The Future of Leadership - An Explorative Study into Tomorrow's Leadership Challenges

This book examines the challenges and social, economic and corporate trends that future leaders will need to deal with, as well as the technical, social and communication skills they will require in order to succeed. This assessment of future leadership overviews the need for a solid base of technical and social skills such as advanced communication and intercultural awareness, all while increasingly need to balance individual and organizational needs. The book begins by discussing the conclusion that future challenges require leaders to operate in increasingly complex and rapidly changing environments while providing a clear strategic vision. This book is based upon explorative interviews conducted with 20 academic and practitioner leadership experts, senior consultants, and senior and top managers, many of whom work in innovative organizations in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Shared are the results prompted by five postulated future economic and social megatrends, the interviewed experts each provided unique insights and views on future work environments and leadership issues. 

Dr. Daniela Eberhardt is an academic and professional with a background in psychology, administrative sciences and management. Since September 2015 she has worked as the Director of Human Resources of the City of Zurich with approximately 28 000 employees in the whole of the city. She is responsible for the management of the HRM division with approximately 140 employees and for the implementation of the city wide HR strategy. From 2008-August 2015 she was Director of the Institute of Applied Psychology IAP at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW. In addition to this role she was in charge for further education programs and consulting/counseling in a wide variety of applied psychology topics for leaders and experts (i.e. leadership, coaching, career counseling) as well as for approximately 90 employees. Before 2008 she was involved with diverse leadership initiatives and expert functions; personal background in training and education, applied research and consulting; management and people development, organizational development and change management.  She has experience in building, leading and internationalization of the management development unit in a globally active company IT-Organization as well as a subject matter expert in leadership, change management and human resource management. Her latest applied research topics are age-related leadership and future of leadership.

Dr. Anna-Lena Majkovic studied Psychology and Politics at the Free University Berlin, Germany and at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She holds a PhD in Social and Organisational Psychology from the University of Kent, UK. Anna-Lena Majkovic worked as an Associate Lecturer in statistics, research methods, social/organisational psychology and career development at the University of Kent and at Christ Church University, UK. After her PhD, she was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Durham Business School, Durham University, UK. She obtained a Postgraduate Degree in Higher Education from the University of Kent and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. She currently works as a lecturer at IAP, Institute of Applied Psychology at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Her current research and work interests are scientifically based competency modelling and intercultural leadership.