Era of all-powerful boss over as ‘cool’ CEOs take office

Tomorrow’s CEO will not rise from the operations or finance department.

They will rise from the communications department.

The CEO will be the chief communications officer since they will face a huge demand when it comes to their public persona.

They will need to know how to deal with today’s hyper-connected environment and intrusive media with everything happening in real time.

Tomorrow’s CEO will not be a systems creator but a systems enabler.

The efficiency and optimised systems will already be in place with able departments to run them.

The role of the CEO shall shift from operations and hands-on to directional and inspirational, which will need one to be a master communicator.

Future boss could be in diapers

For tomorrow’s chief executive, experience will count for nothing and age will be but just a number.

Tomorrow’s economy is going to be a perfect meritocracy and experience will be a non-issue on the merit curve. Accomplishment will count for everything and people will seek solutions not histories.

Being a pioneer will pay big and only the risk takers will achieve this status. Facebook was among the pioneers in social networking. Microsoft and Apple were pioneers in the computer software industry.

However, Johnny-come-lately will only feed on the morsels left from the main table.

M-Pesa was a pioneer in mobile money transfer service in Kenya and the followers can only wish that they had joined the fray a bit earlier. CEOs of these companies have enjoyed the advantages brought about by the pioneer status.

Tomorrow’s CEO will be a solution maker and not just problem diagnostic expert. With your solutions, the world will embrace you, regardless of your age.

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