Knowledge Management For Leadership and Communication AI Innovation and The Digital Economy 1st Edition Jon-Arild Johannessen

You might also like

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 70

Knowledge Management for Leadership

and Communication AI Innovation and


the Digital Economy 1st Edition
Jon-Arild Johannessen
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmeta.com/product/knowledge-management-for-leadership-and-communi
cation-ai-innovation-and-the-digital-economy-1st-edition-jon-arild-johannessen/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Continuous Change and Communication in Knowledge


Management 1st Edition Jon-Arild Johannessen

https://ebookmeta.com/product/continuous-change-and-
communication-in-knowledge-management-1st-edition-jon-arild-
johannessen/

A Systemic Approach to Continuous Change in the


Innovation Economy 1st Edition Jon-Arild Johannessen

https://ebookmeta.com/product/a-systemic-approach-to-continuous-
change-in-the-innovation-economy-1st-edition-jon-arild-
johannessen/

Automation Innovation and Work The Impact of


Technological Economic and Social Singularity 1st
Edition Jon-Arild Johannessen

https://ebookmeta.com/product/automation-innovation-and-work-the-
impact-of-technological-economic-and-social-singularity-1st-
edition-jon-arild-johannessen/

Artificial Intelligence Automation and the Future of


Competence at Work 1st Edition Jon-Arild Johannessen

https://ebookmeta.com/product/artificial-intelligence-automation-
and-the-future-of-competence-at-work-1st-edition-jon-arild-
johannessen/
Quality Management Reconsidered for the Digital Economy
5th Edition John Beckford

https://ebookmeta.com/product/quality-management-reconsidered-
for-the-digital-economy-5th-edition-john-beckford/

Digital Transformation Management: Challenges and


Futures in the Asian Digital Economy 1st Edition
Mohammad Nabil Almunawar

https://ebookmeta.com/product/digital-transformation-management-
challenges-and-futures-in-the-asian-digital-economy-1st-edition-
mohammad-nabil-almunawar/

Innovation of Digital Economy Cases from China Jianlin


Zhang

https://ebookmeta.com/product/innovation-of-digital-economy-
cases-from-china-jianlin-zhang/

Essentials of Management An International Innovation


and Leadership Perspective 11th Edition Harold Koontz

https://ebookmeta.com/product/essentials-of-management-an-
international-innovation-and-leadership-perspective-11th-edition-
harold-koontz/

Conflict Management and Leadership for Managers:


Knowledge, Skills, and Processes to Harness the Power
of Rapid Change 3rd Edition Susan Raines

https://ebookmeta.com/product/conflict-management-and-leadership-
for-managers-knowledge-skills-and-processes-to-harness-the-power-
of-rapid-change-3rd-edition-susan-raines/
Knowledge Management for
Leadership and
Communication

AI, Innovation and the Digital


Economy

JON-ARILD JOHANNESSEN
Kristiania University College and Nord University,
Norway
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India
Malaysia – China
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

Reprints and permissions service


Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without
either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying
issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright
Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst
Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald
makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application
and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data


A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83982-045-8 (Print)


ISBN: 978-1-83982-042-7 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83982-044-1 (Epub)
Contents

1. Moving Towards the Innovation Economy


Introduction
2. The Cycle of Creating a Championship Culture in
Organizations in the Innovation Economy
(Fourth Industrial Revolution)
Introduction
Intelligent Robots and Informats
Intelligent Robots and Leadership
Intellectual Experiment
Connectedness and Leadership
Disruptive Leadership
The Human Factor
The New Leadership Role
Burning Desire
What You Are (or Want to Be) Good at
Mastery
Development of a Program for the New Leader
Role
Conclusion
3. Brain Science and Evidence-based Leadership
Introduction
Emotions
Chemistry and Hormones
Neurotransmitters and Hormones Related to
the Exercise of Leadership
Changes in the Brain and Co-creation
Effective Leadership
Conclusion
4. Intelligent Robots and Business Organization at
the Start of the Innovation Economy (The Fourth
Industrial Revolution)
Introduction
Description
Analysis and Discussion
Crossing Boundaries
Chain of Associations
Additional Comment to Organizational
Principle 7
Functional Organization
Talent-flocking
Conclusion
5. Political Leadership and Value Creation Processes
in the Innovation Economy
Introduction
Historical Background
Vision
Cohesiveness of the Social System
Evidence-based Knowledge
Solutions to Social Problems
Conclusion
Index
1

Moving Towards the Innovation Economy

Introduction
The core ideas of this book are:

1. Communication and value creation processes in the


innovation economy are driven by technological emergents.

2. In this book we investigate the four core processes that


influence value creation in the innovation economy: new
forms of leadership; brain science and leadership; new
organizational models; and political leadership.

3. The unique characteristic of the innovation economy is the


interaction between the market, innovations, government
authorities and economic bubbles.

In this book, we investigate communication and value creation


processes in the innovation economy. The purpose of the book is to
gain knowledge about the key value creation processes in the
innovation economy.
The innovation economy is characterized by some central drivers.
One of these drivers is communication and innovation processes
(Janeway, 2018). Once the innovation economy is established, the
Fourth Industrial Revolution will be a reality (Johannessen, 2018a,
2018b). By this time, new forms of leadership will also have seen the
light of day. These will be generated, amongst other things, by the
link between leadership and brain science. Through their
consequences, these forms of leadership will also influence political
leadership. This development will promote completely new
organizational models that will no longer be linked to the logic of
industry and the industrial society. In the book, we examine these
four value creation processes in order to answer the following
question: What are the key value creation processes in the
innovation economy? We recognize that there are several value
creation processes in the innovation economy (Johannessen, 2018a,
2018b, 2019). In order to answer our general question, we have
developed four sub-questions. These are as follows:

1. How will intelligent robots affect the role of leader?

2. How can we apply insights from brain science in order to


promote effective leadership?

3. How will the advent of intelligent robots and intelligent


informats affect the organization of businesses?

4. How can political leadership promote value creation


processes in the innovation economy?

We have shown the links we have created between the four


elements in Fig. 1.1. Fig. 1.1 also shows how the book is structured.
Fig. 1.1: Value Creation Processes in the Innovation Economy.

In the book, we attempt to maintain a balance between theory


and practice. Too much theory can easily lead to a woolly academic
discussion, but too much practice without theoretical underpinnings
will lead to a kind of empirical terrorism, when the result will be a
quest for the status quo.
Economic bubbles have played a key role in the development of
capitalism, particularly in connection with new technologies. One can
claim that innovations create progress and welfare, but this is only
after these same innovations have created economic and social
crises (Johannessen, 2017). Accordingly, innovation processes are
key drivers in the innovation economy. If we look at innovation
processes in the global economy, there is much to indicate that
China, with its centrally controlled command economy, will be able to
direct all its resources into becoming the world leader in artificial
intelligence and intelligent robots (Geng & Ho Kang, 2018).
The point we are trying to make in the book is that the market
and technological developments and technology are not driven by
rational, logical decision-making, but occur in sudden leaps
whenever emergents surface and change the direction of both the
market and technological developments. 1 It is emergents that are
the true drivers of the innovation economy. What we have done here
is to link emergents to the four drivers, as shown in Fig. 1.1.
Neither Darwin's ‘survival of the fittest’ – Adam Smith's belief that
when we act in our own self-interest, society as a whole will benefit
– nor Henry Ford's concept of the production-line are relevant at a
time when emergents are the key underlying factor in value creation
in the innovation economy. Accordingly, both private-sector
businesses and the public administration must change their
strategies and policies on innovation.
Value creation in the innovation economy lies at the point of
intersection between economics and innovation. The factor which
functions as the glue between these two elements is technology.
Accordingly, in the future, investments will be targeted in all
probability towards technological development, in general, and
artificial intelligence and intelligent robots in particular. In this figure,
the theoretical and practical emphasis is on the importance of
innovation as a real driver in the innovation economy. The innovation
economy and innovation processes function at their best when
theory and practice are unified to achieve a utility value for
individuals and society.
The innovation economy is not a status quo, or a status quo
ante, economy. It is characterized by changes, but changes of a
completely unique type, of the same fundamental nature as a
tsunami or a shift in the Earth's tectonic plates. The unique
characteristic of the innovation economy is interaction between the
market, innovations, the authorities and economic bubbles. It is in
this connection that we can say that small innovations lead to small
economic crises, while large innovations lead to large economic
crises.
Jobs and functions will not necessarily be essential to the
innovation economy. Rather the focus will shift to freelancers,
project-based working, part-time working, app developers, the
‘business of one’, entrepreneurship etc. The advent of this kind of
economy – where permanent employment, job security, paid
holidays, stability etc. have disappeared – will affect interpersonal
relationships. Intelligent robots and artificial intelligence will replace
not only blue-collar workers, but also white-collar workers,
knowledge workers and service workers. Growing pressure from
shareholders for larger dividends will put wages under pressure,
which in turn will result in a further acceleration of automation.
We have already experienced technological innovations taking
over a large proportion of repetitive work tasks in both the
production and service industries (Arnold & Bongiovi, 2013; Avent,
2016). What is happening now is a linking up of the free market with
government policymakers who control technological development
through research projects and the funding of projects they want to
see realized (Janeway, 2018). The best example of this is China,
where the authorities are permitting the operation of a free market,
while at the same time they have set their course to become the
world leaders within artificial intelligence and intelligent robots (Geng
& Ho Kang, 2018).
The innovation economy has three characteristic features:
complexity; turbulence and continual cascades of innovations.
Anyone seeking stability and security in this economy will experience
great frustration. In addition to this development, our brain has
evolved to recognize and prepare for threats. A situation with
continual threats will affect how we think and behave. Being in a
constant state of preparedness will have a negative effect on our
brains. It is in this context, amongst others, that the chapter on
brain science and leadership has something to offer both leaders and
employees. It is possible that knowledge derived from brain science
may lead to the development of new forms of leadership and new
organizational models. This is the topic of Chapters 3–5. In the same
way as Janeway (2018) is interested in the connection between
innovations, the free market economy and state economic
interventions, in Chapter 5 we consider the importance of political
leadership for gathering resources to attain some simple and
achievable goals.

