S Y M P O S I U M

L E A D I N G G ROW T H T H RO U G H
T H E D I G I TA L L E A D E R

TONY PETRUCCI AND MICHAEL RIVERA

As Millennials, and next in line the iGen, begin to take over the workforce, they are bringing with them
leadership trends that will shape the future of organizational leadership. Modern organizations must
respond to an increased pace of the workplace, and the nature of executives’ tasks is increasingly com-
plex. Despite the evidence suggesting that focusing on growth versus performance will lead to better
long-term performance, our business schools continue to emphasize managing performance instead
of leading growth. Trends such as real-time feedback, agile networks of teams, advanced people
analytics, micro-learning, personalized learning, and artificial intelligence enable the digitally minded
leader to shape the future of leadership. We know that many leadership dimensions have a causal rela-
tionship with desirable organizational outcomes, and that the foundational pillars of leadership, such
as shared values and vision, talent development, change management, and reward and recognition,
will likely continue to drive these outcomes. However, how we lead in these areas is changing. The
current paper explored these phenomena based on current literature with an eye toward the future.

Traditional Leadership
Proven leadership concepts such as transformational
leadership (TL) and the leadership challenge (TLC)
have been studied and written about in the leadership
literature for many years. The four dimensions of TL
are intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspi-
rational motivation, and individualized consideration
(Bass & Avolio, 1994). The five practices of TLC are:
Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the
Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart
(Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Both TL and TLC have
been demonstrated to have causal relationships with
desirable outcomes across many cultures and industries
(Bass & Avolio, 1994; Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Most,
if not all, of these foundational pillars of leadership will
likely remain important in the future. However, how
we deliver and enable them as leaders is already chang-
ing, and is likely to change further. As the way people
communicate and learn changes, so too do the trends
in leadership across the new digital frontier.
Generational Trends
The culture of the workplace has changed rapidly with
the arrival of millennials and now the iGen. Millennials,
born between about 1980 and 1995, want different
things from their workplace than their Gen X prede-

