Saif bin Zayed explores leadership in digital age

The lecture was presented by serial entrepreneur, bestselling author and performance coach Steve Cockram, who discussed business leaders’ unique challenges in today’s digital world. Cockram identified three key issues and explored strategies to address them to improve the long-term effectiveness of leaders and their teams.

The first challenge asked how leaders can stay emotionally, physically and intellectually healthy in a world where work never stops. Cockram compared work schedules from the industrial age – where the working day had clearly defined start and end points – with today’s digital age, where everyone is connected and able to work anywhere any time. To address this issue, he introduced the ‘five gears’ concept that helps leaders and teams manage their schedules to ensure they can work efficiently but also dedicate sufficient time to ‘recharge’.

The next challenge explored by Cockram was the importance of leaders learning to lead through influence rather than their position or title. He again compared today’s work environment with that of the past, in which employees would often ‘do their time’ and rise through the ranks to reach a position where they could influence the organisation’s strategy. This, he argued, is no longer the case, as hierarchies are being squashed and the new generation of ‘digital natives’ is inherently better equipped to tackle the challenges of the digital age. To address this, he talked about the importance of leaders harnessing the ‘superpowers’ of each team member and ensuring that each employee feels truly heard, valued and appreciated. Cockram explained that leaders must acknowledge that they alone do not have all the answers in today's complex world. Instead, they must focus on building high-performing teams that recognise the wisdom and insights of each team member.

The third and final challenge addressed in the lecture was how to build a culture that attracts and retains top talent. Cockram explored the idea that successful cultures are built by leaders who don’t measure their value through what they personally achieve but through how many people they enable to do something they didn’t imagine was possible. To do this, he argued, a leader must understand each member of their team, what motivates them, and what challenges they may be facing. The ability of a leader to develop and enable their team, he said, is just as important as their ability to do their job.

The Majlis Mohamed bin Zayed lecture was moderated by Khaled Al Remeithi, Director of Education Strategy Development at the Presidential Court, and featured pre-recorded contributions from Dr. Ali Al Ahbabi, Director, UAEU Center for Public Policy and Leadership, and Mariët Westermann, Vice Chancellor, NYU Abu Dhabi.

Held in a dedicated majlis lecture venue at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the presentation was also attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, and several ministers and officials.

The lecture will be broadcast on Tuesday, 18th April, at 17:30 on local TV networks and on the Majlis Mohamed bin Zayed YouTube channel (youtube.com/@MajlisMohamedbinZayed).