Editorial Special Issue „Leadership in a Digital World”

Digital transformation is a keyword that not only dominates the media, but is also discussed in the research departments of companies, by politicians and in society as a whole. But this is just one of the many challenges we face. The currently ongoing coronavirus pandemic as well as continuing globalization, sustainability issues and the possibilities of biological transformation and its opportunities for totaly new business models are urgent issues that we need to address. The changes associated with this transformation are partly connected with concerns or fears, because the effects are perceivable at all levels of society and are by no means always trivial and understandable. This applies, for example, to transformation processes in the world of work that go hand in hand with digitization, not least due to the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence. To master these challenges, “management” is not enough, while “leadership” is gaining in importance. In times of change, leaders must above all fulfil two tasks: On the one hand, they must be able to draw an attractive picture of the future. They must be able to convince even the skeptics to follow the—often strenuous—path and find it rewarding. On the other hand, leaders must inspire themselves and others to achieve challenging goals. Because it is not enough just to be ready for the future. It is not enough to let “the others” implement digitalization or other changes. In order to live together in an attractive future at the end of the day, one thing is still needed first and foremost: innovations! But incremental innovations cannot make the necessary progress. For example, a marginal improvement in the injection nozzle of a combustion engine will not do justice to the finite nature of fossil fuels. Only radical and disruptive innovations will make it possible to develop solutions for current and future challenges. Innovation should not be understood as a process that takes place once every 10–20 years in order to have done enough for advancement. Innovation is a constant process, as are changes. And anyone who tries to meet changes that have already happened with innovations that are then urgently needed will fail. The present situation is appropriately summarized in the maxim: “If you innovate in time, you have in the future. Those who innovate only in the future do not have much time left.” At this point it must be mentioned that innovation can never be measured by the number of patents. Many patents are unused. Innovation only happens when a good idea becomes value-adding reality. The required innovations must also be generated at all levels and in all departments of an agile organization. Focusing on research and development is not enough. In particular, leaders must face up to change and actively shape the future. They act as an example to give those employees with valueadding ideas a leadership role in the innovation process. The urgency of changes is thus unmistakable, as is the enormous influence that digitization has on our lives. Nevertheless, there is still relatively little knowledge of the connections between digital transformation, leadership and work design in the current state of research. Therefore, the special edition of “Leadership, Education, Personality: An Interdisciplinary Journal” focuses on the topic ”Leadership in a Digital World”. The two terms “digitization” and “leadership” are highly interdisciplinary and therefore require comprehensive consideration from various scientific perspectives: Basic research as well as applied research—without restrictions regarding methodological procedures—can provide valuable insights. In addition, it should also be mentioned that the involvement of the Western world is not sufficient to develop solutions for the challenges of the future. Global awareness of the changes and the need for innovation must be achieved. Therefore, we are particularly pleased to have an article in this special issue that looks at the progress of digitization in Kenya.

Digital transformation is a keyword that not only dominates the media, but is also discussed in the research departments of companies, by politicians and in society as a whole. But this is just one of the many challenges we face. The currently ongoing coronavirus pandemic as well as continuing globalization, sustainability issues and the possibilities of biological transformation and its opportunities for totaly new business models are urgent issues that we need to address.
The changes associated with this transformation are partly connected with concerns or fears, because the effects are perceivable at all levels of society and are by no means always trivial and understandable. This applies, for example, to transformation processes in the world of work that go hand in hand with digitization, not least due to the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence. To master these challenges, "management" is not enough, while "leadership" is gaining in importance.
In times of change, leaders must above all fulfil two tasks: On the one hand, they must be able to draw an attractive picture of the future. They must be able to convince even the skeptics to follow the-often strenuous-path and find it rewarding. On the other hand, leaders must inspire themselves and others to achieve challenging goals. Because it is not enough just to be ready for the future. It is not enough to let "the others" implement digitalization or other changes. In order to live together in an attractive future at the end of the day, one thing is still needed first and foremost: innovations! But incremental innovations cannot make the necessary progress. For example, a marginal improvement in the injection nozzle of a combustion engine will not do justice to the finite nature of fossil fuels. Only radical and disruptive innovations will make it possible to develop solutions for current and future challenges. Innovation should not be understood as a process that takes place once every 10-20 years in order to have done enough for advancement. Innovation is a constant process, as are changes. And anyone who tries to meet changes that have already happened with innovations that are then urgently needed will fail. The present situation is appropriately summarized in the maxim: "If you innovate in time, you have in the future. Those who innovate only in the future do not have much time left." At this point it must be mentioned that innovation can never be measured by the number of patents. Many patents are unused. Innovation only happens when a good idea becomes value-adding reality.
The required innovations must also be generated at all levels and in all departments of an agile organization. Focusing on research and development is not enough. In particular, leaders must face up to change and actively shape the future. They act as an example to give those employees with valueadding ideas a leadership role in the innovation process.
The urgency of changes is thus unmistakable, as is the enormous influence that digitization has on our lives. Nevertheless, there is still relatively little knowledge of the connections between digital transformation, leadership and work design in the current state of research. Therefore, the special edition of "Leadership, Education, Personality: An Interdisciplinary Journal" focuses on the topic "Leadership in a Digital World". The two terms "digitization" and "leadership" are highly interdisciplinary and therefore require comprehensive consideration from various scientific perspectives: Basic research as well as applied research-without restrictions regarding methodological procedures-can provide valuable insights.