References
Arnold, D., & Bongiovi, J. R. (2013). Precarious, informalizing, and
flexible work: Transforming concepts and understandings.
American Behavioral Scientist, 57(3), 289–308.

Avent, R. (2016). The wealth of humans: Work and its absence in


the twenty-first century. London: Allen Lane.

Geng, X., & Ho Kang, B. (Ed.). (2018). PRIAI 2018: Trends in


artificial intelligence. London: Springer.

Janeway, W. H. (2018). Doing capitalism in the innovation economy.


Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johannessen, J.-A. (2017). Innovation leads to economic crises:


Explaining the bubble economy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Johannessen, J.-A. (2018a). Automation, innovation and economic


crisis: Surviving the fourth industrial revolution (Routledge Studies
in the Economics of Innovation). London: Routledge.

Johannessen, J.-A. (2018b). The workplace of the future: The fourth


industrial revolution, the precariat and the death of hierarchies
(Routledge Studies in the Economics of Innovation). London:
Routledge.

Johannessen, J.-A. (2019). Institutional innovation: From democratic


capitalism to feudal-capitalism in the innovation economy
(Routledge Studies in the Economics of Innovation). London:
Routledge.

1 See the chapter on concepts.


2

The Cycle of Creating a Championship


Culture in Organizations in the
Innovation Economy (Fourth Industrial
Revolution)

Introduction
Initially, robots took over tasks that were laborious, boring and
repetitive. Gradually, as artificial intelligence has become more
sophisticated, robots are being developed to perform tasks of a
completely different nature. Intelligent robots represent a transition
from automation to informatization. This means that robotization
affects information processes and the administrative levels of
organizations. Accordingly, management is one of the business
functions that will be powerfully affected by this new wave of
robotization.
There are several explanations for this development. The most
straightforward is linked to Drucker's theory of innovation, which
suggests where innovations are likely to occur (Johannessen, 2017,
2018). Drucker's theory identifies five areas where innovation is
likely: (1) where there are high levels of real or relative costs; (2)
where there is declining real or relative productivity; (3) where there
is declining real or relative quality; (4) where innovations tend to
disseminate rapidly and (5) where new knowledge has the inherent
potential to become new technology.
Of course, one might debate the level of importance of these
various factors to leadership. There is much to suggest, however,
that the role of leader will be challenged by the advent of intelligent
robots, digitization and artificial intelligence. The reasons why
leadership will be vulnerable to innovations can be linked to the five
factors mentioned above, in particular to cost-related considerations.
General implication for leadership: The role of leader will be
strongly affected by the advent of intelligent robots, digitization and
artificial intelligence.
This chapter will examine the following: informats, ‘the human
factor’ and new ways of thinking in relation to leadership. 2
Further, we will explore the following question: How will
intelligent robots affect the role of leaders and promote value
creation processes in the innovation economy?
In order to answer this general question, we have developed
three sub-questions:

1. How will intelligent robots and informats affect the role of


leader?

2. How will the ‘human factor’ affect the role of leader?

3. What form will the new role of leader take?

This introduction is illustrated in Fig. 2.1. Fig. 2.1 also shows how
the rest of the chapter is organized.
Fig. 2.1: Robotization and the Leader Function.

Intelligent Robots and Informats


The question we examine in this section is as follows: How will
intelligent robots and informats affect the role of leader? We know
that robots, and the intelligent robots of the future, will most likely
bring about radical innovations, increasing connections between all
social systems at all levels, including globally (Oliveira, 2017: 87–
116). These trends will affect the businesses of the future (Ford,
2016: 225–245). We also know that enormous analytical capacity
will be integral to the design of intelligent robots and informats.
They will also possess the processing capacity necessary to
synthesize data and make decisions in light of the data and
information to which they have access (Abd, 2017).
These intelligent robot capabilities will most likely lead to a
change in management functions. The tasks and activities that are
now performed by managers and which can in the future be
performed by robots will be transferred to robots. The reason is
linked to Drucker's innovation theory mentioned above
(Johannessen, 2018), which states, amongst others, that where the
costs are high, innovations will emerge. It seems reasonable to
assume that using intelligent robots in the future to perform many of
today's managerial functions will result in lower costs, more reliable
decisions and a higher capacity to connect globally to access new
information. When we come to the point in the future where
technological singularity becomes a reality, many of today's
managerial tasks will be made redundant by the super-intelligent
robots. 3 For instance, this will apply to staff functions associated
with management (Bostrom, 2016). As we approach technological
singularity, we are no longer talking about robots that are restricted
to moving shipping containers at the docks or boxes at a factory,
flipping burgers, developing algorithms for creative solutions, writing
newspaper articles and reports etc. (Ford, 2016: 225–227); when
the super-intelligent robot enters the scene, the cognitive area of
management will also be subjected to robotization.
In Fig. 2.2 we have summarized the description above. Fig. 2.2
also shows how we have organized this section about robots and
informats.
Fig. 2.2: Business in the Future.

Intelligent Robots and Leadership


Oliveira (2017) asks: What do cells, neurones, the brain and
intelligent robots have in common? Oliveira's answer is: ‘information-
processing devices’. Information processing and communication are
essential aspects of leadership. When intelligent robots take over
aspects of these functions, leaders will be stripped of parts of their
roles.
Until now, we have developed tools and technology to make
work-related tasks easier, increase productivity and improve business
performance. The super-intelligent robot represents a continuation
of this trend, but is also a quantum leap forward in the application of
robot technology. For leaders and their staff, computers have been
used as tools to gather data and information. The leader, or his or
her staff members, has continued to be responsible for actually
evaluating the information that has been gathered. The new
development seems to be that super-intelligent robots and informats
are collecting information from all over the world, processing this
information, abstracting and synthesizing it, calculating the potential
outcomes of different decisions and thereafter making a final
decision. This whole process occurs in a fraction of the time that a
leader, or his or her staff, would use currently to conduct this
process. In addition, super-intelligent robots will perform this
process for a fraction of the current cost. In this scenario, digital
brains will take over many of the functions that leaders perform
today. 4
What we can assume from the scenario above is at least two
developments. On the one hand, there will be an evolutionary
development where the ‘survival of the fittest’ will function as the
selection criterion. On the other hand, we will have the super-
intelligent robot with its digital brain that follows a different
developmental logic. The super-intelligent robot will follow the logic
of radical innovation, resulting in sudden innovative breakthroughs.
Thus, this logic is not based on ‘survival of the fittest’, i.e. adaptation
over time, but rather the logic of radical innovation, which will lead
to cascades of radical innovations.

Theoretical point: The theoretical point of this description is that


complex systems that are based on a few basic rules, whether
those systems are technological or social, tend to behave
unpredictably. We can describe this as ‘The Law of Complexity’.

Practical utility value: The practical utility value of the description


above for leaders is that simple basic rules do not result in
controllable activity.
Leadership tool 1: In complex social systems, a leader should
leave decision-making to the people who are closest to the
consequences of the decisions, i.e. front-line employees, because
they have better opportunities to immediately correct undesirable
behaviours.

