Center poslovne odličnosti EF je ob vstopu v 11. leto gostil spletn, gostil spletni dogodek, sklopu katerega je 11 izbranih govork in govorcev iz akademskega sveta in gospodarstva v središče 11-minutnih govorov postavilo spremembe, ki nas čakajo v prihodnjih desetletjih. V spodnjih vrsticah predstavljamo izseke, ki so zaobjeli revolucijo družbe, ljudi, ekonomije in okolja.
DUŠAN MRAMOR: (R)EVOLUCIJA DRUŽBE: KAKO DO LETA 2050?
Prof. dr. Dušan Mramor je spregovoril o težavah, s katerimi se ne srečujemo le v Sloveniji, ampak po vsem svetu. »Kot družba smo pojedli del prihodnosti, kar se bo odrazilo na nižjem prihodnjem življenjskem standardu,« je dejal. Dodal je še, da nam bo življenjski standard v prihodnje zniževalo tudi staranje prebivalstva in cela vrsta drugih groženj. Znanost oziroma raziskave in razvoj so tisti, v katerih prof. dr. Mramor vidi rešitev omenjenih težav.
JOHN DENHOF: HOW TO LEAD IN FACE OF CHANGE
Predsednik uprave Nove KBM John Denhof je govoril o vodenju sprememb. »Potrebujete zelo pogumno vizijo, ki se ne spreminja in ima zelo jasne in nespremenljive ključne kazalnike učinkovitosti. Kot drugo: komunicirajte – in to preveč. Kot zadnje: Bodite brutalno jasni,« je izpostavil način, kako zadržati in spodbuditi zaposlene v času velikih sprememb.
TJAŠA REDEK: KAM VLAGATI V PRIHODNJE: V STROJE, STAVBE ALI INTELEKTUALNI KAPITAL?
»Treba je vlagati v znanje in to morajo početi predvsem podjetja,« je povedala prof. dr. Tjaša Redek. Govorila je o neotipljivem kapitalu, ki ga sestavljajo digitalizirane informacije, inovativni kapital in ekonomske kompetence, s podatki pa je pokazala, da pri tem dejavniki, povezani z znanjem, prispevajo od ene četrtine do ene tretjine.
VALTER LEBAN: HUMANIZACIJA/AVTOMATIZACIJA DELA
Valter Leban je poudaril, da je danes sodobna tehnologija postala dostopna v vsakdanjem življenju, pri čemer pa se poraja vprašanje, kako bo vplivala na trg dela. Meni, da se bodo podjetja srečevala z izzivom, kako povezati človeški kapital s tehnološkim kapitalom ter kako znanje, veščine in kompetence skupaj z avtomatizacijo usmeriti v produktivnost. Pri tem je dodal, da se v novejšem času avtomatizira tudi umsko delo. Poleg robotske avtomatizacije procesov ima namreč še večji vpliv kognitivna avtomatizacija, ki je podprta z umetno inteligenco oz. strojnim učenjem in bo po njegovem mnenju imela v prihodnjih letih velik vpliv na povečanje produktivnosti, kljub neutemeljenim pesimističnim opazkam glede kraje delovnih mest: »Avtomatizacija je smer, v katero mora iti sleherno gospodarstvo.«
ADRIANA REJC BUHOVAC: PRIHODNOST TRAJNOSTNE TRANSFORMACIJE PODJETIJ
Prof. dr. Adriana Rejc Buhovac je govorila o okoljskih izzivih, pri čemer je dejala, da smo na točki, ko je pomembnejše kot komunicirati, katere trajnostne aktivnosti so bile izvedene, poročanje o spremembi ogljičnega odtisa, ki je rezultat teh aktivnosti. »Pričeti je treba z osvajanjem metodologij za računanje ogljičnega odtisa tako na ravni produkta kot tudi na ravni podjetja,« je povedala in dodala, da številna slovenska podjetja to že uspešno počnejo.
ALJOŠA VALENTINČIČ: VPLIV ESG NA KAPITALSKE TRGE
Prof. dr. Aljoša Valentinčič je povedal, da ima področje okoljske, družbene in deležniške (ESG) odgovornosti precej težav. Izpostavil je, da so naložbe v zelene industrije donosnejše kot naložbe v rjave industrije, a se pojavi težava donosa na strani posojilodajalcev. »Podjetja se na deklarativni ravni želijo obnašati trajnostno, a ko pogledamo, kaj v resnici počnejo, vidimo, da 70 odstotkov podjetij vidikov ESG ne povezuje s finančnimi učinki,« je dejal prof. dr. Valentinčič.
LJUBICA KNEŽEVIČ CVELBAR: IZZIVI TURIZMA PRIHODNOSTI
Z besedami »Slogan turizma v prihodnje bo ‘manj je več’. Kakovost pred količino. Manj potovanj, a ko potujete, bodite na cilju dalj časa in ne pričakujte, da bodo cene takšne kot v preteklosti, ker bodo višje,« je prof. dr. Ljubica Knežević Cvelbar povzela svoj prispevek na temo turizma. Na koncu je dodala še, da je to idealna priložnost za Slovenijo, ki nikoli ni bila destinacija za masovni turizem.
