synopsis everybody ceo

8/3/2019 Synopsis Everybody CEO

1/5

Menno Lanting

Everybody CEO:

Network Leadership and

the New Organisation

NEW, Business Contact, management, 176

pages, April 2011

Social networks force organizations to change; they empower both customers and

employees to an unprecedented level, which asks for a new kind of leadership. Everybody

CEO explores the developments in society (chapter 1 to 5) and both the common and the

recommended reactions of leaders (chapter 6 to 10). This sequel to Connect! is not a

handbook on how to be successful in the digital era, but offers many case studies of

companies that try to find their way in the connected!world.

Press on Everybody CEO

Lanting builds on his visionary Connect! and shows Dutch management the way in the new

network era

BEN VERWAAYEN, CEO ALCATEL-LUCENT

Everybody CEO is essential reading for every manager who wants to get maximum value

from intellectual capital within an organization.TON VAN GARDEREN, GENERAL MANAGER APPLE BENELUX


2/5

SYNOPSIS

1. The prison that is the industrial age

Times have changed: the industrial era (with a focus on goods) has made room for the

digital revolution (which revolves around information and ideas). Employees have become

professionals; highly educated, hyperconnected and autonomous knowledge workers,

who want to integrate their passions in their jobs. The traditional way of managing

personnel (top-down and controlling) will no longer do for these professionals. To let them

blossom leaders have to trust them; give them the means to connect with each other and the

freedom to choose when and where they do their work. Leaders will become coordinators

rather than the boss.

2. Driving backwards uses up petrol too

Every change evokes resistance. Many people feel we are at the brink of a new era, yet they

still use technical revolutions on a practical level only. Many also worry about the ever-

growing individuality and the overload of information that people are exposed to every

day. They dont see the possibilities of social networks to unite and commit people.

As any other innovation, the enthusiasm about digital developments follows an S-

curve; first theres a hype and than interest drops, after which the innovation usually

becomes mainstream and the amount of users grows again steadily. Some people mistake

the current fall in enthusiasm for social media for the end of the story and fail to recognize

the need to fundamentally change their organization.

3. Dare to ask

The connected!world is formed through the networks people are part of, networks that are

more complex and richer than ever before. Virtual networks derive their strength from their

number of not-so-close relationships (other than traditional networks). One person can

reach many more than traditional network ever made possible. He can tap into the tacit

knowledge of the crowd, even if hes only passively present in a social network (only asmall percentage of members in a community is active).


3/5

Our society has changed from consumption-based, via experience-based, into

human-based, which means people will share more and more information, because they

will benefit from it themselves: this forms the econoWe. The value is in connections

between individuals, not in those between companies (anymore).

4. The new organization: from pyramid to pancake

The digital revolution makes all kinds of developments possible, such as micro-

multinationals (small companies with a large economic impact, due to the use of social

networks) and cloud computing (working together without physical presence). But

companies often make a mistake thinking that offering their employees flexibility in hours

or workspace is enough: they need to facilitate their employees needs for self-realisation.

New forms of organization that meet the interests of both the company and the professional

are needed, such as the protean organization (with an unchanging core and a flexible cloud

around it) or the informal, non-hierarchical organization.

5. Network Leadership

The connected!world asks for a shift in focus: from command and control to collaborate.

Facilitating a shared goal means stepping up when needed and stepping down when not. It

also asks of the leader the ability to connect people through an inspiring vision. That

requires substantial knowledge of his own product or service, rather than managing skills,

as well as the willingness to be an exemplary online networker: a spider in a web. Collective

leadership will lead to new career curves; not only vertically or based on seniority, but

based on qualities or even themes.

6. Transparency

Transparency is a mayor theme of the 21st century. Companies will have to open up, or

others will do it for them: peer reviewing can make or break a company. Only organizations

that initiate the openness themselves have some control left. On the other hand,


4/5

transparency can save a lot on marketing or advertising costs, since positive public feedback

is much more powerful.

Radical openness still scares some companies, sometimes because they havent

realised that the old days are gone forever, sometimes because they fear their irrelevance

will be exposed. Transparency is strongly connected to accountability: people and

companies will be held responsible for what they communicate and they will get feedback

on their ideas and actions.

7. Trust

Leaders need to start trusting their employees. The X-theory (maximum control over

personnel) is no longer successful; the Y-theory is based on the professionals own ambition,

self-organization and self-control. A high expectation apparently leads to a higher result

its a self-fulfilling prophecy. The courage to trust employees usually pays off. Leaders (and

companies as a whole) need to be trustworthy themselves to stand a chance in de digital era,

otherwise peer reviewing will destroy them.

8. Accessibility

Leaders and professionals have to show themselves in social networks, but personal

branding takes some getting used to. However, in the connected!world the boundaries

between the collective and the individual dissolve, and everybody will become a content-

producer, resulting in a cognitive surplus that everyone can benefit from. When leaders

become accessible (through social network platforms rather than the corporate website),

they can reduce the distance between themselves and their employees and customers, show

their relevance and set an example.

9. Authenticity and craftsmanship

Mass marketing has diminished the amount of trust people have in most companies.

Consumers seek meaningful and individual relations through social networks. Companiesand professionals are forced to determine their strengths and make an effort to develop


5/5

along those lines. They will have to find a way to contribute, by discovering the core of their

craftsmanship. If they succeed, they will be authentic and therefore believable, which will

give employees and users the possibility to commit to their brand. Leaders have a different

role in this process: instead of having all the answers, they have to be able to ask the right

questions.

10. Learning together

The connection of knowledge in social networks is called social learning. Companies can use

the knowledge and commitment of (internal) communities to enhance al kinds of processes

in their organization. The growing amount of information does require a filter however;

something or someone to prioritise in the endless stream. Here lies a new role for leaders,

specially those in middle management: instead of controlling people and processes, their

focus will be on connecting the right people to each other and facilitating the transformation

into a connected!organization.

* *

Menno Lanting works as a strategist and

leadership expert with the boards of various

organisations. As an associate he is also affiliated

with the leadership institute De Baak and a

number of business schools. Themes on which he

focuses on are: connectivity, executive

development, marketing and business

innovation. In this way he supports organizations

in staying connected with the changing world.

Lanting brought together his views on these

themes in the award winning bestseller Connect!

He builds on this philosophy in Everybody CEO.

synopsis everybody ceo

Documents