Intellectual Experiment
Suppose that a leader's most important function is to ‘see’ an
employee. Being ‘seen’ is linked to acknowledgement and feedback.
Now suppose that an intelligent robot takes over the leader's role.
Which of the functions listed above can be performed by an
intelligent robot in such a way that the employee would not know
whether the functions are being performed by a person or a robot?
This question has links to the Turing test. 5 , 6 Acknowledgement
can be given in accordance with some pre-arranged criteria.
Feedback can also be given on the basis of the same criteria.
The intellectual experiment indicates that the intelligent robot
can perform all of the functions mentioned above. The remaining
question is as follows: Which management functions will the
intelligent robot have major difficulties performing? This is where the
Law of Complexity mentioned above comes into play. Although there
are clear criteria for what tasks the intelligent robot will perform, it is
probable that unexpected behaviour will occur in the complex social
system the robot is part of. This behaviour may be difficult to
program into the intelligent robot because we do not know which
behaviour will be triggered in the complex social system. We know it
will be something emergent but we do not know what. 7 This is
where the intellectual experiment has a residual factor, large or
small, in which the human manager should step in. One can call this
residual factor ‘the human touch’. It is the human management
function involving a rich communication situation where two parties
understand each other's emotions, interpreted within a common
cultural interpretation context that will be difficult to replace with an
intelligent robot.

Theoretical point: Emergents occur in all social systems.

Practical utility value: Contextual understanding and closeness to


the context are essential to the management function.

Leadership tool 2: High-tech challenges also require a high human


touch component. 8

Connectedness and Leadership


When intelligent robots are linked to other intelligent robots at a
global level, the result is what we refer to here as informats. If these
informats are developed using biological knowledge, neuroscience
and nanotechnology, a new intelligent informat will see the light of
day. This will be a super-intelligent robot with global connections to
other super-intelligent robots.
It seems reasonable to assume that such a development would
generate a potential scope for knowledge development never seen
before in human history. For leadership, the development of these
kinds of informats is both positive and terrifying. As mentioned
above, many of a leader's functions will be taken over by robots and
informats. On the other hand, compared to today, leadership will be
more about developing visions, strategies and goals, as well as
about implementing and executing strategies. To achieve this,
motivation will be more important than it was before.
In addition to the fact that robots will be connected globally,
people are also interconnected through various forms of social
networking. When these social networks are also linked to informats,
new emergent phenomena will occur. One of the main reasons for
this development is that future technology will be based on
nanocomputers, and algorithmic programs that mimic cells and
neurons in the brain (Oliveira, 2017; Wilson, 2017). When these
programs leave the research stage and are implemented into most
software, radical innovations will be developed both in technology,
leadership, organization and social systems. As mentioned above, it
is assumed that technological singularity will be attained around
2030–2050 (Shanahan, 2015).
In practice, this means that more and more of leadership
functions will be taken over by robots, informats and other forms of
‘digital intelligent life’. Knowledge of biological processes for the
development of the intelligent robots and informats will be crucial to
this development. Oliveira (2017: 8) says something of the same:
‘the fact that non-biological minds may soon exist on Earth will
unleash a social revolution unlike any that has been witnessed so
far’. When and not if this happens, the social revolution Oliveira
refers to will take over leadership functions, organize social systems
and influence social development to a degree we have only
witnessed during the major revolutionary innovative periods in
history, such as the transition from the hunter-gatherer society to
the agricultural society, and from the agricultural society to the
industrial society. This will occur when the Fourth Industrial
Revolution affects all levels and industries in the global space.

Theoretical point: The theoretical point in this context is that


when ‘all’ the robots are connected, emergent phenomena will
occur, i.e. phenomena that are not present at the level below.

Practical utility value: The practical utility value of this insight is


that learning can become exponential for the ‘digital brain’.
Leadership tool 3: An important leadership function will be to
ensure ‘connectedness’. 9

Disruptive Leadership
Innovation generates minor and major economic crises
(Johannessen, 2017). In this context, ‘a disruption’ is a new business
model that comprehensively outcompetes the previous model
(Christensen, 2016). In our context, this disruptive innovation will
bring about a complete transformation of leadership functions.
Instagram, with a staff of 13, outcompeted Kodak with its several
tens of thousands of employees. Then Facebook bought Instagram
for USD 1 billion. Amazon has outcompeted many of the old-
fashioned booksellers. YouTube had 65 employees when it was
bought by Google for USD 1.65 billion (Ford, 2016: 169). We could
continue in a similar vein with many other new, innovative
businesses. They start up, outcompete old-fashioned businesses and
then are bought up by larger, more established businesses.
The digitization, robotization and interconnection of the robots in
the global space will create pressure resulting in new forms of
leadership (Hanson, 2016). The pattern of leadership will
increasingly be affected by disruptive innovations. There are many
indications that leadership functions will be moved to the front-line
and to the digital space (McAfee & Brynjolfsson, 2017). In such a
development, it is easy to imagine that middle management will
crumble, while operational management in the front-line will be
strengthened and senior management will remain intact. If this
scenario occurs, middle management will develop into a type of
linking pin between top management and operational managers in
the various areas relating to what the system is designed to do.
Fig. 2.3 shows how this scenario may affect leadership functions.
Fig. 2.3: Disruptive Leadership.

Metaphorically, the impact of robotization on leadership may be


understood as being in the middle of the hurricane's eye, that is, the
hurricane's eye is relatively calm but surrounded by storms – thus
the changes to leadership do not appear to be so great. Innovations
always have a time lag before they become part of people's
everyday lives. This was the case with mobile phones, driverless
cars, computers, e-mails, robots, the combustion engine, the
typewriter etc. (Johannessen, 2017). Before these and many other
innovations became part of everyday life, people did not immediately
experience that they had caused great changes (Gans, 2016).
However, when these innovations eventually penetrated people's
everyday lives, they caused major changes for individuals,
organizations and institutions. It seems reasonable to assume that
the same developments will take place in the case of robots and
informats.

Theoretical point: The theoretical point of this description can be


formulated as follows:

1. Robotization crushes middle management, bureaucracies and


hierarchies.
2. Leadership is transferred to the front-line, which is where
whatever the system was designed to do is delivered to
customers, users and so on.

Practical utility value: We can formulate the practical utility value


as follows:

a. The middle management function will become devoid of many of


its functions.
b. Senior management and operational management will become
more important.

Leadership tool 4: Design an ‘algedonic signal’ from the front-line


directly to senior management. 10 In addition, design a possible
means of direct communication from senior management to front-
line employees. The point is that senior management in urgent
situations must have direct contact with front-line employees,
without having to go through a ‘linking pin’.

Business in the Future


In this section, we take an intellectual experiment as our starting
point. We then describe, analyze and assess the consequences in the
light of this experiment.
Suppose that, starting in 2040, an intelligent robot with the same
processing power as an intelligent human becomes a reality. 11
Further, suppose that businesses are focusing on extreme
competitiveness, cost reduction, quality enhancement, competence
raising, continual improvement and innovation. Let us imagine that
an intelligent robot passes the Turing test with distinction. In that
kind of future, it seems reasonable to suppose that many leadership
functions will be taken over by intelligent robots. If we take as our
starting point the hypothesis that innovations occur, amongst other
places, in areas where relative costs are rising, then the leadership
function is an area that will be a probable target for innovation, since
leaders' salaries have risen sharply in relation to other salaries from
1980 until today (Saidu, 2017). If we further suppose that robots of
various types are being used to an ever-greater extent to perform
repetitive tasks, leadership will not be the only area to experience
the consequences of robotic intelligence. Let us further suppose that
an intelligent robot has a fundamental imperative in its software
design: to perform its tasks with the greatest possible utility value
for the business that owns it. Let us further suppose that the
software design is based on the following ethic: what is good for the
business is good for all. 12
The intelligent robot does not need a vacation, take days off or
incur pension and social costs for the employer. Costs will be related
to depreciation and maintenance. Wage costs and taxes will be near
zero. Further into the future, maintenance costs will be reduced
when they are designed in such a way that they maintain, update
and develop themselves (Oliveira, 2017; Rodogno, 2016).
An intelligent robot does not go off sick and would not need
parental leave. It also would not need to be sent on courses to
improve its skills. It will be updated in real time when relevant
knowledge becomes available on the global network to which it is
linked. 13 The point is that an intelligent robot can work 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year. No doubt it could even continue working while
undergoing maintenance. An intelligent robot does not take meal
breaks – it does not even need food. Further, one could imagine that
an intelligent robot could duplicate itself through an innovative
application of 3D printing. This would mean that depreciation costs
would also disappear, since the robot could produce a copy of itself
in its own image. They would reproduce themselves when demand
rose and when they themselves, or as members of a group of robots
owned by the business, were unable to deliver what the business is
designed to do. When demand fell, the surplus robots would be put
into storage until they were needed once again. An intelligent robot
would serve its business and ‘live’ in order to work for the business.
Work itself would be the robot's reward, and serving the business
would be the meaning of its existence.
It does not take much imagination to envision that this
intellectual experiment will have great consequences for
management functions and employment levels in organizations. If
we envision in the next stage of the intellectual experiment that
intelligent robots take over work functions in all branches of industry,
then it is most probable that unemployment will increase. The wages
of those who are still in work will probably be divided into low wage
and high wage categories. Some will experience a decrease in wages
because the competition for jobs will increase. It is also probable
that those with high expertise and competence in the field in which
the company operates will receive very high salaries because the
company relies on this competence. For instance, this may concern
process engineers working with cybernetics, robotics, artificial
intelligence etc.
In the first stage of this intellectual experiment, profits will grow
exponentially. However, in the longer perspective, profits will be
threatened because when labour costs are severely cut and the
robots are hardly consumers in shopping malls or purchasing other
goods and services, then consumption will start to drop. When the
consumers' accumulated capital is used up and they can no longer
mortgage their houses, properties and other assets, a saturation
point will have been reached where anything can happen. If
robotization reduces large parts of the workforce, it seems
reasonable to assume that the system that created the robots will in
itself be in danger.
The intellectual experiment above is an extreme variant of what
may happen in the future. However, it is designed in this way so that
we can envision all the possible outcomes that are not necessarily so
extreme, but that will affect the way we organize businesses and
how management functions may be changed. On the other hand,
much of today's statistics, and also the consequences of automation
and innovation in the past, suggest that new jobs may be created,
although in the short term there may be job losses and loss of
income for many people and increased costs for many businesses
(Johannessen, 2017). However, the main point of the intellectual
experiment is that the intelligent robots (that will appear around
2030–2050) will be something completely different from traditional
automation. The transition to using intelligent robots is more
comparable to the transition from the agricultural society to the
industrial society than with the continuous improvements we have
witnessed through automation in the industrial society. It is not
automation, but rather informatization through digitization of
organizations and their administrative layers, which is qualitatively
new in relation to robotization. While automation increased
productivity in production, information technology will increase
productivity of the administrative and bureaucratic system. In
addition, intelligent robots will promote new ways of managing and
organizing businesses and organizations.

