Page 101 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

credited with allowing leaders to be more innovative and enabling them to

be agents of change.

For business leaders and policymakers, emotional intelligence is the vital
foundation for skills critical to succeed in the era of the fourth industrial
revolution, namely self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and
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social skills. Academics who specialize in the study of emotional
intelligence show that great decision-makers are differentiated from average

ones by their level of emotional intelligence and capacity to cultivate this
quality continuously.

In a world characterized by persistent and intense change, institutions rich in
leaders with high emotional intelligence will not only be more creative but
will also be better equipped to be more agile and resilient – an essential

trait for coping with disruption. The digital mindset, capable of
institutionalizing cross-functional collaboration, flattening hierarchies, and
building environments that encourage a generation of new ideas is
profoundly dependent on emotional intelligence.

Inspired intelligence – the soul

Alongside contextual and emotional intelligence, there is a third critical

component for effectively navigating the fourth industrial revolution. It is
what I call inspired intelligence. Drawing from the Latin spirare, to breathe,
inspired intelligence is about the continuous search for meaning and
purpose. It focuses on nourishing the creative impulse and lifting humanity
to a new collective and moral consciousness based on a shared sense of

destiny.

Sharing is the key idea here. As I mentioned previously, if technology is one
of the possible reasons why we are moving towards a me-centred society, it
is an absolute necessity that we rebalance this trend towards a focus on the
self with a pervasive sense of common purpose. We are all in this together

and risk being unable to tackle the challenges of the fourth industrial
revolution and reap the full benefits of the fourth industrial revolution unless
we collectively develop a sense of shared purpose.

To do this, trust is essential. A high level of trust favours engagement and
teamwork, and this is made all the more acute in the fourth industrial

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