12 August 2009

Letter from Lhasa, number 130. (Johansen 2009): Leaders Make the Future

Letter from Lhasa, number 130. (Johansen 2009): Leaders Make the Future

by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi


Johansen, B., Leaders Make the Future. Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain Future, Berrett-Koehler Publisher, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2009.

(Johansen 2009).

Bob Johansen



The VUCA world of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity will get worse in the future. The VUCA world will have both dangers and opportunities. Leaders must learn new skills in order to make a better future.


Leaders need new skills to make the future. They are 10, the magic number, or one of the magic numbers, of our era. These skills go from instinctual to built ones. They are:

[01] both can-do and can-make spirit,

[02] to see, create and communicate with clarity,

[03] dilemma flipping,

[04] immersive learning ability,

[05] bio-empathy,

[06] constructively depolarising conflicts,

[07] to lead with a quiet transparency,

[08] rapidly prototyping by working through many scenarios during the development process,

[09] to organise smart mobs using a range of media,

[10] to create commons for both cooperation and competition.


A reflection...


However, it is not sure that those who have the skills to become real leaders can be leaders. While those who have the skills to be real leaders may not have the skills to become leaders.


It is not even sure that to make the future had any real sense. Naturally, it may depend on specific contexts and on specific people.



Johansen, B., Leaders Make the Future. Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain Future, Berrett-Koehler Publisher, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2009.