Theoretical point: The theoretical point of this intellectual


experiment may be formulated as follows:

1. Innovation paradox: Innovation is a prerequisite for survival, but


innovations also lead to economic and social crises.
2. Growth paradox: The size of the business measured in income is
negatively correlated in relation to the number of employees in
intelligent-robotized businesses.

Practical utility value: The practical utility value can be


formulated as follows:

1. Future businesses will employ fewer people, which may easily


result in a boomerang effect for businesses as a whole, because
someone has to buy the goods businesses produce.
2. Infostructure will become more important than infrastructure. 14
3. All education will have a strong technological focus.
Leadership tool 5: When hiring new employees in the future,
organizations will focus not only on the professional competence
of applicants, but also on their technological literacy.

The Human Factor


The question we are investigating is as follows: How will the human
factor affect the role of leader?
Technology cannot solve all our problems. Nevertheless, there
are many challenges and problems that robots and informats can
help us to tackle. New challenges will also arise in the event of large-
scale robotization of workplaces and social life.
It seems reasonable to assume that technology is rational and
precise, whereas human behaviour can be irrational. When such
thinking prevails, technological solutions will be given priority in
relation to ‘the human factor’ in the high-tech period we are
entering. 15 In the future, the likes of Stanislav Petrov courageously
counteracting decisions made by computerized systems will be
severely curtailed. The reason is linked to complexity and the fact
that the time between an event and an action can be measured in
nanoseconds. In any case, there will be a narrower room for action
for exercising moral courage.
Historically, the ideological narrative of technological progress has
been that technology addresses challenges and eliminates problems
for people. However, it was adherence to this narrative that almost
transformed the world into a heap of ashes in September 1983,
when it was only the ‘human factor’ that hindered such a
devastating scenario. Technology as a solution potential has not only
become the dominant narrative ideology, it has also come to be
considered an accepted ‘truth’.
Fig. 2.4 shows an analytical model for the relationship between
complexity, moral courage, technology and obedience.
Fig. 2.4: Analytical Model.

As time goes by, complexity increases and technology seems to


solve many of our problems and challenges; the belief that
technology will solve our problems thus becomes a principal idea
that most people believe in. In parallel with this idea is the belief
that technological development is inevitable; the latter becomes
seemingly true in its consequences, when more and more people
believe in the idea. When this happens, it seems reasonable to
assume that technology as a tool for achieving goals becomes an
end in itself. It is in such a context that ethical challenges and the
human factor are backed into a corner. It is when technology
becomes an end in itself, assuming it will solve all our problems and
challenges that the real problems can occur, cf. Stanislav Petrov. We
cannot expect that there are that many Stanislav Petrovs out there,
when people are trained in obedience and technology optimism
through a socialization process. However, the opposite of technology
optimism is not technology pessimism, but to bring in the human
factor, for better or worse, as a crucial element of any decision-
making process.
With the development of the new technology, we may experience
the creation of parallel realities: one reality for ‘the human factor’
and another for the rational logic related to the robots and
informats.
Today, we might say that we are ‘just following the decisions that
the Board and leadership have adopted’. In the near future, we may
be in a situation where we say that ‘we are just obeying decisions
made by robots and informats!’ The point here is that complexity has
become so great in the world today that we need robots and
informats to make decisions, something we can already observe in
stock trading, currency trading and so on. One may argue that
robots and informats do not make the decisions themselves, but only
submit data and the factual basis for the decisions made by leaders.
In this context, we can refer to Aristotle's statement that ‘the man
who gave advice is a cause’ (Aristotle, 1930: 58). In relation to this
statement, then it is the robots and informats that make decisions.
On the basis of such an understanding it may be said that we live in
parallel worlds where both humans, and robots and informats exist.
Indeed, the more we trust technology, the more vulnerable we
become. An example of this vulnerability is when on 26 September
1983 a nuclear war was almost triggered between the West and the
Soviet Union. On that day a Soviet computerized early warning
system malfunctioned signalling that American nuclear missiles were
heading towards the Soviet Union. The Soviet technology was
geared to making an immediate response in such a situation.
However, a single man, Lieutenant Stanislav Petrov (who happened
to be on duty that day) distrusted the new technological system, and
‘disobediently’ stopped an immediate nuclear response. Using his
human intuition he believed it to be a false alarm thus hindering a
nuclear war between the West and the Soviet Union. It turned out
later that it was a technical error that had triggered the alarm.
However, Stanislav Petrov's career was in the process destroyed –
officially – because he had not followed orders and obeyed the rules.
16 On the other hand, he saved the world from total destruction and
should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!

Theoretical point: As technological complexity increases, the


influence of the ‘human factor’ decreases. In addition to
technological complexity, the degree of obedience emerges as a
problem. The more obedient people are, the less likely they are to
develop the necessary moral courage, which is needed to speak
out to management.

Practical utility value: The practical utility value is that when


technological complexity is high, it is crucial that ‘the human
factor’ has a large influence.

Leadership tool 6: The use of high technology assumes that


employees are aware of the importance of having the moral
courage to speak out.

The New Leadership Role


The question we examine here is: What form will the new role
of leader take?
There are three types of motivation linked to the new leadership
role (Case, 2016; Catmull, 2014). The leader can motivate the
employees in relation to:

1. What they have a burning desire for

2. What they are (or want to be) good at

3. The employee's mastery of skillsThese three elements above


should be linked to:
4. Usefulness to the business

The effective leader needs to establish and apply these four


elements in order to foster the success of the employees and the
organization (Charnock & Starosta, 2016).
The drivers of the new leadership role and which affect the
elements above are: an increasing rate of change 17 , increasing
complexity and new technological solutions, such as robotization and
globalization of the economy, social networks, political conditions,
social relations and culture (Srinivasa, 2017). Our knowledge of
leadership is largely based on experiences gained from the industrial
era, where the rate of change was less, stability greater and the
conditions for planning more stable (Benton & Ford, 2017: vii;
Johannessen, 2017). The new leadership role needs to relate to the
driving forces behind what we call the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’
(Johannessen, 2018; Schwab, 2016).
In order to cope with the future challenges of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution, leaders will need to think qualitatively different
from what they are doing today. Firstly, businesses are dependent on
talents who are ‘champions’. This concerns new recruiting but also
retaining the talents that the business already has. This assumes
that the business develops programs and incentives so that these
talents are interested in delivering their expertise to the business.
Digitization and robotization have already made an impact on
organizations, as well as being a basic prerequisite for many of
today's largest businesses, such as Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft,
Facebook, Amazon, Google, Instagram etc. To an ever-increasing
extent, we are using new technology to shop, as well as to establish
and maintain relationships, for example, through Blue Apron, Uber,
Taskrabbit, Snapchat, Twitter, Lyft, Internet, LinkedIn, XING, Viadeo
etc. New technology fills more and more of our everyday lives, and
has become part of the leader's toolbox. With the development of
intelligent robots and informats, the everyday lives of people and
leadership will change completely. Using new technology has
become a necessary prerequisite for employees and leadership. For
leadership, however, it is important to understand that this is not a
sufficient prerequisite for good leadership. The sufficient prerequisite
may be summarized in the three elements mentioned above: your
burning desire; what you are (or want to be) good at and mastery of
skills. We have shown the connection between these three elements
in Fig. 2.5. Fig. 2.5 also shows how the rest of this section is
organized.

