your mind,
and think about how that person made you feel,
and describe it with one word,
and just say it aloud with me.
Now some of the words I've heard people say are
things like empowered, listened to,
successful, invincible.
What is in common with leadership
and what leadership has always been about is about
the exercise of power and influence to achieve an end,
and the end result is really about how that person
makes you feel, so that you're united together
to achieve incredible things.
And technology has changed this profoundly,
because now the relationship is through these
digital channels, too, as well.
Many of us have experienced what it means
to have a really moving, deep relationship with somebody
through all of these digital channels;
and now that place has come into leadership too, as well.
It's no longer about being able to sit across from
somebody or somebody next to you,
and be able to look them in the eye and shake their hand.
To be a credible and effective leader today
you must be able to harness all of these technologies
and transform into a digital and engaged leader.
My definition of an engaged leader is
someone who uses digital, mobile, and social tools
to strategically achieve very clear goals.
Now this sounds pretty basic, but it's tricky,
and it can be very uncomfortable
because of this insertion of all that technology.
Oftentimes, when I talk to people they go,
"It doesn't feel comfortable,"
and I oftentimes say that if you're right now
sitting there and you're thinking about having to do this
and your palms are sweaty and your stomach is churning,
then you're exactly where you need to be.
Because this is not something that is clear and cut
and dry, because it's relationships,
and relationships are messy, and they're unpredictable,
and they're so wonderful, too, because
so many good things can come out of them.
Today what we're gonna be doing is creating a
strategic and grounded approach to your leadership
in the digital era.
This is very different than using digital
in your personal life.
You may be posting on Facebook pictures from your vacations,
connecting with long lost friends.
This is about leadership though
and about harnessing the power of these new channels
to achieve your objectives.
Let me give you an example.
Ginni Rometty is the CEO of IBM,
and she has a Twitter account that she never uses.
Now, she has an account open so she and her team
can hear what people are saying about IBM
and about her leadership,
but she has chosen not to use Twitter;
and yet, I consider her to be one of the most engaged
digital leaders out there.
When I asked her why she doesn't tweet, she goes,
"I can't be authentic in that space,
"but I use it to listen to what people are saying."
What she shared was that she chooses instead
to share with video, internally and externally,
and she is very active in internal discussions
inside of IBM.
She knows that her goal is to change IBM,
and that begins with having a connection
and relationship with employees.
For her, Twitter was not strategic;
it was not going to help her achieve her goals.
So to create your strategy it's really important
to write down your goals.
And I encourage you to take a piece of paper
and write down just one, two, maybe three goals
that you are trying to achieve right now as a leader,
because that is going to be the center
of what we are going to talk today in this course.
The technologies will come and go,
but your leadership, your objectives,
how you want to appear as a leader
to the people you will lead
is going to be the guiding point for this journey.