Figure 0.1: The eight ‘I’s model or ‘Kythera’ — Figure 0.1 The eight ‘I’s model or ‘Kythera’

On a compass, there are four cardinal points: North, South, East and West. We’ve used these in conjunction with inter-cardinal points which provide the qualitative overlay. These explain the bipolar paradoxes that we’re seeing.

This is to be imagined in four dimensions as a 360-degree sphere spinning. The objective is to keep the sphere upright on its axis and balanced. The faster the technology changes the faster the sphere spins. The axes are therefore subject to centrifugal force making them more and more polarized.

The first obvious element of the Eight ‘I’s model or Kythera is that it is divided into a light and a dark side. This shows both the progressive and the reciprocal negative effects being created by change.

Next, you will notice the eight ‘I’s. Working clockwise, these are Information, Internationalism, Immediacy, Intelligence, Infrastructure, Innovation, Inclusivity and Inspiration. Their opposite counterparts are Inundation, Insularity, Impatience, Insurgency, Isolation, Intimidation, Inequality and Inversion.

These correspond to the first eight chapters of this book. The ninth chapter is a summary.

Many of the issues are inter-related. So, our chapters start in one area, then we analyse and parenthesize to come to different conclusions. In Chapter 1, we start off by talking about the change in behaviour caused by the overload of data. We end by talking about how left-brain driven and androcentric this might be making our thinking. This links parenthetically with Chapter 7 on inclusivity.

Similarly, in Chapter 2, we reveal the world economy as it is, rather than as it was. Many commonly held views about it are now hopelessly out of date. The consequences of the emergency economic measures from the financial crisis are still unfolding. Global debt, whether public or private, is now three times the level of global GDP. The fast-moving fluid nature of the world economy keeps blindsiding leaders and leaving them exposed to mistakes and misinterpretation. The chapter reviews the landscape and cautions about the rise of unexpected outcomes such as the return of inflation and the unprecedented defence spending. Again, we make the link parenthetically.

In Chapter 3, we look at the effects the internet is having on behaviour and make the link to the rising tide of impatience. We see how the rise of this behaviour seriously affects qualitative aspects of our lives. The immediacy of the internet is creating great flexibility and efficiency. It’s also creating impatience, uncertainty and inequality.

In Chapter 4, we look more closely at philosophical change. Of course, the enormous benefits of shared intelligence and understanding can lead to optimism. At the same time, despite the abundance of information, some are choosing to ignore it, which leads to fear, anger and cynicism. This is a good example of the ‘super-positioning’ effect. This can lead to both a dystopian and a utopian view of the world ahead.

In Chapter 5, we look at the infrastructures and the geopolitics of the world and how the East and West are converging in their goals. We look at the rise of nations such as Mexico and how the great Chinese undertaking of One Belt, One Road, One Circle will change everything. We look specifically at the United States, China, Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Such is their interconnectedness that no global leader can make sense of daily changes without building a situationally fluent view of the world.

In Chapter 6, we see how the inception of technologies yet to come will change things further. We review the leadership opportunities offered by the radical new technologies and how the world is likely to change further. We join the dots still further to look at where the technology is taking us.

In Chapter 7 we explore one of the trends from Chapter 6, namely, how technology is disintermediating relationships at every level. Leadership is profoundly threatened in this sphere because its primary goal is unity of purpose. This chapter primarily analyses the gender effects of multiple trends.

In Chapter 8, we parenthesize all aspects to date to look at how the 21st-century world has profoundly inverted the previous century’s values. This looks at how the ‘looking glass’ environment fundamentally challenges all aspects of leadership.

Finally, in Chapter 9, we look at what the world’s leaders need now to make sense of the future. We analyse the fundamentally paradoxical nature of the change. Leaders cannot manage just for the positive outcomes of change; they must also mitigate the loss from the change ahead. It may be the latter – with all the greater scrutiny that the new environment brings – that decides their fate.

This is a book that analyses leadership through both the quantitative and qualitative lens. It builds a bigger perspective on global leadership because it needs to understand both tactics and strategy. It also points out that its greatest challenge is going to be liberating the potential of the change ahead without destroying those who are unwilling or unable to participate.

This is a book about not just what has happened, or what is going to happen, but what is happening to the way leaders think and perceive the world around them. By allowing leaders to take time to think and equipping them with a telescope as well as a magnifying glass, we hope to encourage better outcomes and less blindsidedness.

As entrepreneur Peter Thiel put it, the challenge is to integrate the small and the big such that all things make sense. He said that arts and humanities students may well learn a great deal about the world, but they don’t learn career skills through their studies. Engineering majors learn great technical detail, but not how they might apply their skills in the workforce. ‘The best students, workers, and thinkers will integrate these questions into a cohesive narrative.’³⁶

The biggest challenge we’ve ever faced lies just ahead. The crisis in leadership is clear for everyone to see. In the past, our predecessors found the creativity, generosity and common humanity to meet great crises with great people and ideas.

Their eyes are upon us now. Will we rise above the pettiness and merely tactical and draw upon all our faculties? They call upon us to look back through the centuries and through the geographies, through the periods of blind faith and compelling logic. We don’t need a left wing or a right wing. We don’t need a male approach or an exclusively female one. We need unity. We need a common sense of purpose. We need leadership. Our challenges demand that we combine our skills to reach both our individual and collective potential because, self-evidently, we cannot achieve the latter without the former. Our planet is just too small and precious a place not to have leadership equipped with the highest-value endeavour and insight.

During the writing of this book, we have been blessed to hear many voices, to experience many minds and hear many opinions. It has been our honour to structure and present them here. It’s also been tremendous fun. We hope you think so, too.