When I first joined The Ariel Group, and heard stories about their leadership training workshops where business mixed with "actor techniques," I was skeptical. And admittedly afraid. I’m not an actor. Minus those two summers in my camp’s theater production, the stage has since been seen as something I walk across to receive a diploma. And if your business world is anything like the ones I’ve been in, it’s better when you are "head down" and focused on the project at hand than dancing through the meadow in a costume. But then again, that’s why I applied this job. I longed for creativity in workplace. I was tired of being treated like some robot fulfilling orders with no input on style. I’m ambitious. If I want to take on leadership responsibilities, what did I need to know? What intangibles do I need to be a leader? (it’s such a baffling question when you think about it) Are there things I’m doing that are holding me back? Do I communicate in such a way that I am hindering my business relationships —and maybe even personal ones? (Spoiler Alert: I’m single.) A few weeks ago, the opportunity arose for internal Ariel Group employees to take one of our workshops, Personal Presence: Value Proposition. I was told I would learn speaking techniques, ways to authentically connect with my coworkers, and even tips on how to explain my job to make a good impression. Before the classroom, my go-to boring line was "I’m the person managing the blog and managing the social media." My gut is telling me that most of you, like me, are a little apprehensive about putting your acting-shoes on. To help, here’s some insight about what it’s like to be in the Ariel Classroom. Wear business casual to move around. A day out of a suit and tie is a welcomed thing, right? Don’t worry, you aren’t moving across the floor in a choreographed routine. But you will get up and do group theater technique (mimicking the person’s body language) in a circle. You want clothes you are comfortable in. If a tie restricts your movement, leave it at home. A tip for the ladies: wear flats. Let your feet relax for once. You don’t need to be scared about theater exercises. Initially I had hesitation, but I pleasantly surprised about the methods Ariel uses. Each technique put a spotlight on a part of my communication that I may have been neglecting. My Italian hand gestures weren’t always matching up with words I was saying. My posture told a different story than my face. We even had a chance to get feedback on our handshakes. It was really enlightening. You will get feedback. You’ll get tons of feedback. The Ariel facilitators are sensational and ours, Maggie Steig, was superb. She endorsed each participant and gave one-on-one coaching on what we were doing right or detailed, illustrative ways we could describe our jobs - i.e. our "value proposition statements," - better. We worked in groups, pairs, and even did a rehearsal of our value proposition statement before we presented it. Match the feedback with the eye-opening exercises, and I could already feel my mind shift on ways I can improve my communication out of the classroom. It’s challenging. If you’re like me, your communication habits didn’t happen overnight. You probably speak a certain way and think it’s lovely. And then BOOM! You realize the way you come off isn’t how you want to be perceived. It’s hard to break habits and receive constructive criticism. Wait, people think I’m overbearing when I do that? WHAT?!?!? By the end of the day I was mentally exhausted, but I got so much out of it. And I feel my career will be better off for it too. You’ll see places you can make an impact. For me, my biggest challenge is that I’m called "overbearing" and "intimidating," when in actuality my intention is to help. I don’t have ulterior motives, but people are skeptical of someone who "just wants to help." During the handshake exercise, I immediately jumped right into the conversation, introducing myself, which apparently threw off the other person. It was deemed too much. The feedback I was given was to let the other person talk first - they will give the tempo of the conversation, not me. In networking nights since, I’ve tried this strategy. I realize I do have a big personality and it’s hard for people to get a word in when I’m on a roll. If I take my foot off the throttle, I’ve been able to make stronger connections - and not scare everyone away! The best part is that I feel more confident about my work and myself. I no longer downplay my job saying, "I manage the social media." Instead, I proudly state, "I’m Ariel’s online concierge. I want to make sure everyone who comes in contact with our work online feels valued. In the blog, my goal is that they have the best user experience and feel they learned something from reading our content. Through social media, I want to share quality pieces from around the web to help our followers excel in their careers. If they have a question, no matter where they are on the totem pole, I want to answer it in a way so they know they can depend on the brand." The latter statement tells a much different story. It paints of picture of what I do, and illustrates what things are important (treating every customer like a VIP, creating quality content pieces, engaging user-experience) to me in the work I produce. This perspective - how you position yourself, how you can use stories for impact at work, how to talk about your values - is what makes the Ariel Classroom unique. You pause, look at yourself with a critical eye, learn better techniques, and give yourself an opportunity to be better. What was your experience like in the Ariel classroom? Or do you have questions about some of the exercises? Write them in the comments below. Want to know how if your leadership presence skills are sharp? Take our leadership self-assessment.      The post Inside the Ariel Classroom: How Scared Should You Be? appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesStories From The Road: Park Avenue, New YorkPresence in the Face of Change ManagementApplying Life Wisdom from Our Elders in the Workplace 