Theoretical point: We are used to basing future actions on our


experiences and the actions that have previously led to success.
However, when there is a shift in the tectonic social plates, our
basic experiences will be of less value, and other cognitive
elements will be of greater importance.

Practical utility value: Some of the elements that are gaining


importance are: vision development, adaptability, being able to
read signals, creating your own and the business's future as well
as expectations management.

Leadership tool 7: The skills required in the Fourth Industrial


Revolution may be expressed as follows 18 :

1. People with ability to cope with decisions

2. The ‘rich’ people

3. Those who actively apply new working methods

4. The ability to think strategically

5. Originality
Fig. 2.5: The Cycle of Creating Champs in the Business System.

Burning Desire
If you can work with what you have a burning desire for, then your
inner motivation and commitment will increase (Baumeister,
Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). The result of working this way is
that your performance will improve (Pink, 2009). If the enthusiasm
for what you are working with decreases, performance will also
decrease (Hallowell & Ratey, 2005). Those who are new to the job
are often greatly committed to their work, while those who have
been in their job for a few years tend to lose enthusiasm (Christakis
& Fowler, 2009). However, this condition only applies if the individual
does not work with what he/she is passionate about. There is also a
danger that an employee will ‘burn out’ when he/she works with
what he/she is passionate about; in such a case management should
attempt to reduce commitment so that this does not occur.
There are many examples that an employee who has begun to
lose commitment and motivation for the work he/she does changes
gear and increases performance when he/she is given a new
assignment that is linked to what he/she has a burning desire for. In
addition to increasing the individual's performance, there is also a
‘contagious effect’ in the department, so the entire department
increases their level of performance, resulting in increased customer
satisfaction (Hallowell, 2011: 41–43).
There are some simple practical steps to facilitate that the
individual employee can do the work they have a burning desire for.

Examine what the employee is passionate about.

Test it out if this can be used in the workplace.

Adjust work tasks to suit what the individual has a burning


desire for, and not the other way around.

These three easy steps can raise your organization's performance


from medium to top performance within the industry. This can be
termed the organization's ‘burning capability’. There will always be a
degree of ‘burning capacity’.
When you work with what you have a burning desire for, you
flourish and go easily into ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002); flow
promotes creativity and innovation (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013). The
opposite is hard work without pleasure, which easily leads to
mediocrity (Hallowell, 1999: 58–66). According to empirical studies,
only 20% say they have a passionate interest in their work
(Hallowell, 2011: 44). We assume that there is correspondence
between passionate interest and what one really has a burning
desire to do.
Doing what you are passionate about is not the same as
following your dreams. One can dream of greatness and wealth, but
wake up to mediocrity, poverty, humiliation and unhappiness.
Following your dream can lead to personal collapse and nightmares
because we are not taught to understand how our dreams can affect
our future. Doing what you have a burning desire for will always
take you forwards, even though you will encounter resistance along
the way – almost without exception. Working ‘with sweat in your
brow’ does not necessarily lead to increased performance, but will
definitely lead to burn out. On the other hand, hard work linked to
what one has a burning desire for will lead to top performances
(Hallowell, 2011: 44–47). It is not only performance that will
increase, but also satisfaction and the joy of achievement, that is,
the pleasure of mastering skills is enhanced and becomes a self-
reinforcing effect for the company's ‘burning capability’.
It is those areas where one's dreams coincide with one's burning
desire, where one is most likely to perform best. In addition to these
factors, a positive indication is that you look forward to doing your
work. Another important factor is hard work; without hard work, it
does not help much that you have interest, passion, enthusiasm and
a burning desire to make a difference that really makes a difference.
You will only become an expert in that which you have a burning
desire for when you adhere to the following guideline: being an
expert involves 99% work and 1% burning desire. In other words,
there is a systemic connection between burning desire and hard
work, i.e. they are interconnected and depend on each other for
success.
The steps to follow to find out what the employee has a burning
desire for are simple. The leader develops a structured interview and
enters into a dialogue with the employee. Hallowell (2011: 51–55)
has developed the foundation for such a structured interview. The
questions can be organized around what the employee is passionate
about and feels they master, and what others think they are good at.
Through such an interview, the leader also finds out what the
employee does not like doing, in which areas they would like to
perform better, and the areas they wished they possessed skills they
feel they lack. When the leader has gathered this information, a
culture can be developed in which the employees are passionate
about and engaged in their work, which promotes their performance
and that of the organization.

Theoretical point: The theoretical point is that the employee's


performance increases if they are given the opportunity to work
with what they are passionate about.

Practical utility value: The practical utility of letting employees


work with what they are passionate about is that the performance
of the entire organization increases, amongst other things,
because of the ‘contagious effect’ the individual employee's
performance has on the entire organization.

Leadership tool 8: Find out what the individual employee is


passionate about. Then develop tasks so that this is what the
employee is going to work with.

What You Are (or Want to Be) Good at


The purpose of developing ‘the champ’ so that he/she becomes
good at something special is not just about the organization
developing the talent of the individual, but to connect him/her to
others so that a locomotive effect is initiated. The locomotive effect
causes the others to be pulled together with the champion upwards
towards the top. Therefore, strong social links are crucial for
developing a championship culture in the organization. Lack of social
connections hinders the locomotive effect, and causes many,
including the champ, to underperform. The point is that intelligent
robots require leaders who are very skilled at the human touch. The
more ‘the champ’ gives to those in the group, the greater the
likelihood that he/she will flourish and enjoy everyday life, and that
those who receive will be driven by the locomotive effect (Grant,
2014, 2017; Seligman, 2011, 2013). For all those who perform at the
top, there are always some people they connect and relate to, who
have been crucial to their success (Hallowell, 2011: 77). Therefore,
the cycle of creating champs is important at a time when
technological rationality increasingly swallows up more areas of the
leadership's functions.
Automation, intelligent robots and artificial intelligence affect
management in a different way than one would expect. One might
assume that high technology leads to less of the ‘human touch’.
What we have argued for in this chapter is the opposite – high tech
presupposes ‘high-touch’. 19 This argument is not just linked to the
‘cycle of creating champs’, but applies to everyone in every
organization. Those employees who feel they are not ‘seen’, and are
unsure of their ability to master skills, take more sick leave,
underperform and do a worse job than those who feel they are
‘seen’ and experience feedback that they master their work. 20 , 21
Consequently, the cycle of creating champs should be expanded to
‘the cycle of creating a championship culture’ because this will
contribute to the organization as a whole performing at the top.
Good leadership is, amongst other things, linked to letting people
do what they are good at and eliminating what they are not so good
at. Furthermore, we know that good leadership involves ‘seeing’
each employee. One way to promote good leadership is to develop
small, dense social networks that work on focused tasks. If it is the
case that job satisfaction promotes performance and much seems to
suggest this (Seligman, 2011), then we know this satisfaction
spreads like rings in the water to others in the network. In fact, this
satisfaction spreads far beyond the network. Three ‘handshakes’
away from those who show the joy of satisfaction increases joy by
6–10% (Christakis & Fowler, 2009: 51–54). A very strong leadership
tool is therefore to organize employees in small, dense networks,
where at least one ‘champ’ and a joy spreader are in the network.
This is a necessary prerequisite that should exist to make the
organization work effectively. The organization should also be
geographically close-knitted, face-to-face and not electronically
based (Cross & Pressman, 2017: 75–99).

Theoretical point: The healthy get sick due to poor management,


and the sick remain sick.
Practical utility value: The leader's most important job in ‘the
cycle of creating champs’ is to connect a joy spreader and a few
other people to ‘the champ’ and then give them the opportunity to
do what they are passionate about and want to be good at.

Leadership tool 9: Let the employee work with what he/she is (or
wants to be) good at.

