The current wave of industry disruption is fueled by digital tools, technologies and business models including analytics, virtual reality, blockchain, cloud environments, mobile solutions, machine learning, and digital ecosystems. These innovations are speeding up the pace of change and making it harder for leaders to create and sustain positions of competitive advantage.

The volatility of business environments driven by rapid, accelerating digital technology and business changes requires a new management approach referred to as Agile Leadership.

Findings from research done by IMD, Global center for business transformation and Meta consulting [1] identified that Agile leaders significantly outperformed other leaders.

The following four distinguishing characteristics and three key behaviors distinguish them from non-agile leaders [1]:

•     First they are humble. Agile leaders accept feedback and recognize that others know more than them by understanding their own capacity.

•     Second they are adaptable as they accept that change is constant which requires them to changing their mind based on the availability of new information. As such they are open to new ideas.

•     Third they are visionary leaders who have a well-defined idea where the organization needs to go.  They deal with the tension by using vision to motivate and inspire while at the same time adapting rapidly to current, contextual businesses situations.

•     Fourth they are engaged by demonstrating their willingness to listen, interact, and communicate with internal and external stakeholder. Agile leaders score high on communication factors. They always ensure a constant interchange of information with their teams and encourage them to challenge views and opinions.

Agile leaders demonstrate the following three key behaviors that help them successfully navigate disruptive environments [1][2]:

•   Hyperawareness that includes scanning of internal and external environments for opportunities and threats.

•   Informed decision-making that focuses on constantly gathering and analyzing data to allow evidence-based decision making on this data.

•   Fast execution that involves moving quickly forward and valuing speed over perfection.  

Before an organization can thrive on agile leadership they have to develop, grow and foster agile leaders. The best starting point for leaders is to transform their mind-set. Leaders wishing to transform their organizations must begin by transforming themselves, then their teams followed by their organization [3].