I believe that this is the best life can be - it's the same for everyone. There's nothing we can do about it.Meeting the schedules of my children's activities is as complicated as my work schedule. I need a couple of drinks at night to settle myself down to sleep.The word that jumps out at me here is belief - without belief, there is no hope. I was excited that this belief statement was the least true but sadly still true for too many. Clearly the people like you who read our posts take the time to follow a newsletter or blog once in awhile, so it makes sense that you are not completely blind to your ownership of your situation. Whether it's a tough time for you as the leader or those you lead, here are small efforts to practice. When we want to change our emotions, we can behave as if we have and the brain and heart will follow.Buy a bag of special candy (Pop Rocks are fun). Make a list of your leaders. Randomly order them. As often as you can, select two or three to visit, give them a piece of candy and ask them how it's going. Listen. Help them solve it only if that's needed. Make your visits unpredictable and don't tie it to anything else. Keep them guessing. When you've gone through the list start again with a new piece of candy.Buy these Sticky Men. Stop everything, and have a wall race with your team at 3 PM on Wednesday. Return to work.Stop having meetings that are horrible. Have standing meetings, with agendas, parking lots and leave with a list of tasks to track (name, due date, task). Take back the craziness.If you have stakeholders that are hard on your staff and confronting them is not going to make it better, hunker down with the staff to help them with resiliency. Get some blank paper and pencils, then ask your staff to sketch a picture of their worst stakeholder in 30 seconds- without showing anyone else. Ask them to add things to the picture of the stakeholder- where are they, what time of day is it, what do they have with them, what is their expression, etc? Ask them then to flip the picture over to the blank backside and repeat the exercise but this time ask them to pretend they are this horrible stakeholder, and draw of picture (same additional info). Discuss. Help your team build awareness about how they are contributing to the relationship problems.Before the next time you're together, give your staff a homework assignment to Google what being "below the line" means. Share the thoughts and come up with your own chart like the one above. Consider using this prior to every discussion to get a sense of where each person is coming from. We're all below the line at different points of time, often appropriately. We also can't make someone go above the line, but we can help them see where they are and how those mindsets are impacting work.Have everyone in your office take and share our Stress Quotient assessment. Notice where the stress is coming from and where it is not.

How would you like it if vegetables at the supermarket were stocked with meat or milk? You wouldn’t find the produce in the first place. There’s a reason why the Table of Contents is placed within the first few pages of every book. There’s a reason why the streetlights are not tucked away amidst a maze of store signs. The reason is usability or how easy or difficult it is to find your way through a user interface. And judging by how difficult it is to find houses in certain streets or make your way through software, it seems that it is easy to goof up UX design. Bad usability can inhibit your learners from learning what they need from a course. So, to avoid this, here are 3 tips you can use to create killer eLearning designs:

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog post, I’ve been busy running the first Parentpreneur Startup Accelerator. It’s going really well and the feedback has been amazing. I’m so impressed by the progress the parentpreneurs are making and look forward to sharing their stories with you soon. In the meantime, I thought you’d like this podcast episode from a fellow parentpreneur and productivity geek, Jo Dodds. She’s recently launched her podcast and I’ve already gleaned some great ideas from the interviews she has had so far. (Also, her daughter does the intros, with brilliant & often hilarious results!) You can listen to my discussion with Jo on Track 2 of her iTunes podcast, here. Amongst other things, you’ll learn: Why I wake up early How I structure my day to get the most out of it What tricks I use to keep myself focused How I get coached by Richard Branson. A couple of things to make you aware of… first, Jo interviewed me for the podcast episode quite a while ago, back when I expected ‘Making Greatness’ to focus on helping people build teams. I ‘pivoted’ (using what I teach on the Accelerator) and so now Making Greatness is just the temporary name for my Parentpreneur Accelerator business - (I’m working on the new brand / identity!) Second, on the podcast I mention I wake at 05:30… since then I have changed my approach and now always wake at 04:30 and generally feel great! I hope you enjoy the interview and find it useful. If you do, I’d appreciate you letting me know using the comments below.

