MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
On November 24th, 120 top executives, thought leaders and young talents from leading German universities
came together in Tutzing Castle for a think tank on Meaning@Work – how to create meaning as a leader in
digital times.
What have been the most meaningful moments in my
career so far? Participants searched for an answer to
this question while Nina Scheidmantel, a student of
the famous Lang Lang, played the piano – having
returned from New York where she gave a solo concert
at Carnegie Hall just a week before.
Stefan Ries,
CHRO, SAP SE
The CHRO of SAP
SE, Germany's
most valuable
listed company,
talked about the
changing role of
managers in
digital times –
becoming
coaches who
engage others in
the deeper
purpose and who
lead without
being biased by
subjective
judgments.
David Rowan,
Editor-in-Chief, WIRED UK
The Editor-in-Chief of WIRED UK, a global scout for
promising ventures, demonstrated that purposedriven businesses are more important than ever –
because everything without a deeper purpose will
soon be atomized.
During an interactive idea hack, participants developed
ideas for digital tools that help to convey meaning at
work: Among the winners was a "Joker" app that
connects you with mentors and experts whenever
you're facing a problem.
The conference showed that there are two major components which drive meaning at work: Firstly, a desirable
long-term goal of the organization you work for. Secondly, the appreciation and trust that people perceive in
their daily working context and interactions. Participants could note some of the insights in their personal
conference diary, which accompanied them throughout the day.
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
The former CHRO of Tata Sons, India's largest
company, described his concept of happiness at work:
This shouldn't be derived from incentives, but from
professional duty itself. In India, discipline and effort
are also sources of happiness as long as they are
dedicated to a meaningful task.
Dr. N. S. Rajan,
Former CHRO, Tata Sons
The Future of Leadership Initiative brings together
leaders
from
different
generations
and
backgrounds to discuss the fundamental
challenges of leadership in the spirit of global
citizenship. As co-founder Sebastian Morgner
said: "There are plenty of management skills, but
good leadership is lacking”.
David Rowan, Veronika
Editor-in-Chief, Schweighart,
COO of
WIRED UK
Nucleon
Timm
Richter,
CPO of
XING
General ret. Dr. Helge Hansen, former Supreme
Commander of Allied Forces Central Europe within
NATO, Dr. Christine Stimpel, Germany's leading
headhunter and a member of the global CEO & Board of
Directors Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, together with
Rosa Riera, Head of Employer Branding at Siemens,
debated whether meaning makers are the better leaders
in digital times.
Korbinian
Weisser,
former COO
of qLearning
David Rowan and Timm Richter (board member at
XING) discussed with two start-up entrepreneurs
(Veronika Schweighart and Korbinian Weisser)
how meaning can serve as the driving force of
innovation. Curiosity, dedication, but also the
readiness to fail fast are important ingredients of
an innovation culture.
General ret. Dr.
Rosa Riera,
Helge Hansen,
Head of Employer
NATO Allied Forces Branding,
Siemens
Dr. Christine Stimpel,
Partner at Heidrick &
Struggles
Leadership Labs introduced top executives, young talents and thought leaders to actual meaning-making
tools in practice: Voluntary employee engagement, job crafting, horizontal leadership, corporate storytelling
and visualization – meaning-making is something a leader can apply in practice in very specific and focused
ways.
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
John Elkington,
UNGC Partner
John Elkington,
who is currently
leading a joint
project with the
United Nations
Global Compact
(UNGC),
explained in his
keynote how
mindsets and
business models
have to change
in a digitalized
world in order to
achieve global
goals.
Joe
Kaeser,
CEO of
Siemens
Joe Kaeser offered some impressive insights into his experience of leadership, stating that "if you want to lead,
the biggest threat is the arrogance of an incumbent". He told the audience how the current “next47" project aims
to revitalize the entrepreneurial spirit and tradition of the company's founder, Werner von Siemens. He also
explained what motivates him to go to work every morning.
Father Dr. Wolf showed
how meaning can be
conveyed to people in
the working context by
reversing roles and
giving employees the
feeling they're the most
significant person at
that particular moment.
A sense of meaning
without strategy projects, PR consultations
former Abbot Primate of or change management
- a simple human enthe Benedictine
counter.