Mastery
According to Greene (2012: 1), ‘we all contribute to creating the
conditions that are determinative of our own and others' ability to
feel a sense of mastery’. The input factors in the process of
promoting a sense of mastery are what we call: self-image, personal
strength and powers of endurance. This insight is drawn from the
works of several authors. 22
Creating a culture where the individual experiences mastery of
skills is possibly the most important leadership responsibility at a
time when robots and artificial intelligence occupy most jobs. To
make this happen, there are basic feedbacks and rewards that will
create the foundation for this culture, say Benton and Ford (2017:
191–217). In addition to this, organizing in small, dense social
networks based on face-to-face relations, where self-organization
and self-discipline form the social glue, promotes the robustness of
the network (Hoda & Murugesan, 2016: 245–257). Internally in the
network, the following elements constitute the foundation for the
mastery of skills: confidence, trust, competence and endurance
(Southwick, Martini, Charney, & Southwick, 2017).
According to Maddux (2009) and Mruk (1999: 1), self-image is
significant to employees' general well-being and mental health. The
status of a person's self-image will affect his/her behaviour. People
with a positive self-image have been shown to be more adaptable
(Bednar, Wells, & Petterson, 1989). On the other hand, a poor self-
image will contribute to feelings of inadequacy, issues with anxiety,
increased sick leave and other complex negative issues (Skager &
Kerst, 1989). These will in turn negatively affect employees'
performance, which may rapidly become of concern to leaders
(Robins, Tracy, & Trzesniewski, 2008).
Self-image may be defined as the personal experience of how
one copes in various areas and contexts, in relation to the
expectations one has regarding how one should have coped (Carr,
2011: 239).
Mruk's model of self-image is constructed along two axes (Mruk,
1999: 164–165): one axis relates to the extent the individual feels
he/she has the competence to tackle the tasks at hand; the other
axis relates to the feeling the individual has regarding whether the
contribution they are making is of any importance.
Self-image is maintained and enhanced through how the
individual processes and uses information about themselves (Robins
et al., 2008). Although new information may emerge that could lead
to the improvement of a poor self-image, this information is
distorted so that the individual maintains the self-image he/she has.
The same applies to those that have a positive self-image who
receive information that really should have modified their perception
of self in a negative direction (Carr, 2011).
No consistent view can be found in the research regarding the
advantages and disadvantages of a positive versus a negative self-
image (Baumeister et al., 2003). However, most people agree that a
positive self-image may be related to wellness and well-being, and
that people with a positive self-image are more likely to take the
initiative than those with a negative self-image (Baumeister et al.,
2003).
Research gives clear indications that employees' confidence is
improved through a structured learning program (Haney & Durlak,
1998).

Theoretical point: People are motivated by social response.


Practical utility value: Let the individual employee feel that
his/her contribution is important by giving recognition.

Leadership tool 10: Focus every day on ‘seeing’ your employees


because this will increase their power of mastery.

Development of a Program for the New Leader Role


What you are good at and what you are passionate about are not
necessarily the same thing and vice versa. However, the greater
correspondence between what you are good at and what you are
passionate about, the greater the likelihood of high performance for
you and the organization. What you are good at and what you are
passionate about are essential prerequisites for the development of
a ‘championship’ situation. In order for the organization to benefit
from this, it is a sufficient condition that this creates value for the
organization.
When the necessary and sufficient conditions are fulfilled, then
the conditions are present for ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002), as well
as developing and motivating employees to become champions.
What you are good at and passionate about and what skills you are
able to master will have value for the organization. Firstly, ‘the cycle
of creating champs’ in the organization starts with finding out what
the individual employee is passionate about. Secondly, the leader
needs to find out what the employee is (or wants to be) good at and
which corresponds with what he/she is passionate about. The third
step is to help the employee to achieve mastery of skills.
In order for this cycle to be maintained and strengthened, it is
important that close social relationships with colleagues are
developed. The reason is that you cannot manage to be at the top
without having someone supporting you in the process. Being ‘a
giver’ (Grant, 2014) and a ‘non-conformist’ (Grant, 2017) will
promote value creation throughout the organization, as well as
strengthening and developing the champ in the organization. The
reason is that giving creates positive relationships and energy in the
organization. The opposite will create a lack of commitment and
develop a culture where distancing is developed. In other words, it is
about creating a culture to develop champs by encouraging close
relationships between a few people and those who perform at the
top level, and are on their way to developing into champs (Christakis
& Fowler, 2009: 305).
A model of the new leadership role as described and discussed in
this chapter is shown in Fig. 2.6. Fig. 2.6 also shows how leadership
can develop structured programs to promote a culture of champs.

Fig. 2.6: The Cycle of Creating Champions.


Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“Mr Huxley has fulfilled the promise that he intimated in his
earlier books to the few who knew him, and demonstrated that he is
one of the finest writers of prose in England today. He is finished and
fastidious, sophisticated and diverting, an authentic figure of some
actual importance and with many potentialities. That he must take a
decided place among the younger contemporary writers in England
is without doubt.” H. S. G.

+ New Repub 24:172 O 13 ’20 1550w

“In lines, sometimes in paragraphs, and in general atmospheric


suggestion, there appears to this reviewer a likeness between Mr
Huxley and Max Beerbohm. The mental attitude of the two men is
dissimilar in many ways. But through them both runs that great
streak of urbanity, of sophistication, of what might almost be termed
jadedness at times. ‘Limbo’ is a book of definite promise and of a
certain achievement.”

+ N Y Times p28 Ag 15 ’20 650w

“Mr Huxley has a very readable and diverting narrative style, a


style with journalism in the first story and literature in the second,
and with full permission, but no obligation, to the reader to climb the
stairs. Mr Huxley’s low estimate of human nature does not tame the
effervescence of his spirits.”

+ − Review 3:111 Ag 4 ’20 300w

“The death of Lully is the only story in which it may occur to the
reader that after all Mr Aldous Huxley is sometimes actuated by the
ideals and sympathies which move ordinary human beings.”
− + Spec 124:494 Ap 10 ’20 140w

“The most remarkable story in the book is ‘The farcical history of


Richard Greenow.’ There is a blunt boyish ring to this which oddly
enough induces the uncanny effect that many writers wallow in
melodrama to obtain. But Mr Huxley’s product is uneven. ‘Happily
ever after’ is as humdrum as the preceding story is distinguished.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p11a S 5 ’20 460w

“Instead of saying that there are seven short stories in ‘Limbo’


which are all clever, amusing, and well written, and recommending
the public to read them, as we can conscientiously do, we are
tempted to state, what it is so seldom necessary to state, that short
stories can be a great deal more than clever, amusing, and well
written. There is another adjective—‘interesting’; that is the adjective
we should like to bestow upon Mr Huxley’s short stories, for it is the
best worth having.”

+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p83 F 5


’20 800w
I

IGLEHART, FERDINAND COWLE. Theodore


Roosevelt: the man as I knew him. il $1.50 Christian
herald pub.

19–14241

“This life by Dr Iglehart is written from one predetermined


viewpoint. He recognizes the strong religious convictions of
Roosevelt and working from this fact he has interpreted his entire
life as the life of a man all of whose actions are dominated by his
religious life.”—Boston Transcript

“The book is very unevenly written. It is exceedingly entertaining


in parts, while elsewhere the author has allowed his easy rhetorical
English to run away with him. It is equally true there are parts of the
book which will not fit in very easily with the general idea of
Roosevelt’s personality.”

+ − Boston Transcript p6 F 11 ’20 160w


Nation 109:688 N 29 ’19 220w

“A badly arranged mixture of eulogy, biography, and anecdote;


but, for him who will dig for it, it contains much that is interesting,
notably in regard to Roosevelt’s religious views.”
+ − Outlook 126:292 O 13 ’20 200w
R of Rs 62:419 O ’20 950w
Springf’d Republican p10 My 4 ’20
180w

ILCHESTER, GILES STEPHEN HOLLAND


FOX-STRANGWAYS, 6th earl of. Henry Fox,
first lord Holland, his family and relations. 2v il *$12
Scribner

(20–4450)

“The title of Lord Ilchester’s book is a misnomer. It will suggest to


most people a book of private life and family gossip. But not one
twentieth part of what he has written is occupied with these things.
What he has given us is far nearer being a political history of England
from 1739, when Henry Fox obtained his first office, that of surveyor
of the works, till his death in 1774. Of course, the history is primarily
a biography. But during at least the first five-and-twenty of these
thirty-five years Henry Fox played an important part, either as one of
the principal actors or as a spectator on whom the principal actors
were obliged to keep watchful eyes, in nearly all the changing scenes
of ministerial tragedy and comedy. Lord Ilchester has had access to a
great deal of material which has never been used before. Letters and
papers at Holland House, at Melbury, at Bowood, and elsewhere
have provided a mass of evidence, much of it in Henry Fox’s own
hand, as to his motives and opinions at various points in his career.
Occasionally they enable Lord Ilchester to correct the statements or
judgments of previous historians. But on the whole they only fill out
the old picture, without altering its main lines.”—The Times
[London] Lit Sup

“Lord Ilchester’s volumes are strictly a biography. One might feel


at times that Fox’s associates are little more than shadows in the
background of the hero’s portrait; but the character and activities of
the statesman himself are interestingly unfolded on almost every
page. The subject is also presented with studied impartiality.” T. W.
Riker

+ Am Hist R 26:87 O ’20 750w


+ Ath p206 F 13 ’20 1700w

“Amongst historians, Macaulay, Lord Fitzmaurice, and Lord


Roseberry, have written these thirty years down to the bone. Even his
exceptional sources of information have not enabled Lord Ilchester
to tell us anything new about Henry Fox or his contemporaries of
sufficient importance to justify this biography; and we must be
forgiven for saying that Lord Ilchester’s skill and style as a narrator
only suffer by comparison with the great writers we have
mentioned.”

