The Engaged Leader

Getting in Touch

The digitally networked world makes traditional command-and-control leadership obsolete. Today’s successful leader is “engaged” in an unprecedented level of contact with employees, customers and other organizational stakeholders. By leveraging the power of social media, mobile connectivity and digital data, leaders can build relationships, take the pulse of the market and empower members of a far-flung, distributed workforce to strive independently toward common goals.

Breaking the Chain

In the traditional business hierarchy, leaders erected a wall of middle managers between themselves and their customers and employees. They “accumulated power by hoarding information and then releasing it in a highly controlled way, thereby creating scarcity.” The middle managers were gatekeepers who regulated and filtered the leader’s flow of information. Gatekeepers relayed the leader’s commands to the workforce and informed the leader about customer or staff concerns.

This chain-of-command model isn’t tenable today. You can access your customers’ concerns any time you want by going to your company’s Facebook page and reading the comments. You can obtain...