Today’s post is inspired by the above graphic. I’ve had this hanging on my bulletin board for years. I don’t recall where I came across it, but I found a copy of it on Cathy Moore’s Pinterest page. It never fails to make me laugh, but it is also very true. (At least the part about SMEs is true. I’ve never seen an LMS ooze ectoplasm.) So often I hear people complain about their SMEs falling off the face of the Earth or having issues getting information. I’m spending this week at a client’s site desperately trying to gather information from multiple SMEs, all of whom are busy installing new machinery or troubleshooting issues. I credit the lessons I’ve learned over the years with getting me through this crazy, time-crunched circumstance with the information I need. Following is what I’ve learned: Do your homework. Research what you can about the topic you are discussing with the SME. Use the internet to gather information. Call ahead and ask if there are materials that can be provided in advance. Plan ahead. Know what you want to get out of the conversation. What is your main goal and what do you need to know to reach that goal? Write out your questions. A lot of people go into a SME interview and ask questions off the top of their head. This is a good way to forget something important. Be prepared. Make sure you have everything that you need to conduct the interview. Pencil sharpened, pen full of ink, plenty of paper, iPad charged, tape recorder has batteries, etc. Be flexible. SMEs are busy, busy people. You will need to be flexible with your time and flexible with the circumstances under which you conduct the interview. Be prepared to conduct the interview while the SME is doing other things. Set expectations. Let the SME know at the beginning of the interview why you are talking to him, how the information will be used, and how long you intend the meeting to take. Let the SME know what information you already know. Focus the conversation. Don’t let the SME go off on a tangent or get caught talking about his dogs. SMEs like to share everything they know about the topic, but you only need to know what your audience needs to know. Keep control of the interview so you can make the best use of the time you have. Thank the SME. Make sure that the SME knows you appreciate the time she took to talk with you. This is not the SME’s job, and you are more likely to get additional help quickly if the SME feels appreciated. Also mention that you will follow up in a few days with any additional questions you may have thought of. Review your notes. Immediately after your meeting transcribe your notes so that they make sense and flow. Set them aside and then review them again within the next few days looking for gaps or anything that needs clarified. Follow up with the SME via email, phone, or if necessary a second meeting. Be patient but persistent. Getting additional information or reviews is often challenging. Keep in mind that dealing with your needs is not the SME’s job, just an addition to her job. Make minimal requests and keep them specific. Provide a date that you would like to receive the information or review by and indicate that you will follow up with a phone call if you do not receive the information by that date. Make sure that you give the SME plenty of time. Continue following up until you get what you need, but always inform the SME of your intention to follow up.

Part 1: How to Build a Backdoor in Your Course Part 2: Create a "Hidden Entrance" to devMode Part 3: Add a devMode Indicator Part 4: Unlocking the Master Control Panel In the previous Downright Sneaky Tricks tutorials for Lectora®, you learned how to create devMode, turn it on and off with a hidden button , add an indicator , and give yourself special powers . In this tutorial, you will learn how to make your secret entrance to devMode a little harder to access by adding a password. If there’s one thing I learned from Scooby Doo, it’s that you’ve got to account for meddling kids. A "secret passageway" needs to be "secret;" otherwise, it’s just a passageway. When you think about it, using an invisible button as the gateway to devMode is not very tight security. Some meddling kid mousing around might see the cursor change into a finger. If they clicked, they would discover your secret passageway, and after some shenanigans involving running on barrels, the jig would be up. So how do you beef up security for your secret passageway? With a password, of course! Instead of going right into devMode, if users click on our secret entrance, they will get a password field. They’ll have to guess the correct password before they can access the riches of devMode. Take THAT, meddling kids! Here’s the recipe… EVEN MORE SECRET ENTRANCE RECIPE You will need… One invisible button (to show the password field—we will repurpose our devEntrance button) One form field (where you enter the password) One green SUBMIT button (where you click to SUBMIT the password) One red Exit button (you always need a red button for cancelling stuff) One green checkmark (to indicate to the user when they entered the CORRECT password) One Group called PASSWORD GROUP (in this group you place the Form field and the CANCEL and SUBMIT buttons. This group is Hidden by default.) One ACTION GROUP called CORRECT PASSWORD One ACTION GROUP called WRONG PASSWORD The password process Let me take a moment to explain how this password will work. Step 1: A user clicks the hidden button which displays the password group (password field, submit button, and cancel button). Step 2: The user enters the password in the password field. Step 3: The user clicks the green SUBMIT button which checks if the password is correct (or the user clicks the EXIT button to back out) Step 4: If the password is correct, devMode is turned ON and the green checkmark appears (as well as anything else associated with devMode). If the password is incorrect, the password items all hide and devMode is