Father Dr. Wolf,
The evening of an inspiring day drew to a close when the Future of Leadership Award was handed over to
CIYOTA COBURWAS, a refugee self-help organization in Africa which has strong leadership in practice without
any financial means. The co-founders (Benson Wereje and Bahati Kanyamanza) are former child soldiers who
established a self-sustained education system in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It builts
bridges between hostile tribes, particularly supporting women to go to school, and provides hundreds of pupils
with a high-quality education and the opportunity to go to university and thereby find Meaning@Work!
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
Companies that offer no social benefit will be the losers in terms of
digitalization.
International think tank in Tutzing by Lake Starnberg examines the topic of
leadership in the era of digitalization
Joe Kaeser
Benson Wereje
At the Future of Leadership Conference (FLC) 2016, Joe
Kaeser, CEO of Siemens, argued for a new category of business
relationships: Business to Society. Companies ought to serve – and
benefit – society. Entrepreneurial spirit, openness and curiosity are
key drivers of innovative strength, while the arrogance and selfsatisfaction of established companies provide the greatest threat. In
order to counteract this, Siemens is investing one billion euros in the
start-up unit known as “next47”, which intends to replicate the ethos
of Werner von Siemens and offers an optimal environment for startups. According to Kaeser, companies that ignore their social
significance will – sooner or later – disappear from the market, since
their long-term added value lies in providing social benefits.
The FLC took place on November 24th at the Evangelical
Academy in Tutzing. During the one-day international think tank,
renowned thought leaders and managers from business, science and
the media joined with young talents to discuss meaning at work and
the role of managers in the era of digitalization. The Future of
Leadership Award 2016 was presented to Benson Wereje and
Bahati Kanyamanza, co-founders of the refugee organization
CIYOTA (Coburwas International Youth Organization to Transform
Africa). Without any financial backing, they succeeded in establishing
an education and school system which now offers more than 600
young people from areas of Central Africa that are ravaged by civil
war the chance of a college degree and study abroad.
Bahati Kanyamanza
Sebastian Morgner
“There’s no shortage of managers, but nowadays you rarely
find good, meaningful leadership. Our goal is to improve the
leadership culture and once again get people to perceive greater
meaning in the work they do,” says Sebastian Morgner,
spokesperson for the FLC and Managing Director of the MLI
Leadership Institute in Munich. 61% of employees in Germany
merely fulfil their tasks as required; only 15% actually engage with
their job, while 25% have become completely emotionally detached
from their work.
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
David Rowan
Prof. Martin Hoegl
Stefan Ries
John Elkington
David Rowan, the well-known start-up scout and Editor-inChief of Wired UK, emphasized why meaning-centered companies
are vitally important for the future of human labor. Anything that can
be automated will be automated as part of digitalization. Many
professions that are currently well established – such as translators,
physicians, or technical experts – will be replaced by artificial
intelligence. “Change is painful, but it can’t be halted,” says Rowan.
The future of human labor lies in human interaction that creates
meaning.
Prof. Martin Hoegl, Head of the Institute for Leadership
and Organization at the Ludwig Maximilian University in
Munich, pointed out that a common understanding of corporate
strategy and culture – and thus collective meaning – constitutes a
success factor for companies. Conversely, a working context in which
everyone is out to gain the most they can for themselves provokes a
culture of mistrust, hierarchy and control. Nevertheless, research
shows that a key driver of performance is to commit oneself to an
overarching goal.
SAP Chief Human Resources Officer Stefan Ries
demonstrated solutions whereby companies can convey meaning
and a sense of perspective to their employees. As an example of
this, he cited the global SAP Social Sabbatical Program which offers
employees the opportunity to spend some of their working hours
supporting charitable organizations. Ries mentioned unconscious
prejudice and restrictive ways of thinking as types of leadership
behavior that undermine meaning. In the case of SAP’s “Business
beyond Bias” initiative, job applications are “cleansed” of any factor
that might lead to biased judgments when selecting candidates.
