Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World (Bk Business) [Hardcover]

Bob Johansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009 | Series: Bk Business

What future forces will affect a leaders ability to lead in the next year, 5 years, 10 years?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 194 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; First Edition edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605090026
• ISBN-13: 978-1605090023
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob Johansen was president and CEO of the Institute for the Future from 1996 to 2004 and is now the IFTF Distinguished Fellow, as well as serving on its board. Bob has worked for more than 30 years as a forecaster, exploring the human side of new technologies. He has a deep interest in the future of religion and its impact on business, society, and individuals. Bob works mainly with senior corporate executives across a wide range of industries. Bob is a frequent keynote speaker. He has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses. He is the author of six books, including Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization with novelist Rob Swigart, a guide for organizations undergoing technological change and reengineering, and GlobalWork with Mary O'Hara-Devereaux, a guide to managing global, cross-cultural teams. A social scientist with an interdisciplinary background, Bob holds a BS degree from the University of Illinois, where he also played varsity basketball, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Bob also has a divinity school degree from what is now called Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where he studied comparative religions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Challenging..., March 29, 2009

By 

D. Kanigan (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World (Bk Business) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Bob Johansen is the former President and a current Board member of the Institute for the Future (IFTF) - an independent nonprofit think tank that has produced an annual ten-year forecast for over 40 years. Johansen explains that in a world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), leaders must learn new skills in order to make a better future including:

1) Maker instinct (leaders approach their leadership with commitment of a job and energy of a passionate hobby)
2) Clarity (leaders being clear about what they are making but flexible about how it gets made)
3) Dilemma Flipping (turning problems that can't be solved into opportunities)
4) Immersive Learning (learning by doing)
5) Bio-empathy (understand, respect and learn from nature)
6) Constructive depolarization (calming tense situations and bringing people from divergent cultures towards constructive engagement)
7) Quiet transparency (ability to be open and authentic about what matters to you without self-promotion)
8) Rapid Prototyping (ability to create early versions of innovations)
9) Smart mob organizing (creating, engaging and nurturing social networks)
10)Commons creating (stimulate, grow and nurture shared assets that can benefit other players)

While the preface and introduction had me looking forward to reading on, I found getting through the book challenging. The author does an effective job in explaining the "what" and the "why" but not the "how." He uses a patch work of lightly connected examples throughout the book...rather than bringing color to the leadership skill, the examples often tended to be a distraction.

Johansen concludes with a solid recap - questions you may ask yourself in evaluating your level of competence for the new leadership skills along with a self-assessment rating system. Unfortunately, getting from the introduction to chapter 10 takes some doing.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another leadership book..., June 13, 2009

By 

Kanishk Rastogi "Freelenser" (Albany, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World (Bk Business) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

When I started reading this book, I thought it will be just like another leadership book with the same skills as available in plenty of other texts, repackaged with new definitions and different examples. However, it turned out to be a really useful book with an apt focus on the leadership skills required for our uncertain and improbable world. (As appropriately mentioned in the title).

Author provides the following three basic assumptions about our world and bases the new skills around them:
1. The VUCA world of volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity will get worse in future.
2. The VUCA world wlll have both danger and opportunity.
3. Leaders must learn new skills in order to make a new future.

In his Introduction, he tells us about the forces of future which will shape the future. There is also a "forecast Map" in the inside flap whic links the new leadership skills with these forces of future. It is a nice visual to learn & understand these new dynamics.

Each chapter then is devoted to these new skills with everyday examples, definitions, and examples from companies. I won't delineate these skills separately, as other reviews here have covered them.

Overall, it is a recommended read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, not for everyone though, July 24, 2009

By 

Gaijin "on the rock that spews lava.." (Hilo, HI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World (Bk Business) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This book was a little different from what I expected. Assuming it just another leader/management type book, I went in with certain expectations. WHat I found was a very interesting and unique book with a lot of what makes a good leader not by bullet points, but more by philosophy. The skills presented are a step forward in seeing ahead, and definitely are a departure from the normal things you see in these types of books. I wonder if many people will accept what the author is trying to say, as this book touches on what is to come, instead of what is in the now. Many people don't or can't see past the present, or if they do, only look ahead a short while. This is a very good book, if you can put aside pre-conceived notions and ideas.