Success in the Digital Age Requires Extraordinary Retail Leaders

Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal 1. But how can retailers lead and influence their staff during this digital disruption? Maybe its time to challenge retail leadership says Ken Silay, Partner, Innovators Equation. Ken suggests writing for Innovative Retail Technologies that "The truth is retail is run by old thinking and old metrics" and "difference between the old and new thinking in business creates a gap in retail leadership that will continue to get wider".

Dr Ganesh Shermon, Managing Partner for "R for C Talent Management Solutions" (North America) recently highlighted the challenges retailers face. He said that retailers are confronted with dramatic managerial changes, given the convergence of the human mind, (Intellect), behavioral psychology (Cognitive), smart machines, and deep learning science and knowledge (Neural networks) as the basis for management actions. Thats really a mouth full!

The truth is that the old way of leading a retail business does not work anymore. But what should retailers do to get their businesses on par with the digital age?Transforming Business Digitally

Strategies that leaders should consider in the Digital Age

Prof Kamal Kishor Jain, Head of HR and Business Psychology Department at IIM Indore, recently said digital age leaders need to acknowledge the limits of their expertise. Additionally, the leaders should build a reliable network of knowledgeable experts to help them navigate through their choices. Prof Jain suggests the following:

Speed is the most distinguishing characteristic of the digital age. No matter how fast you are moving to transform your business; the depressing reality is that you still probably arent moving fast enough.

Knowledge creation we need to become more right brained to compete and survive. Leadership is not a noun, its a verb. The real charismatic leader is one who disseminates knowledge into his subordinates.

Primarily leadership qualities leaders should be daring, caring and sharing. Failing fast and falling forward are critical precursors to success in the digital era. Such disruptive change requires leaders to be caring about people are affected by such changes. It is only by caring that a leader can elicit support from followers.

The Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, an initiative of IMD business school and Cisco, and HR consultancy metaBeratung, have identified four competencies (HAVE) that business leaders need in order to excel in the era of digital disruption:

Humble in an age of rapid change, knowing what you dont know can be as valuable in a business context as knowing what you do. Therefore, digital leaders need a measure of humility, and a willingness to seek diverse inputs both from within and outside their organisations.