Why Digital Age Leader iO, and Why Now?

It feels as though life is changing at an unfathomable pace, yet we are drifting with the currents of change without any navigational controls to ensure we are difference makers instead of slaves the corporate algorithms that covertly control what we see and provide covert prodding to stoke the embers of our personal biases in an effort to sell our attention and our every thought to the highest bidder.

Not only do I experience this Digital Age culture, but I witness it the effects it is having on individuals, families, communities, and organizations daily.

Transition of Ages

We are at a pivotal moment in history as we transition from the Gutenberg Age to the Digital Age. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated new levels of technology adoption at an unfathomable pace. One of the results is that we are now firmly planted in the Digital Age. There is no going back to the Guttenberg Age. 

Calling for a New Type of Leaders

Because the Digital Age is so vastly different from the Guttenberg Age in how we interact, view sources of information and authority, and live our daily lives, we need a new type of leadership that knows this new culture, can speak its language, and intentionally uses influence to lead others to new heights.

As I have worked with organizations and individuals on technology strategies, I have come to realize that without leaders who are well equipped for leading in the Digital Age, we are all in danger of drifting through life at the mercy of corporate algorithms. 

You are a Leader

Over the years, I have come to terms with that fact that I am a leader. I hope you realize you are a leader too. The question you and I must both ask ourselves is, "What kind of leader will we be?"

Are we:

• Dominating those around us with an autocratic Industrial Age iron fist?
• Trying to protect those around us and in the process not calling them up to be who God made them to be?
• Drifting through life and abdicating our influence to the algorithms of artificial intelligence that corporations continue to throw in our path?
• Living and leading with intention with the goal of leaving a healthy legacy?

Why DigitalAgeLeader.iO?

As I have worked to help organizations and individuals develop their digital strategies, one major gap has surfaced. As humans we tend to think technology will solve our problems. Technology is a catalytic tool but not the answer. It helps organizations and individuals who have healthy values and culture to succeed at a faster rate than without it. However, it also helps those without those things to fail faster.

Digging deeper than technology to the foundational need, it is more important in the Digital Age than ever before to establish clarity and focus on values, goals, roles, resources, and structures that enable healthy individuals and healthy culture.

We like to use the metaphor of climbing a mountain. Consider the Guttenberg Age a mountain. Yes, it was a mountain with its unique terrain and climate zones. Yes, we were used to climbing and working at the elevations of that Age.

However, the Digital Age culture is like Mount Everest where base camp is higher in elevation than the summits of most mountains around the world. This Digital Age has propelled us to a whole new elevation of leadership that requires us to acclimate and pivot.

The point is this: The Digital Age is a whole new culture at a whole new level. This requires a whole new way of living and leading.

We need Digital Age Leaders

• Who understand we are on a different mountain and thrust into a new environment.
• Who understand this new culture demands leaders who intentionally work on their own health.
• Who intentionally pour into others to help them become the people and leaders we need them to be.
• Who intentionally work to create compounding generational impact.

Will you be the leader we need you to be?

That is why DigitalAgeLeader.iO exists. We are here to be your guide on this journey and fight for your highest possible good so you can lead those in your circles of influence through this wild new Digital Age to become who God has made them to be.