book RevIew

Expert Humans: Critical Leadership Skills for a Disrupted World by Michael Jenkins

by Mastufa Ahmed

The unprecedented nature of the COVID19 pandemic has set in motion one of the most abrupt disruptions in decades giving rise to a lot of new trends while accelerating some existing ones. The crisis has been a brutal reminder of how fragile our world is and how vulnerable our civilization is to global disruptors like the COVID-19. The risk to global health is just one of the global disruptors that author Michael Jenkins looked at in his book Expert Humans. Michael also delves deep into some very pertinent pointers including sustainability, digital transformation, inequality, and the erosion of trust in institutions worldwide.

While no vaccine can save the environment, writes Michael, on the positive side, COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief our capacity as human beings to care for others and to show altruism, compassion, and empathy. The big question is: will our awakening around these crucial human attributes continue in the post-COVID-19 era? This is a very valid question that has put leadership to a test. It’s time for a radical rethink of leadership, argues Michael. There is a growing demand for a different kind of leadership for the postCOVID-19 era -– one which transcends generational differences, according to him. We're seeing a confluence of frustration across the world arising from several sources of which one, in particular, is the persistent inequality that we see in all countries of the world. Gender inequality is a clear inhibitor of human progress: we have incontrovertible evidence that societies benefit hugely when women can enjoy access to educational opportunity – and power – of the kind already enjoyed by men. Hence, the radical rethink of leadership will require all leaders, no matter what their gender, to embrace those qualities that ordinary people want to see – namely altruism, compassion, and empathy. But that’s just the start. Above all, we need leaders who are competent and can actually do the job they are paid to do. You might be the kindest, most thoughtful leader ever – but if you are unable to plan, to communicate effectively, to be consistent, and to act quickly and decisively – then your chances of success are likely to be significantly diminished.

Purpose and sustainability

The issue of purpose and sustainability has suffered in terms of focus, writes Michael. For some companies, sustainability has been part of their corporate strategy for a significant period of time already, so these organizations continue to make (some) progress even in the grip of the pandemic. In Expert Humans, Michael made the point that purpose and sustainability have to go hand in hand: employees need to be reassured that their top leaders – the CEO and other C-level leaders – are authentically behind the sustainability drive and that their words

and deeds are aligned with organizational and individual purpose.

Bringing out all this change warrants a mindset change. The ‘‘Expert Human’’ mindset is one that embraces some of our under-utilized human capabilities, namely altruism, compassion, and empathy (ACE). These human attributes, Michael says, are entirely “developable” and that techniques and approaches exist that can help us all to develop these qualities. He has included hints on how to get started in terms of developing these attributes. This includes the role of HR leaders to be able to support the implementation of more ACE behaviors by modeling them themselves.

Michael shares some outlines that organizations can follow to cultivate a culture as they seek to transform themselves for the better: 1) Develop policies and practices that open up lines of communication. 2) Consider cross-generational leadership training, as more employees today believe that empathy can be learned. The book also talks about the much talked about co-existence of humans and AI and the key elements of a humancentered AI. Organizations of the future will be able to benefit hugely from what we might call “human-centered”- AI – something Michael often thinks about as the “EI-AI balance”, namely the co-existence and complementarity of emotional intelligence (of which ACE is a component) with artificial intelligence.

For the first time in history, we have at our disposal a vast array of digital tools and support systems that not only make our lives way more liveable but also open up the possibility for us to develop “digital weak-tie networks” – ways for us to connect with people in a techdriven yet deeply human way. Tech is also providing us with a way to connect with people in what he would call “the Middle Distance” – those outside our “strongtie networks” but with whom we have stronger links compared to the links we have with people in our weaktie networks. This is where Michael thinks we can expect interest in ONA (Organisational Network Analysis) to surge and concomitant with this, a huge debate around ethics and privacy. So the potential for us to use AI for good, especially if we can merge it with altruism, compassion, and empathy, holds rich possibilities. This is particularly true when we consider the growing importance of EX (the employee experience) and the positive impact that AI can have on shaping this.

With year-long digital transformation compressed into months and weeks, it's certainly breathtaking to see the changes that have come about as a result. One only has to consider the strides made in healthcare to see that digital appointment-making, digital consultations, and so forth are becoming the norm. Successful organizations at the forefront of digital transformation are also the ones with their finger on the pulse of what it means to be human – and these will, he believes, continue to enjoy success.

So what happens next? What do we need to stop, start or continue as we come out of this pandemic? We should be asking ourselves, says Michael, how altruistic, compassionate, and empathic are you prepared to be even as we come out of the pandemic? Are you aware of what you need to stop doing, what new behaviors you might need to adopt, and also, are you clear about all the great things you already do that are working and that you would like to continue? And just how far are you really willing to go to compromise or change your behavior in the service of others?

Michael concludes with the importance of practicing selfawareness, self-compassion, and compassion for others. Overall, Expert Humans is a good read which encapsulates some of the most pertinent questions that leaders need to ask themselves and prepare for, as we come out of this crisis, to develop more human workplaces and a better world.

