Charlene Li: How Social Media is Transforming Leadership

For a snapshot of how social media's openness and collaborative approach is influencing leadership, you need look no further than the UK government, which wants to engage the public in making decisions about public sector cuts.

But what are the new rules for business leaders -- and how open should you be?

Charlene Li's new book, "Open Leadership", picks up on some of these questions.

"I saw the adoption of social technologies was causing people in leadership positions to rethink their entire perspective on power -- the source and use of it," she says in this interview.

Here are some takeaways from the conversation:

1. Let your strategic goals guide your actions. By all means experiment, but think about how sharing a certain element of your business supports your goals. Look at Apple: as Li notes, its product development process is tightly guarded, but it is open about allowing developers to publish on the iPhone. Fast food chain McDonald's wants to encourage engagement by creating an online 'lounge' for employees to share views.
2. Know yourself and work within your limitations. Li outlines four archetypal 'open' leaders: "Worried Sceptics", "Cautious Testers", "Transparent Evangelists" and "Realist Optimists". It's more important to be honest about how you judge people than to change from, say, a sceptic to an evangelist. Says Li: "If you... have a pessimistic view of what people do when they have power, you'll need to put in place more guidelines and processes... than an optimistic leader." Don Tapscott of nGenera's at the evangelical end and actively uses Twitter, blogs and online feedback tool Rypple for 'reverse mentoring'.
3. Keep any company-wide policies open and flexible -- start with the strategic aims you want to support and allow the business to shape the means by which you achieve this. Be prepared to adapt your policies -- "being open is an ever-changing dynamic", says Li.
4. Be authentic. According to Li, many execs have "undeveloped or flabby 'sharing muscles' -- they simply aren't very good at it!" It may take some work to convince others of your authenticity -- that means potentially asking for feedback and suggestions on how you can improve. Car insurance company Admiral runs an online staff suggestion box with the solution also sent to the manager for consideration.

How is social media influencing the way you or your boss leads? Or do you think its influence is over-hyped? Let us know if you have a view.

(Photo: cambodia4kidsorg, CC2.0)