Future IT leaders won't be technology leaders, they'll be business leaders who understand technology. Leading the Digital Workforce takes a fresh look at technology leadership, exploring how to lead and manage in today’s digital workplace where the pace of change is exponential. This book walks you through building personal resiliency and avoiding stress and burnout to creating a strategy, building a high-performance team and examining how technology will change the workforce of the future. Technology leadership requires a unique set of skills, which is why traditional leadership approaches don't always work. This book provides actionable advice on how to create a culture of innovation while driving successful change initiatives.
Leading the Digital Workforce provides strategies for empowering people, optimizing processes and inspiring innovation. This book offers insights into managing change, leveraging technology and building strong relationships within your organization including how to understand and work with company culture. Finally, it shares strategies for using technology and innovation to create a competitive edge to unlock new opportunities.
Leading the Digital Workforce is essential reading for IT leaders who want to develop their skills, stay ahead of the digital curve and lead their organizations into the future. No matter if you’re a new IT leader, an aspiring one or a seasoned leader who’s been at it for years, there’s something in this book that will help you level up your game.
Author(s): Jeffrey W. Brown
Series: Security, Audit and Leadership Series
Publisher: CRC Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 220
City: Boca Raton
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the author
PART I: Foundations
1. Playing the long game of leadership
The digital workforce
What makes technical work so challenging?
Should you just get an MBA?
Born or made: can you learn leadership?
There is no failure
The impact of poor leadership
The long-term perspective
Summary
References and further reading
2. The average IT leader is … average
The technology leadership crisis
What is leadership, anyway?
The management-leadership continuum
Are you sure you want to lead? Ten questions to ask
How to be an IT leader worth following
The path ahead
Summary
References and further reading
3. Master your mindset
Why your mindset matters
Establishing your leadership philosophy
Good followers: the other side of leadership
The smartest one in the room
Trust and integrity
Staying grounded
There are no soft skills
Leaders are readers
Summary
References and further reading
4. IT leadership peak performance
What is peak performance IT leadership?
Systems: the algorithm of success
Morning and evening routines
Managing emotions
Stress, burnout and the myth of work-life balance
Imposter syndrome: taming the inner critic
Distractions will make you mediocre
Cognitive load and decision fatigue
The path to peak performance doesn’t end
Summary
References and further reading
PART II: Leadership in action
Living in a VUCA world
The OODA loop: The Rosetta Stone for leadership agility
Summary
References and further reading
5. Starting a new job: How to thrive
Before your first day at a new job
Your first week on the job
Your first 90 days matter, but not as much as you think
Prioritize relationship building
Get to know your boss
Get to know your team
Summary
References and further reading
6. A crash course in strategic planning
Why strategic planning is important
How strategic planning is different from managing a project
Developing a strategy
Step 1: understand the problem or opportunity
Step 2: analyze the environment
Step 3: form the plan
Step 4: getting support for your plan
Step 5: execute, monitor, and measure
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
Summary
References and further reading
7. Building a high-performance team
Attracting great people: with or without a big budget
What is a high-performance team?
Creating psychological safety
The leader as coach
Managing conflict
Five secrets of high-performing teams
Quiet quitting and other headwinds
Leading through crisis
Succession planning: how and why to obsolete yourself as quickly as possible
Summary
References and further reading
8. Execution and getting things done
Why execution matters
Develop an execution mindset
The top reasons IT projects fail
Prioritize using the Eisenhower Matrix
Distractions and lesser goals
Leading when you’re not in charge
Reporting progress and finishing what you started
Summary
References and further reading
9. Leading from anywhere: A guide to the hybrid office
Trust is the foundation of remote work
Communication
Set clear expectations
Making hybrid work … work
Summary
References and further reading
10. Giving back: Industry leadership and the next generation of leaders
Mentoring the next generation of talent
Industry initiatives and organizations
Roll your own leadership development program
Becoming a thought leader without making it all about you
Giving back through entrepreneurship
Other ways to give back
Summary
References and further reading
11. Leading from the edge: The future of work
IT leadership and the future of work
Web 3.0: power to the people
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) replaces some jobs but creates others
Middle managers go extinct
5G and 6G brings high-speed internet everywhere
The skills-based economy eliminates the need for a college degree
The metaverse makes work even weirder
Creativity becomes the new differentiator
Become a technology futurist
Summary
References and further reading
Conclusion: Time is the ultimate disruptor
Appendix
Further reading for IT leaders
Journal prompts
Leadership superpowers
Breath awareness meditation
IT organizations
Index
