MIT Press’s New Business Book: Leading in the Digital World

Certain ideas about business leadership are held to be timeless, and certain characteristics of leaders–often including a square jaw, a deep voice, and extroversion–are said to be universal.

In “Leading in the Digital World: How to Foster Creativity, Collaboration, and Inclusivity” (on sale April 7th, 2020, The MIT PRESS), Amit Mukherjee argues that since digital technologies are changing everything else, how could they not change leadership ideologies and styles? As more people worldwide participate equally in business, those assumptions of a leader’s ideal profile have become irrelevant. Offering a radical rethinking of leadership, Mukherjee shows why digital technologies call for a new kind of leader–one who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity.

Drawing on a global survey of 700 mid-tier to senior executives and interviews with C-level executives from around the world, Mukherjee explains how digital technologies are already reshaping organizations and work and what this means for leaders. For example, globally dispersed businesses can’t reserve key leadership roles for people from exclusive groups; leadership must become inclusive, or fail. Leaders must learn to collaborate in a multipolar world of networked organizations, working with co-located and non-co-located colleagues. Leaders must lead for creativity rather than productivity. Focusing on practice, Mukherjee outlines goals and strategies, warns against unthinking assumptions, and explains how leaders can identify the mindsets, behaviors, and actions they need to pursue. With Leading in the Digital World, Mukherjee offers the definitive book on leadership for the digital era.

Amit S. Mukherjee is Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Hult International Business School at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. He formerly held the same title at IMD. His book The Spider’s Strategy was named “one of the thirty best business books of 2009” by Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

Advance Praise:
“Curiosity, collaboration, and creativity fuel the engines of transformation in the world today. Digital technologies can give us answers, but we need creative minds to ask the questions, explore new possibilities, and break barriers. Amit Mukherjee has beautifully outlined the techniques that leaders of the future can use and raises important questions on the values they need to instill.”
–C. P. Gurnani, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra

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