Technology

Monday Buzz: Why Leaders Should Be Tech Literate

Technology literacy is a must if leaders want their decisions to be carried out effectively. Also: six rules for better communication.

How often have you heard someone in a leadership position casually toss off that they don’t really “do computers”? Many leaders are dismissive of technology, but in the digital era, this attitude can hold back an organization.

Danny Crichton of TechCrunch says that a disregard for technology among leaders creates a gap between decisions and implementation, in both politics and business.

“It’s one thing for politicians to sign a bill into law, but another to ensure that the bill’s intentions are actually encoded into the software that powers government,” he writes in a new post.

In businesses and other organizations, too, leaders need to be conversant in the technologies that will turn strategy into reality.

“If someone can run a multinational company, they can probably ask smart questions about algorithms or machine learning, even if they don’t realistically implement the linear algebra themselves,” he writes, adding, “We would never trust a CEO who brushed off an accountant by saying, ‘I don’t do cash flows,’ and we shouldn’t trust a CEO who doesn’t understand how the internet works.”

Communication Advice

No matter how good your specific job-related skill set is, if you can’t communicate well, your effectiveness as a manager will be limited.

In a recent blog post, Art Petty, a leadership coach and strategy advisor, shares six rules for communicating during difficult moments. He says to start by creating a map consisting of a central message and a few “significant drivers.”

“The hard work of developing a clear, core message forces you to think through your ideas from the perspective of the audience,” he writes. “Working on this core message, key drivers, and supporting points helps you lock it into your brain.”

Other Links of Note

A sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) is a powerful way to prompt people to act. Movable Ink reveals how you can create that urgency in your email newsletters.

A strong organizational culture can improve employee happiness. Gallup sheds light on the four groups that can build or break work culture.

Bad news for Unroll.Me fans. The service is shutting down in the European Union because it’s not compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), reports BetaNews.

(Yuri_Arcurs/E+/Getty Images Plus)

Raegan Johnson

By Raegan Johnson

Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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