The Future of Leadership in a Digital and Networked World

With the help of innovations leadership promises to lead through change and complexity and therefore to meet the opportunities and challenges of the present and future world. At the same time, leadership may also be subject to the influences of a digital and networked world. Based on a sound theoretical foundation, a real-time Delphi-based scenario study with more than 100 experts worldwide was conducted to further assess how future leadership in a digital and networked world could look like and what could follow from this for a leadership education curriculum. On the ground of the large amount of generated quantitative and qualitative data four different scenarios, as well as probable and desirable futures were developed. Within the scenario transfer possible development potentials for a future leadership education curriculum were derived. The study gives a condensed overview of the essential interrelationships of leadership, innovation, networks, multi-level learning, and education. It provides impulses for the possible future development of leadership and leadership education in a digital and networked world. As such, it offers a cross-disciplinary perspective in which pedagogical intentions and approaches are integrated.