(by Vincenzo Cimini, Board Member-Green Holding SpA Group) What characteristics must the ideal manager have for those companies with an eye to the future? This is the question that Giulio Xhaët, Digital Strategist and Senior Consultant of Newton Spa, tries to answer in Sole 24 Ore.
His analysis begins with outlining the changes experienced by the figure of the manager since the 90s when it was essentially technicians such as computer scientists or engineers who, advancing with their career, ended up holding top positions. With the passage of time we have moved away from this model and the managers as they advance tend to move away from operations and to be less and less specialists.
In 1991 the researcher David Guest already spoke of a hybrid manager who should have had an "unusual set of interests" representing a "variant of the Renaissance man, equally at ease with information systems, modern techniques and knowledge of the twelve-tone musical scale" . Guest was therefore referring to the ability to interface with different disciplines, just as it happened in the Italian Renaissance, a period still studied today by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Guest introduced for the first time the concept of T-shaped, the so-called T-shaped professionals, a figure who had at least a specialist competence in one sector but also knowledge in other fields, a hybrid between the specialist and a generalist. The T-Shaped model was primarily developed by Ideo CEO Tim Brown, an international design company. The T-Shaped professional is an expert in one sector and is also able to link with the professionalism of other disciplines thanks to the depth of his training and expertise. A flexible mind that for this very reason manages to empathize also with the perspectives of others, a characteristic often difficult to find in a hyper-specialist manager. Very scrupulous in detail, this type of figure seems to blend well with the current times where it is very likely that a young professional will find himself changing jobs and companies at a faster rate than in the last century.
According to Xhaët, the evolution will be towards the Comb-Shaped (comb-shaped), i.e. a multidisciplinary manager as the dominant model. Companies will look for this type of feature. The example given is that of Mark Zuckerberg who before enrolling at Harward had had excellent results in classical subjects, then studied computer science and psychology, with a remarkable ability to range from one field to another with great ease, demonstrating vertical skills and abilities to carry out concrete projects. Other examples of comb-shaped are professions such as growth hacker and data scientist. Knowing how to be hybrid, with deep and different skills in various fields, seems to be the winning key for the manager of today and of the future.
Impact, the international and independent Creative Change Agency, also tried to analyze the typology of present and future managers in the “Leading in the digital era” workshop. "Many scholars - explained Giuseppe Florimonte, Senior Partner of Impact Italia in an interview with Business Insider - they are questioning themselves on the subject and believe that, probably, if the manager remains the one who mainly thinks about organizing work, controlling, managing flow charts, allocating resources as he once did, he will be destined to disappear. And it will be replaced by artificial intelligence. Which, in a sense, is already happening in various companies, such as the controversial Uber, but also Deliveroo, which are self-regulated by apps that operate as if they were human beings. It is difficult today to think of a manager without basic digital skills. He will never have to become a great expert on all available technologies. However, in order to evaluate whether the ideas are good or not, if the way of doing business can change quickly, it will have to at least be in step with what is there from a technological point of view. Digital transformation is putting a strain on traditional businesses but there are huge "digital opportunities" to be seized».