The fact that we are confronted with serious economic and social
change was also emphasized by John Elkington, a world-famous
expert in the field of corporate responsibility and partner of the
UN Global Compact, an international pact between companies and
the United Nations which aims to make globalization more socially
and ecologically acceptable. The ultimate purpose of commercial
activity must be the preservation of human habitats. Given the
ongoing massive destruction of species and natural resources, there
is no time left for evolutionary changes. Industry must react to this
with some radical new approaches: “People and planet before profit,”
demands Elkington.
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
“Dare to experiment more,” is also the advice from Timm
Richter, Chief Product Officer at XING. He not only examines
meaning at work from an individual perspective, but from that of
one’s customers and their requirements too: What exactly do they
need?
Timm Richter
Father Dr.
Notker Wolf
Rosa Riera
After 38 years’ experience of leadership, Father Dr. Notker
Wolf, the former Abbot Primate of the Benedictine
Confederation, still describes himself as someone who is learning.
“Lean back, observe, be curious, never be satisfied,” says Father
Wolf. As a leader, you need to be modest and – through
attentiveness and valuing – make each individual feel they are
equally important.
In a discussion about the type of leadership that conveys
meaning, Rosa Riera, Head of Employer Branding and Social
Innovation at Siemens, and Dr. Christine Stimpel, Partner and
Board Member at Heidrick & Struggles, were unanimous that we
currently have a leadership problem in business and politics. One is
looking for personalities that combine strength, the ability to motivate,
stamina, and authenticity. While Dr. Stimpel advises individuals to
look for a company that fits their own values, Riera also reminds
corporate management of its duty to constantly review the meaning
of its commercial activity and proactively address changing social
values.
Dr. Christine Stimpel
General ret.
Dr. Helge Hansen
Dr. N. S. Rajan
Dr. Helge Hansen, a former General in the German Army,
stated that goal-oriented and effective action is only possible if all
those involved are aware of the meaning and purpose behind a given
mission, whether this be in times of crisis or in business life. As a
leader, one must motivate and set the direction that people should be
moving in: “Let people understand why they’re doing something,”
says the former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Central
Europe within NATO.
Meaning emerges when a desirable organizational objective comes
up against the attitude of the individual in everyday working life.
“Each person must ask themselves what they consider to be
meaningful and worth living for,” said Dr. N. S. Rajan, who until
recently was Chief Human Resources Officer of the Indian Tata
Sons Group with its 640,000 employees. However, there is a telltale
sign too: “Do you just look forward to the weekend, or to Monday
morning too?”
The FLC takes place every year and is organized by the Future of Leadership Initiative (FLI).
MEANING@WORK – LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF DIGITALIZATION
FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2016
About the Future of Leadership Initiative (FLI)
In the spirit of global citizenship, the Future of Leadership Initiative (FLI) seeks to encourage people
to become leaders in order to realize valuable ideas. It examines underlying and current issues
relating to leadership and develops effective leadership tools that can be applied in practice. Once a
year, the FLI organizes the Future of Leadership Conference (FLC), an international think tank that
brings together young talents, experienced managers and thought leaders from different cultures to
engage in cross-generational dialog.
The FLI was founded by the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), a joint
institution of two leading Munich-based universities (TUM and LMU), in conjunction with the MLI
Leadership Institute in Munich. Its aim is that young talents and experienced practitioners should
join together every year under the auspices of the Initiative in order to examine a relevant topic in
the area of leadership. Official partners of the Initiative are Siemens, SAP, XING, the MLI
Leadership Institute, plus the European School of Management & Technology, the Institute for
Leadership & Organization (LMU), and the Hochschultage Ecosocial Market Economy and
Sustainability initiative.
About the Future of Leadership Award
The Future of Leadership Award was born of the conviction that the groundbreaking ideas of
exceptional people can change the world. Every year, the Future of Leadership jury nominates
thought leaders from around the world whose ideas and innovations have influenced the thinking
and actions of an entire generation. The winner is honored during an award ceremony at the Future
of Leadership Conference. The winner last year was Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, whose
commitment to freedom of expression was recognized.
More information:
Sebastian Morgner
Organizing Committee of the Future of Leadership Conference 2016
P: +49 89 6283 887 10
M: +49 151 22397593
Email: [email protected]
www.future-of-leadership.org