turned off. First, let’s add the groups we will need. At the top level of the course, on the Insert ribbon, click the Group button three times to add three groups with the following names: RIGHT password WRONG Password Password Group Next, let’s add the password field, green submit button, red Exit button, and green checkmark. On the Test & Survey ribbon, click Entry field to add an entry field. Rename it Password field. Double-click Password Field and, in the Properties ribbon, specify the following settings: Variable: keyCode (instead of Entry 1) Max characters: 40 Select the Password checkbox Select Initially hidden Optional: Change the Background color to a light yellow The entry field is where the user enters the password. Selecting the Password checkbox means when a user types in the field, it shows up as dots instead of alphanumeric characters. SNEAKY! To add the green Submit button, open the Stock/Media Library, select Buttons, select Green, and add the Green-Basic-Next to the page. Set it to Initially Hidden.   To add the red Exit button, open the Stock/Media Library, select Buttons, select Red, and add the Red-Basic-Exit to the page. Set it to Initially Hidden. The Red Exit button is there for the user to back out if he or she gets here accidentally. The action associated with clicking the CANCEL button is to hide the 3 PASSWORD components. To add the green Checkmark, open the Stock/Media Library tab, select Status Indicators and add the Status-check.png to the page. Set it to Initially Hidden. Position these four items as shown. Move the Password field, green Submit, and red Exit buttons into the Password Group. Change the properties this group to Always on Top. Next we will repurpose the devEntrance button. Instead of toggling devMode on and off, its function will only be to show the Password group. Select the devEntrance invisible button and drag the three actions (devMode Toggle, show indicator if, and show menu if) into the RIGHT Password action group. We will trigger these actions ONLY when the user enters the correct password. 10. Select the devEntrance button and add the following action: Trigger: Mouse Click Action: Toggle Show/Hide Target: Password group Now the only thing that the devEntrance does is toggle the password group on or off. Next, we will add the action that checks the password. When is the password checked? When the user clicks the green SUBMIT button. Our password will be scoobysnack. (Or anything you like. The key is to pick a password that no meddling kid is likely to guess.) 11. Select the green Submit button and add the following action: Trigger: Mouse Click Action: Run Action Group Target: RIGHT Password Condition: IF keyCode is equal to scoobysnack (or your password) Else action: Run Action Group WRONG password "When the user clicks the green Submit button, if the password is equal to scoobysnack, then run the RIGHT Password actions. Otherwise, run the WRONG password actions." If a user enters the wrong password, or if they click the red EXIT button, then this should HIDE the Password group and turn off devMode (if it is on). The WRONG Password action group is where you define what happens if the WRONG password is entered. We want 2 things… hide the password elements and change devMode to OFF (0). 12. Select the WRONG Password action group and add the following action: Name: Hide pwd grp Action: Hide Target: Password Grou 13. Select the WRONG Password action group and add another action: Name: Exit devMode Action: Modify variable Variable: devMode Type: Set equal to Value: 1 The RIGHT Password Action Group is where you nest all of the good and happy events associated with entering the correct password such as showing the green checkmark, the devMode indicator, the devMenu, and turning devMode to ON. 14. Select the RIGHT Password action group. 15. Select the devMode Toggle Click the IF condition and remove the condition. Rename the action devMode ON. 16. Add a new action to the RIGHT Password action group with the following settings: Name: show checkmark Action: Show Target: Statuscheck Add one more new action to the RIGHT Password action group with the following settings: Name: clear pwd field Action: modify variable Target: keycode Type: set as empty Value: (leave this field empty) This last action will clear out the password from the entry field. 17. Select the green Statuscheck checkmark, add a Fade for the Transition In and Transition Out, and add the following action: Name: hide this 2.5 Trigger: Show Delay: 5 seconds Action: Hide Target: This object We only need the checkmark to show up briefly when the correct password is entered. Once it shows up, it will fade away after 2.5 seconds. We need to do one last thing: clicking the red Exit button should trigger the WRONG password actions. 18. Select the red Exit button and add the following action: Name: devMode OFF Trigger: Mouse Click Action: Run Action Group Target: WRONG Password Okay, that’s everything. Give your password field a test! In conclusion So, at the end of the day, we’ve made accessing devMode is much harder. If users find the hidden button (devEntrance), they only see the password group. If they enter an incorrect password, it all disappears! BUT if the correct password is entered, they enter the devMode, where they have SUPER-POWERS of instant navigation and god-like knowledge of right and wrong answers! At long last, you too can be the creepy villain in your own online courses! Happy haunting! Download the Lectora and Lectora Online files for this course in the Trivantis® Community. John Mortenson is the Online Learning Manager for The Fresh Market. He has been developing online courses for over 10 years and is a member of the Lectora Advisory Board. He is also an Adobe Creative Suite Guru and cartoonist. You can contact him on LinkedIn and Twitter. Previous Tutorial The post Downright Sneaky Lectora Tricks Part 5: Creating a MORE SECRET Secret Passageway appeared first on .