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 S Y M P O S I U M
cessors. Millennials want higher quality feedback, and
they want feedback more frequently. They want a coach,
not a boss. They want to be connected to the purpose of
the organization and are more tech-savvy than previous
generations (Hernandez, 2015). In addition, the iGen,
also referred to as Generation Z, has entered the work-
force, covering the age cohort born in the 15-year period
starting around 1996 (Twenge, 2017). Both generations
communicate extensively through digital media and are
used to communicating in real-time. Because of this,
they are more likely to want to communicate at work
like they do in their personal lives, which is in real-time
and a combination of face-to-face and digital commu-
nication (Twenge, 2017). Similar to millennials, the
iGen also seeks continuous feedback (Buhler & Evans,
2018). Members of the iGen spend over 5 hours a day
online and over 2¼ hours a day texting. Furthermore,
they are comfortable communicating personal, emo-
tional, and feedback related content digitally (Twenge,
2017), whereas older generations would only have com-
municated personal, emotional, and feedback related
content face-to-face. In addition, millennials and the
iGen consume information and learn differently than
past generations, preferring personalized content such as
short videos, brief news feeds, short articles, and photos.
Organizational and Technology Trends
Organizations today face increased business complexity
and are expected to execute decisions more rapidly and
with greater transparency (Mani & Nandkumar, 2016).
In order to deal effectively with this phenomenon,
organizations are reducing hierarchy and creating “agile
networks of teams,” implementing real-time feedback,
personalized micro-learning, and artificial intelligence
(AI) (Agarwal, Bersin, Lahiri, Schwartz, & Volini, 2018;
Pester, Johnson, Stempel, & Van Der Vyver, 2017).
There are many benefits to using agile networks of teams
as opposed to more structured, traditional team models.
These teams are selected based on each employee’s unique
skill set as opposed to the employee’s formal position
(Bersin, McDowell, Rahnema, & Van Durme, 2017).
The largest benefit is how such a model can help maxi-
mize the potential of every employee. Traditional team-
work models are rigid, placing people on teams based on
hierarchies and formal positions within the organization,
54  JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 12 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls
which can limit the positive impact an employee can
have for the organization. In contrast, agile networks of
teams allow employees to move among teams, eventually
finding the one in which they can exert the largest influ-
ence. Notably, such a system provides the added benefit
of promoting free-flow of information, helping to break
down information silos and strengthen the organization
as a cohesive unit (Petrucci & Gleeson, 2018).
The biggest challenge organizations face when imple-
menting this model of teamwork is determining how
best to manage and support their employees, as it can
be difficult to manage employees whose teams and
responsibilities are constantly changing (Petrucci &
Gleeson, 2018). One possible solution to the problem
is to use technology that fosters constant communica-
tion and encourages feedback on every interaction that
an employee has, which is then measured through a
network analysis (Petrucci & Gleeson, 2018).
As mentioned earlier, another change brought about
by the arrival of millennials, and the iGen to the work-
force is a change in the way employees want to learn.
Organizations will need to reshape their learning
and development to allow for constant, personalized
micro-learning. Micro-learning is a learning approach
that focuses on relatively small learning units, with an
emphasis on developing skills to achieve short-term goals
and whatever needs to be done in the present moment,
as opposed to trying to learn skills to last an entire career.
Given the need for faster, more effective, and more
transparent communication, organizations are moving
toward real-time feedback. Most organizations currently
use a slow and ineffective method of communicating
feedback: the annual performance appraisal. A recent
study found that 95% of employees are not satisfied with
their organization’s appraisal process, and 90% do not feel
the process is accurate (Koulopoulos, 2018). In contrast to
the annual performance review, real-time digital feedback
is emerging as an alternative feedback mechanism that can
facilitate more effective communication and capitalize on
the communication preferences and skills of Millennials
and the iGen (Ewenstein, Hancock, & Komm, 2016;
Silverman, 2016). Mobile apps are expected to become
an increasingly used resource to facilitate real-time feed-
back and replace or supplement the annual performance
appraisal, which will enhance communication and trans-
parency (Goodwin, 2016; Silverman, 2016).
 S Y M P O S I U M
Some organizations today are already embracing
real-time feedback apps to replace or supplement their
annual performance appraisal to drive better perfor-
mance. Ray Dalio, founder and chairman of Bridge-
water, the world’s largest hedge fund, developed a
real-time feedback app used by all employees to make
investment decisions and develop a meritocratic culture
to ensure that they consistently make the best invest-
ment decisions (Feloni, 2017). General Electric has also
recently implemented a real-time feedback app—PD@
GE—as part of a strategic move away from their long-
time performance management process, “Session C,”
to a more real-time and vertically integrated system
(Ewenstein et al., 2016). An article based on a research
study using a real-time feedback app called DevelapMe
(Petrucci, Rivera, & Tironi, 2016) with MBA stu-
dents working in teams showed that receivers of digital
feedback through the mobile app are more open to
receiving feedback digitally from the sender when trust
levels are higher with the sender and when the sender
provides important context for the feedback through
the app (Blau, Petrucci, & Rivera, 2018).
In order to achieve the high levels of sustained perfor-
mance that they expect, organizations should emphasize
the development of growth-focused cultures versus per-
formance-focused cultures. Growth cultures are where
people work every day to learn, grow, and improve,
resulting in improved performance, whereas cultures
that just focus on the end result create potentially neg-
ative cause and effects (Schwartz, 2018).
Digital Leader
Deloitte Consulting profiles the digital leader of the
future, highlighting that such a leader will need to
innovate and collaborate in new ways in order to bring
together vertically integrated, cross-functional teams of
people to perform (Abbatiello, Knight, Philpot, & Roy,
2017). The combination of generational preferences
and skills, enhanced technology, increased complexity,
and greater expectations for speed have produced the
need for the digital leader. The digital leader will need
to influence across informal teams, connect networks of
teams and people, and create more knowledge sharing
all while creating a diverse and inclusive environment
(Abbatiello et al., 2017).
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Additionally, digital leaders will need to use proven
leadership concepts in an integrated manner with tech-
nology. These leaders must be able to establish mean-
ingful real-time feedback with their teams and develop
“agile networks of teams,” in most cases without formal
authority. Through enabled personalized micro-learn-
ing, the digital leader will build critical skills in their
team needed to execute well in a fast-paced and com-
plex environment while creating a growth mindset.
They will use technology, such as mobile real-time feed-
back apps, to enhance face-to-face feedback with digi-
tal real-time feedback, and produce advanced people
analytics to drive behavior change and performance
improvement. Furthermore, AI will provide important
information to assist the digital leader. Through net-
work analysis, technology will enable the digital leader
to understand complex flows of interactions and activ-
ities in agile networks of teams and leveraging AI con-
nects the dots for the digital leader and their followers.
In this way, the digital leader will exemplify traditional
leadership concepts while embracing new trends to
influence their peers and drive performance outcomes.
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56  JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 12 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls
Tony Petrucci, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Orga-
nizational Leadership at the Temple University Fox
School of Business. He has over 30 years of business expe-
rience as an HR Executive and in General Manage-
ment. He has worked for top Fortune companies such as
PepsiCo and Aramark. He has written two books and
has been quoted, published, or featured in publications
or media outlets such as Chief Learning Officer Maga-
zine, HR Magazine, US News and World Report, HR
Executive Magazine, Fox News among many others. He
has built and sold businesses as an entrepreneur and cur-
rently is a cofounder and owner of the Leadership Ana-
lytics Group LLC. The Leadership Analytics Group has
developed a real-time feedback app called DevelapMe,
which enables organizations to improve performance
through enhanced, real-time feedback. Tony’s most
current research interests are in the areas of growth level
and real-time feedback, leading Millennials & iGen,
building high-performing diverse teams, and human
capital analytics. Communications can be directed to
petrucci@temple.edu.
Dr. Michael Rivera serves as Associate Professor of Strat-
egy and Entrepreneurship at the Temple Fox School
of Business. In this role, he teaches courses in creative
problem solving, business model innovation, and inno-
vation adoption and diffusion at the graduate level,
including Executive MBA. In addition to his teaching
responsibilities, he is also the Academic Director of the
Executive MBA program. In this role, he oversees an
expanding program, with cohorts currently running in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France;
Singapore; and Bogota, Colombia. Dr. Rivera is also the
Managing Director of the Center for Executive Educa-
tion, which provides customized, accessible, interactive
professional development workshops to senior executives
and emerging leaders across industries. Dr. Rivera’s inter-
ests include creativity and innovation management, the
emerging field of human capital analytics, and how the
two connect to shape business strategy. He not only con-
tributes original research in these areas, but also shapes
these fields in other ways through his consulting and
through the human capital analytics app DevelapMe,
which he cofounded. Email mrivera@temple.edu.