− + Sat R 129:163 F 14 ’20 650w

“The memoir is most interesting and valuable. It not only throws


new light on Fox himself and on the early days of his unlucky son,
Charles James Fox, but it also illustrates from another standpoint
the difficulties—admirably described by Lord Roseberry in his
‘Chatham’—which Pitt had to surmount before he could become
minister in the crisis of the Seven years’ war.”
+ Spec 124:211 F 14 ’20 1450w

“The book is well written and well arranged. The writer knows his
subject and his period and can use his knowledge effectively.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p73 F 5


’20 3650w

In the mountains. *$1.90 (3c) Doubleday

20–19505

The scene of the story is a little house in the Swiss Alps, to which
an English woman, in some more than ordinarily tragic sense,
bereaved by the war, comes to forget her sorrow. It had been her
home in happier days and is to her a house of memories, but the
story, which starts out with every indication of tragedy, turns out
after all to be a very pleasant little comedy. The change comes with
the appearance of the two uninvited guests, Mrs Barnes and Mrs
‘Jewks.’ They bring diversion. provocation and eventually healing.
The story of the mistress of the house is only suggested but that of
Dolly. Mrs ‘Jewks,’ which Mrs Barnes strives so faithfully to hide, is
fully revealed and it is Dolly, whose name should be spelled Juchs,
who is the book’s real heroine. The story is interspersed with
comments on life and books.

“She has a delicate pen that lovingly shapes her phrase, and an
instinct that keeps it true to experience. Perhaps the most interesting
thing about her equipment, her composition, her make-up, is the
slight instability in the mixture of her elements. She is profoundly a
sentimentalist, and her sentimentality keeps jumping out in spite of
all the ironical detachment she can muster against it.” K. M.

+ Ath p272 Ag 27 ’20 550w


+ Booklist 17:116 D ’20

“There is distinction, delicacy, and deft handling throughout. ‘In


the mountains’ may not command a large number of readers, it will
have value, however, in selective readers’ eyes.” R. D. W.

+ Boston Transcript p8 O 16 ’20 520w

“Remarkable for its sweet and gay philosophy of life, keen sense of
humor, novel turns of thought and great facility of expression.
Thought to be by the author of ‘Elizabeth and her German garden.’”

+ Cleveland p105 D ’20 50w

“It is the author’s wayside observations and the unexpected


utterances of the other characters that count so mightily. The story is
simple enough; it is the way it is told that is so engrossing.” W. A.
Dyer

+ N Y Evening Post p14 O 23 ’20 580w

“Whoever she may be, the author of ‘In the mountains’ writes in a
finished style that almost precludes the possibility that her present
book is her first.”

+ N Y Times p24 O 3 ’20 500w


“Both widows are, in their different ways, triumphs of
characterisation, but the preeminence must certainly be assigned to
Mrs Barnes. The devastating influence which genuine unselfishness,
not qualified by intelligence, can exercise on the happiness of others
is illustrated by her example with unsurpassable delicacy and
sureness of touch.”

+ Sat R 130:242 S 18 ’20 680w


Spec 125:439 O 2 ’20 40w

“Told with an unaffected simplicity which is apparently artless, its


charm and sweetness steal upon the mind as with the spell of a
delicate September day that suddenly surprises by its summery heat
and power.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p551 Ag


26 ’20 1000w

“Dolly, the younger of the two (she is forty), is something


delightfully new in heroines and the study of Mrs Barnes, as an
example of the tyranny of unselfishness, is a skillful piece of
analysis.”

+ Wis Lib Bul 16:194 N ’20 180w

INCHBOLD, A. CUNNICK (MRS STANLEY


INCHBOLD). Love and the crescent; a tale of the
Near East. *$1.25 (1c) Stokes

20–11299
The scene of the story is laid in an Armenian village during the
war. It relates the trials of a beautiful girl, daughter of a
distinguished Armenian physician, and her family and tells of
horrors, flights, deportations, miraculous rescues, heroic defences
and Veronica’s final reunion with her French lover and their safe
arrival in France. The deep-dyed villainy of a German consul is
dressed up in suitable romantic garb in contrast to which the Turk
appears as a humanitarian.

“In the portrayal of some of the characters, sometimes in the


description of a scene, or again in the narrative which carries the
story on, the author frequently drops into conventional, mechanical
methods, and so lowers the grade of what would otherwise be a very
excellent novel. But even so its construction is good, its movement
rapid, its story interest well maintained, and its varied scenes are full
of life and color that seem true and are certainly very interesting.”

+ − N Y Times 25:29 Jl 18 ’20 460w

“There are incidents in abundance. But Mrs Inchbold has not been
entirely successful in blending them into a clear-cut story. The
characters seem to walk mechanically across the pages, and there is
scarcely one of them that at the end the reader feels he knows as a
real live human being.”

− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p58 Ja 30


’19 110w

INGALESE, RICHARD. History and power of


mind, new and rev ed *$2.50 (3c) Dodd 131
20–10777

The book is the second printing of a collection of lectures on


occultism and the power of the mind. The author asks the reader to
hold himself agnostically until the course is finished holding in mind
always that if occultism is true it can be demonstrated, for truth is
always demonstrable. The book commends itself to the investigator
of psychic phenomena and of mental therapeutics and the ground
covered is well indicated in its table of contents, viz: Occultism: its
past, present and future; Divine mind: its nature and manifestation;
Dual mind and its origin; The art of self-control; The law of re-
embodiment; Colors of thought vibration; Meditation, creation and
concentration; Lesser occult or psychic forces and their dangers;
Hypnotism, and how to guard against it; Higher occult or spiritual
forces and their uses; The cause and cure of disease; The law of
opulence. There is an index.

INGE, WILLIAM RALPH. Outspoken essays.


*$2.25 (*6s) Longmans 204

20–18249

“The dean of St Paul’s has reprinted in this volume ten articles


from the reviews, three dealing with patriotism, the birth-rate, and
the future of the English race, and seven with ecclesiastical
questions. To these he has prefixed an essay on ‘Our present
discontent.’”—Spec

“He writes as powerfully and learnedly almost as Swift. He is also


as skilful and as unfair a controversialist as Swift. In ‘The future of
the English race’ he handles the results of modern ethnological
research with easy mastery, and it is only the most careful of readers
who will observe what a hiatus lies between the well-marshalled facts
and the conclusions that insidiously follow.”

+ − Ath p1167 N 7 ’19 250w

“Among Dr Inge’s many virtues, which include critical acuteness,


epigrammatic power and a remarkable ability to be fair to persons as
distinct from causes that offend him, must be reckoned his
fearlessness.”

+ Ath p1253 N 28 ’19 1400w


+ Booklist 17:49 N ’20

“What, however, makes his writing so intolerable is his patronizing


way and his spirit of hauteur, as he stands aloof and with the unction
of superiority passes judgment on men and things in the dogmatic
spirit which he censures in others. Whatever may be said about his
interpretations, we must recognize in him a prophet of candor, who
utters the burden of truth with sublime disregard to personal
consequences.” O. L. Joseph

+ − Bookm 51:237 Ap ’20 700w

“This book is replete with worth-while observations by a man of


the world, able to see weak points, yet genially willing to accept
conditions as in a large measure inevitable.”

+ Boston Transcript p7 Mr 13 ’20 300w


“There is so much excellent modern rationalism in Dean Inge’s
commerce with facts and tendencies that one cannot well forgive him
for living emotionally in the dingy atmosphere of the century-old
Malthus.”

+ − Dial 68:540 Ap ’20 100w

“The chief paradox of all is that a scholar whose culture is as broad


as the world should have sympathies even narrower than his native
island. The masterpiece of the whole volume is the attack on the
‘Anglican Catholic’ party in the Established church. In all the
controversy that has raged since the Tracts for the Times, there has
never been so witty and so merciless a diatribe as that in which the
author exposes the pretensions of the Anglican Catholics.” Preserved
Smith

+ − Nation 110:729 My 29 ’20 1050w

“Here, as a free-lance, as a critic of life, men, morals, institutions,


dress, foods, the labor party, political economy and literature, Dean
Inge is his true and powerful self. The scholar, the citizen and the
preacher blend, and the acute observer joins them.” D. S. M.