Today’s post is from Breanne Dyck, founder and lead consultant at MNIB Consulting. She helps online training businesses to scale their impact, their team and their revenue by blending operations management, learning and product strategy, and business model development. Discover how to get more of your customers taking action with her free 4-step guide: From Understanding To Action. You’ve probably heard, over and over, that the road to success runs through your content. Content on your blog, in your emails, on social media, in your courses … content, content, content. It has even become its own buzzword: content marketing. As an expert, the thinking goes, your ability to drive sales of your courses is directly related to whether your content is good or not. But did you know that your expertise may actually be harming your business and marketing efforts, more than it helps? Let me explain. Experts Beware: You’re Cursed In 1999, a team of Stanford researchers conducted an experiment (PDF Source). Their goal was to figure out how successful experts are at predicting how long it will take novices to master a new skill. I won’t bore you with the details, but here’s the gist: Experts are terrible at predicting how long it will take a beginner to master even "simple" tasks. In fact, they found that the more expert you are, the more you will underestimate how long it will take. The researchers named this phenomenon the Curse of Expertise. In a nutshell, the Curse means that as you gain expertise, you become so unconscious of your competence that you lose the ability to make accurate predictions about how long it will take to teach something to a non-expert. Are you creating content? The Curse of Expertise might be affecting your marketing!Click To Tweet The Curse Extends Beyond The Obvious This is an obvious problem when you’re creating courses; if you can’t predict how long it will take someone to master what you’re teaching, where does that leave you? But perhaps more insidiously, the Curse of Expertise doesn’t just affect your ability to teach in your courses. It affects everything in your business — including your marketing. Think about it. No matter what type of content you share, your goal is always to educate your audience in some way. For example, you want them to learn: That you’re a trustworthy and credible expert. The benefits of what you have to offer. Why they should — or shouldn’t — buy from you. To be involved, participating and engaging in your material. Prospective customers don’t come into this world knowing how we can help them. We meet them where they are at, and then nurture them until they are ready to buy. Whether on social media, in blog posts, emails, or whatever other form our marketing might take, we’re taking our readers on a journey; every interaction is part of a bigger story we tell, in the hopes of moving the reader from where they are now, to where we (and they) want to be. Whatever form our marketing might take, we’re taking our readers on a journeyClick To Tweet The Problem of Hidden Learning What’s interesting about the Stanford study is that the experts had no trouble outlining their knowledge. In fact, they broke the process into the same number of steps as beginners did. The Curse didn’t prevent them from being able to explain what to do, but it did keep them from intuiting how challenging each step would be. This isn’t uncommon. When we think of breaking something down, we think about the actions to be taken. Read this. Click here. Buy this. Do that. What we don’t do is think about the learning journey that one has to take to be able to complete those actions. Take, for example, the question of saving a voicemail — the exact test that the researchers in the study used. On the surface, this is a simple multi-step process: Go into your voicemail Hit the key to retrieve the voicemail Listen to the message Save it Educational theory, though, tells us that there is more to mastering this process than just doing the four steps. In order for a beginner to apply the procedure, they must first remember and comprehend each individual piece. For example, they have to remember how the phone’s menus work and comprehend each prompt. Recalling that the ‘play’ command will play the message is one piece. Realizing that it makes extra menu options available — including the save option — is another. And so on, and so on, down the line. It’s this "hidden learning" within each step that makes the Curse of Expertise so nefarious. The hidden learning within each step is what makes the Curse of Expertise so nefariousClick To Tweet There’s More To Expertise Than a Beginning and an End What’s more, this hidden learning is something that experts can’t seem to shake. The Stanford research team tried (and tried, and tried!) to help their experts make better predictions. They told them to "think back" to when they were first learning. It didn’t help. They provided a list of common pitfalls and stumbling blocks. Still no improvement. In the end, the researchers were completely unable to get accurate predictions from the experts. The simple truth is that we just can’t ignore what we already know, no matter how hard we try to put ourselves in beginners’ shoes. Now, in fairness, beginners weren’t able to make accurate predictions, either.  