Past Month's events

Unpacking the role of leadership in a hybrid workplace

People Matters

& Skillsoft 17th March, 2021 Online From building resilient business models to equipping employees with the right skills, and focusing on a future that will continue to be disrupted by technology, –the new learning mandate has changed the role of business and HR leaders. Today’s leaders need to ensure their workforce has access to the right tools for continuous learning and they need to ensure that it is mapped with practical experience and a growth mindset. In the second of a series of webcasts, we brought together a leading expert to help us understand the role of leaders and leadership in executing the new learning mandate. How to build the People Analytics Infrastructure for a hybrid world of work

People Matters LnD SEA Conference

People Matters

& Oracle 11th March, 2021 Online As technologies evolve, it has a direct impact on the potential of companies leveraging them. The continuous evolution of people analytics has led to a new generation of analytics – that uncovers hidden patterns in data and suggests data enrichments. As companies prepare for a new world of work, they need to have an in-depth understanding of what lies ahead. From new business priorities to new opportunities they need to be able to architect the analytics infrastructure that is aligned to their business needs. But how does one do that? In this webinar brought to you by Oracle and People Matters, experts in the space of people analytics shared how to go about building analytics to suit the needs of your HR team and how to align a team to help support the business.

future digital skills, reimagining training at a scale in a distant world, and bringing on an experimentative mindset is the base to rev-up growth for individuals, organizations, and economies. This conference brought our community together to reflect and find collective answers to one big question: How do we Rev-Up Growth through capability, through change interventions, and through culture in a time of uncertainty, chaos, and disruption? In that exchange, we sought clarity, shed light, and uncovered a new roadmap to build the foundation of a capability-driven business strategy for growth.

New Workplace Operating Models in HR EX for a High-Performing Distributed Workforce

People Matters & ServiceNow 11th March, 2021 Online As employers strive to enable work, productivity, and well-being in the new now of work, experience remains the center of it all, to ensure sustainable recovery and exponential growth. People Matters and ServiceNow hosted a Virtual Roundtable to take stock and gear up as the world of work builds up a plan of action to return to the workplace. Leaders discussed how leaders can build a smooth and seamless experience focused on empowering a distributed workforce across a hybrid workplace.

People Matters 4th March 2021 Online Theme: In the digital transformation journey, having a detailed talent development roadmap will be as critical as having a technology one. Articulating critical skills for recovery, building the base of

Upcoming events

Virtual Coaching: Effective One2One Conversations

People Matters EX - A Virtual Conference

People Matters

BeNext 17th March - 17th April, 2021 Online One-to-one conversations are the foundation of trust, relationships, and tapping individual potential. People Managers who can adapt coaching behaviors to everyday conversations can create win-win relationships that make work meaningful, purposeful, and a lot more enjoyable. Whether your organization will continue remote or move towards hybrid and distributed teams, this course will help you build confidence, skills and provide you with ways to help your team members achieve their potential.

People Matters 10th June, 2021 Online People Matters EX Virtual conference is a fullday event that will feature two virtual tracks and will take a deep dive into different aspects of the EX with keynotes, case study sessions, panel discussions, and dedicated virtual exhibition space for service providers to showcase their latest offerings. It will cover the foundations of EX to People Matters TechHR SEA 2021: The Great Emergence

People Matters 5th May, 2021 Online With everything disrupted, considering going back to the old ways of working is not at all a winning strategy. Companies have accelerated their business agility & speed by adopting new ways of working. People Matters TechHR 2021’s theme, The Great Emergence will answer the question that stares us in the face - WHAT NEXT? It marks the beginning of reimagining the possibilities presented by our new reality. A perfect opportunity for you to network with 2500+ delegates and discuss how HR continues its quest to become more digital, data-centric, and businessdriven than ever before, with execution being at the core.

maximize business success, accelerating the development of a consumer mindset to solving people & work challenges to attract and retain future talent, bolster productivity and ultimately build happier workplaces, which makes more business sense in the long run. So Come, Learn, interact, and network virtually with over 2000+ delegates and explore how EX translates in every decision in the talent strategy. HR transformation Strategy in the New World of Work

People Matters & SAP SuccessFactors 14th May, 2021 Online The pandemic has put forward a new reality in the HR transformation strategy. Organizations are responding to the crisis by accelerating their HR practices and strategizing digital transformation. Aligning with the thought, People Matters introduces an exclusive panel discussion on 'HR transformation Strategy in the New World of Work'. Delving deep into the conversation, we thought of bringing together industry leaders from 2 different economies and let our community/ audience learn from insights and opportunities from global organizations.

People Matters TechHR India 2021: The Great Emergence

People Matters 4th - 6th August, 2021 Online With everything disrupted, considering going back to the old ways of working is not at all a winning strategy. Companies have accelerated their business agility & speed by adopting new ways of working. People Matters TechHR 2021’s theme, The Great Emergence will answer the question that stares us in the face - WHAT NEXT? It marks the beginning of reimagining the possibilities presented by our new reality.