+ New Repub 24:197 O 20 ’20 2600w

“Whatever may be thought of his scepticism and of his own


attempt to rise through doubt to a position of inexpugnable faith, his
destructive analysis of the various other attempts of the sort is the
work of a master hand. The religious papers in this volume display
what is rare in contemporary English literature, a highly trained
philosopher in the pulpit. Dean Inge has written a remarkable book.”
+ Review 2:396 Ap 17 ’20 1400w
+ Spec 123:663 N 15 ’19 150w
+ Springf’d Republican p8 D 13 ’19 580w
(Reprinted from The Times [London] Lit
Sup p621 N 6 ’19)

“It is a work of rare excellence and importance. We have failed if


we have not made clear that it contains a mature and comprehensive
Christian philosophy. It shirks no difficulties, concedes nothing to
popular sentiment, has the sternness of Jewish prophecy.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p621 N 6


’19 2050w

INGERSOLL, ERNEST. Wit of the wild. il *$2


Dodd 591.5

“This collection of sketches deals for the most part with familiar
birds, animals, fish, and insects—the weasel, wasp, copperhead,
whip-poor-will, and a score of others. It ranges widely from
menhaden and muskrats to tree toads and the Portuguese man-of-
war.” (N Y Evening Post) “There are chapters on animals that
advertise, animals that wear disguises, animals that form
partnerships with other animals, animals that set traps and animals
that bluff.” (N Y Times)

“It is popular natural history at its best. The book is abundantly


and excellently illustrated.”
+ N Y Evening Post p26 O 23 ’20 160w
N Y Times p10 O 10 ’20 500w

[2]
INGPEN, ROGER, ed. One thousand poems for
children. *$2.50 Jacobs 821.08

20–19453

This is a revised and enlarged edition of a former volume of “a


choice of the best verse old and new” (Sub-title) which aims to
provide poetry that is both pleasant to read and profitable to
remember. The selection is graded according to the ages of children,
ranging from the very little tot to the average child of fifteen and the
poems are grouped under the headings: Rhymes for little ones;
Cradle songs; Nursery rhymes; Fairy land; Fables and riddles; The
seasons; Fields and woods; Home; Insects, birds and beasts;
Humorous verse; Poems of patriotism and history; Ballads;
Girlhood; Poems of praise; Miscellaneous. There are indexes of
authors, first lines and titles.

INTERCHURCH WORLD MOVEMENT.


COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. Report on the steel
strike of 1919; with the technical assistance of the
Bureau of industrial research, N.Y. *$2.50 Harcourt
331.89

20–16529
In this report by the Commission of inquiry of the Interchurch
world movement, the basic facts of normal steel employment
conditions are presented with the commission’s findings from a
Christian viewpoint. These findings justify the strike in its central
phase and substantiate the claim that conditions after the strike have
remained the same—a situation characterized as a state of war that
threatens the industrial peace of the nation. The first two chapters
dwell on the inauguration of the inquiry, its scope and method, its
conclusions and recommendations and on the general ignorance of
the real conditions. The rest of the contents are: The twelve-hour day
in a no-conference industry; Wages in a no-conference industry;
Grievances and control in a no-conference industry; Organizing for
conference; Social consequences of arbitrary control; Concluding
(Christian findings); Appendices and index.

“The report is a challenging document and raises fundamental


questions concerning industrial relationships which need to be
raised.” G: M. Janes

+ Am Econ R 10:877 D ’20 1900w


Booklist 17:13 O ’20

“One of the most important documents in the history of American


industry. The report is crowded with revealing statistics and other
important information, but its supreme value proceeds from the fact
that its conclusions have been reached by investigators appointed by
organizations that are ordinarily anything but friendly to labour.” W:
Z. Foster

+ Freeman 2:44 S 22 ’20 850w


“This report is a splendid example of scientific investigation in a
field where prejudice and hysteria make rational judgments difficult.
This work is invaluable.” James Oneal

+ N Y Call p11 D 12 ’20 370w

Reviewed by L. K. Frank

+ Pub W 98:663 S 18 ’20 260w


The Times [London] Lit Sup p655 O 7
’20 90w
+ Wis Lib Bul 16:232 D ’20 90w

“If we had greater faith in the efficacy of education by coercion we


should like to make two books compulsory reading for every
clergyman, newspaper editor, politician, and employer in the United
States. These two books are ‘The great steel strike’ by W. J. Foster
and ‘The steel strike of 1919,’ the report of the Interchurch world
movement’s commission.”

+ World Tomorrow 3:349 N ’20 560w

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF
WOMEN PHYSICIANS. Proceedings of the
international conference of women physicians. 6v $3;
ea 75c Womans press 613

20–15934
The proceedings of a conference held under the auspices of the
National board of the Y. M. C. A. in New York city, Sept. 17–Oct. 25,
1919. “The conference met in response to a conscious need on the
part of the women physicians in America for free discussion of those
problems that relate to the maintaining and improving of health by
education and other constructive means.... The word ‘health,’ was to
be taken in its fullest sense as meaning the well-being of the entire
personality.” (Preface) The proceedings, issued in six volumes,
contain the addresses of distinguished physicians and specialists,
men as well as women, bearing on all aspects of the subjects of health
of women and children, sex and marriage, social morality, etc. The
six volumes are devoted to: General problems of health; Industrial
health; The health of the child; Moral codes and personality;
Adaptation of the individual to life; Conservation of the health of
women in marriage.

“Both the physician and the layman can profitably read these
discussions.”

+ N Y P L Munic Ref Lib Notes 7:39 O 20


’20 110w

IRWIN, FLORENCE. Poor dear Theodora!


*$1.75 (2c) Putnam
20–6636

Theodora has race but no money. Her genteel family has all the
pride of their poverty and Theodora shocks them by breaking away to
earn her own living. She goes through a variety of experiences from
companion to an invalid old lady and mother’s helper in a feminist’s
household to war-worker. She has been dismissed from her first
position because the old lady suspects her favorite nephew of being
in love with her. She becomes engaged to a “newly rich” philanderer
and breaks it off before it is too late. At last true love “will out” like
murder and the old lady receives her with open arms. Incidentally
the book abounds in reflections on current opinions, tendencies and
fads.

“Theodora appeals to us, because of the sturdy independence of


her mind and her conduct. Her natural individuality is developing.
The novel excels in the delineation of character types.” D. L. M.

+ Boston Transcript p8 Mr 20 ’20 950w

“The story is well written and will be enjoyed by those who care for
this sort of fiction. Its chief fault is its length, which exceeds 400
pages.”

+ − N Y Times 25:168 Ap 11 ’20 600w


Spec 125:539 O 23 ’20 60w
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p442 Jl 8
’20 170w
IRWIN, WALLACE ADMAH (GINGER,
pseud.). Suffering husbands. *$1.75 (1½c) Doran

20–10767

A collection of short stories, first copyrighted by the Curtis


Publishing Company. Contents: All front and no back; Monkey on a
stick; Peaches and cream; Thunder; The goat; The light that paled;
Free; Gasless Sunday; Mother’s milk.

Booklist 17:33 O ’20


Outlook 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 30w

IRWIN, WALLACE ADMAH (GINGER,


pseud.). Trimmed with red. *$1.75 (2c) Doran

20–6843

A farcical story involving parlor Socialists and society Bolshevists.


Rosamonde Vallant, the young and beautiful wife of a middle-aged
and choleric husband, has just gone thru a course in esoteric eastern
philosophy and wearying of it, has turned to revolution. Her cousin,
Emily Ray, who is in love with Oliver Browning, uses Rosamonde’s
house as a convenient meeting place. Oliver is a soldier who has been
wounded in the service of his country, but alas the wound had come
from the kick of an army mule and Aunt Carmen refuses to see him
in a romantic light. Emily becomes deeply involved in bolshevist
plots and a revolutionary professor falls in love with her, but she
returns in the end to Oliver and his mules.

+ Booklist 16:348 Jl ’20

Reviewed by R. M. Underhill

Bookm 51:443 Je ’20 60w


+ Boston Transcript p8 S 15 ’20 370w

“Pure farce, but most of it is really funny.”

+ Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 40w

“He had a ‘grand and glorious’ opportunity to create another droll


classic out of the materials used in this book. He did make an
attempt in this direction—an attempt that is well worth reading.
Measured by what it might have been, however, the book is a
failure.” Ralph Cheyney

− + N Y Call p10 Jl 18 ’20 550w

“Though the book is much too long and its humor of the most
obvious kind, it is amusing, and no more absurd than the idiotic
antics it is intended to caricature.”

+ − N Y Times 25:310 Je 13 ’20 450w

You might also like