In fact, the only people who were accurate were those in the midst of the learning process. And that’s the key. It’s easy to fixate on where someone is right now, and where we want them to be in the future. But what the Curse of Expertise tells us is that it’s the middle of the journey where the magic happens. There's more to your expertise than a beginning and end. The magic happens in the middleClick To Tweet Break The Curse Once And For All Those who are in the midst of the learning process are best positioned to give us the data we need, because they have the right expertise level to do so. Not too little, not too much. Just enough to not be affected by the Curse. When we apply that lesson to our marketing, we realize that there can be only one foolproof method for handling the Curse of Expertise. We need to stop predicting and start paying attention to what actually happens on the way from A to B. For example: Every time you share an idea in a new way, watch for indications (comments, tweets, replies to emails, etc.) of the impact it’s having as it’s having it. Get real sales pages in front of prospects, and consider A/B testing the pieces of your sales funnel to track the effectiveness of your customer education process. Run pilots of your courses and programs, being open to your customers’ experience and without putting pressure on yourself to create the perfect curriculum in advance. Track engagement trends on your social media at a campaign level so that you’re looking at the big picture, and not just focusing on individual posts, pins, comments or Tweets. When you base your decisions using data from the middle of the process, rather than just the start- or endpoints, you’ll be able to break the Curse of Expertise. That’s the key to having your expertise benefit your marketing — and your business — rather than hindering it. The post Is Your Expertise Hurting Your Marketing? appeared first on Thinkific.

[Post by Arden Rose, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] The industry analysts at Bersin by Deloitte have released the UK Corporate Learning Factbook for 2016. The report presents benchmarks, trends, and analysis from a study of 220 U.K. organizations in 2015. Some of the findings of the report include that training has come home as outsourcing drops. "UK organisations’ reliance on external service providers declined when the recession prompted cuts in training expenditures." Bersin’s survey showed that: learning and development spending is rebounding staffing and training hours continue to rise use of informal learning methods are rising, while ILT training continues its sharp decline To read more about this report and download and abstract visit: Bersin by Deloitte

Chalk and Cheese - "you usually get what you pay for." A statement reported to have been made by an SFA policy manager during a talk at Bett recently said "The Skills Funding Agency isn’t going to implement a cheap rate for online learning. I think we all appreciate that it’s not the cheap option" […]

"Why is everyone so hung up on Leaders, Leadership and Leadership courses - it’s what gets us into a mess. Think banking, politics, sport…" - Donald Clark If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. If all you know is hierarchical leadership by virtue of one’s position, then all solutions are in the hands of the CEO. Conversations with 150 CEO’s only yield ‘CEO thinking’. "To raise the organization’s confidence in their decisions, leaders must carefully balance the various personal paradoxes involved in the decision-making process, including: doubt - anxiety versus fearlessness, omniscience versus ignorance; conviction - openness versus self-sufficiency, hubris versus humility; realism - realistic optimism, i.e., pragmatism, versus blind optimism, i.e., gambling; and patience - the right pacing or timing of decisions versus detrimental haste and hesitation." The great man theory of leadership is outdated, just as the divine right of kings was two centuries ago. Even the World Economic Forum thinks in terms of leadership as an individual achievement. The 4 skills you need to become a global leader, according to a WEF article, are: Have multiple skills so that you have flexibility in your options Be ready for set-backs Expose yourself to other cultures Learn to communicate well This is fairly pragmatic advice for everyone, not just those who are trying to move up the artificial ladders of institutions and organizations. But we don’t need better leaders. We need organizations and structures that let all people cooperate and collaborate. Positional leadership is a master-servant, parent-child, teacher-student, employer-employee relationship. It puts too much power in the hands of individuals and blocks human networks from realizing their potential. In the network era, leadership is helping the network make better decisions. The future, as proposed by current leadership, is not about becoming a better leader, it’s about all of us becoming better people. This starts by creating more human organizational structures, ones that enable self-governance. Leadership is an emergent property of a network in balance. Depending on one person to always be the leader will only dumb-down the entire network. Image: adapting to perpetual beta Further Reading: Network Leadership