In my book, Leadership in the Metaverse*, I discuss three, critical leadership qualities needed to move from individually-focused online worlds of “WebMe,” to being community-focused, creating “WebWe” as immersive worlds of work, recreation and everyday life are created.
The three leadership skills include being an Agile Strategic Leader, an Authentic Leader, and a Servant Leader-Community Builder.
Why are agile, strategic leaders so important as immersive media is developed?
Agile strategic leaders lead with strategy and agility. This creates purpose. Everyone wants to know that their work is purposeful and counts.
Agile strategic leaders create clear direction and the ability to swiftly respond to market conditions. They help people navigate constant change.
Agile strategic leaders facilitate participative teamwork. They guide their organizations to continuously monitor the external and internal environments to seek opportunities and minimize risks.
Agile strategic leaders are future-oriented—one eye on external trends, and the other on the organization’s internal capacity and strategy— having the organization’s big picture in clear view.
Agile strategic leaders know that no single individual person owns the strategy playbook for success. To be both agile and strategic takes a wide array of viewpoints from a broad stakeholder base, plus relevant data, to set the stage for shaping strategy. Participation and contributions create teamwork.
Agile strategic leaders distill, synthesize, and simplify complex information. They capture the attention of a highly distracted, distributed workplace.
Here are a few ways you can become an agile strategic leader.
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- Clearly communicate the direction of your organization. Paraphrase in soundbites to vividly describe your competitive strategy, top priorities and goals, and the most important issues and ideas.
- Use clear, compelling, and consistent communication in both physical and digital hybrid worlds. (Think “3V” – vital, visual, and visible communication for both in-person and virtual contexts.)
- Synthesize and simplify to succinctly communicate your organization’s strategic future.
- Aim to provide focus and clarity, bringing many pieces of information from the physical and digital worlds together under one umbrella.
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* For more tips about becoming an Agile, Strategic Leader see Chapter 6 in my book, Leadership in the Metaverse: Creating the Future of WebWe Through Strategy and Community Building (Fast Company Press, 2023).