MOJMIR MRAK: GEOPOLITIČNA TVEGANJA NA SVETOVNEM IN EVROPSKEM NIVOJU V NASLEDNJEM DESETLETJU
Prof. dr. Mojmir Mrak se je dotaknil geopolitičnih tveganj, ki so v zadnjih letih, sploh pa po izbruhu pandemije covida-19, postala pomembna tema na globalnem nivoju. Orisal je ključna geopolitična tveganja v naslednjem desetletju, pri čemer je poudaril multilateralizem, večjo globalno nestabilnost in ekonomska tveganja ter pod vprašaj postavil EU način financiranja prek nizkih obrestnih mer. Pri tem je opomnil tudi na klimatske spremembe in tehnološka tveganja z vse večjimi pritiski kibernetskih napadov ter zaključil da »je tudi v naslednjem desetletju pričakovati nadaljevanje visokega nivoja geopolitičnih tveganj, verjetno pa tudi njihovo krepitev.«
TOMISLAV ČIŽMIĆ: »METAVESOLJE« MERCATOR
Tomislav Čižmić je orisal dejavnike, ki bodo določali prihodnost v podjetju Mercator d.d., pri čemer je poudaril pomen digitalizacije kot osnov uspešnega razvoja in prihodnosti trgovine, ne le v smislu celotnega prodajnega procesa, ampak tudi znotraj internih procesov. Meni, da je prihodnost zelena in trajnostna, predvsem v okviru logistike, distribucije in porabe energije. Nadaljeval je, da bodo pritiski na spremembe vse bolj prisotni s strani kupcev, standardizacije proizvodnje ter v transportu, pri čemer bodo trgovci v prihodnje še bolj nadzorovali dobavne verige z izborom relevantnih partnerjev. Dodal je, da je prihodnost pretočna, pregledna in skupnostna, ter zaključil, da »prihodnost prinaša nov trg, saj trgovina prihodnosti presega fizični prostor.«
POLONA DOMADENIK MUREN: IZZIVI DIGITALNE EKONOMIJE – KAKO NOVE MODELE VKLJUČITI V OBSTOJEČE?
Prof. dr. Polona Domadenik Muren je govorila o platformah in tem, kako se te razlikujejo od linearnega poslovnega modela: »Bistvo platform ni v tem, da ima uporabnik na razpolago tisoč različnih proizvodov. Ključna vrednost je ta, da se mu ponudijo tisti proizvodi, ki najbolj ustrezajo njegovim željam, pričakovanjem in zahtevam.« Je pa prof. dr. Domadenik Murnova posvarila pred monopolizacijo platform, ko je izpostavila spor med Applom in Epicom ter opozorila tudi na problematiko dela prek platform, saj na tem področju prihaja do množičnih kršitev delovnopravne zakonodaje.
DENIS OŠTIR: WHY D2C IS A HEADACHE—AN EXAMPLE FROM THE CONNECTED TV WORLD
Denis Oštir je spregovoril o ponovnem razmahu televizorjev, ki pa so postali pametni. Kot takšni svojim proizvajalcem omogočijo neposreden dostop v dnevno sobo potrošnikov in razcvet poslovnih modelov D2C (neposredno do potrošnika). »Nobenega razloga ni, da televizor ne bi mogel postati orodje za potrošnjo,« je dejal Oštir.
Uroš Konda in Anja Puc, EF News
Building your public presence is an incredible tool when looking for work or seeking career opportunities. It is not only important for freelancers and entrepreneurs, but also for young professionals and job seekers who must understand the process of presenting themselves as a marketable brand. We had an interesting and rich in content debate with our guest speakers:
Personal branding is attracting luck to your life and business. It is composed of a person and something else, that is a sort of promise to yourself or a set of expectations. However, there are different approaches to achieving the same objectives when creating a personal brand. But which one is the best? Doing things organically without strategies or planning everything in advance? Flexible way of work on one hand or certainty and strict planning on the other? Either way, always stay authentic and passionate about what you do.
We believe there is no single-handed approach to creating a personal brand whether there are strategies involved or intuition is used. Some people do their work completely intuitively or organically, but as we “read books”, we try different theories and improve ourselves. We look for the ones that suit us the most. As we do that it means that we think about what we are doing, about who we are and about what our weaknesses and strengths are. Later, if the evidence supports our strategies, we just jump and listen to our intuition. But first, we think! Below there are a few useful tips for applying authenticity to building your personal brand:
You can watch the whole discussion below:
You have established your own business during your MBA study. Were you always passionate about entrepreneurship, how have you decided to go on your path?
Entrepreneurship has always inspired me, and I was always in the search for interesting, inspiring, happy stories of successful people who managed to get out their comfort zones of regular employments. I always thought that successful entrepreneurs are people of 100 hats that manage so many different roles and are skilled at everything. During my MBA studies, the bank where I was working, came forward with a proposal to separate and I immediately saw this as a good opportunity to look for something new. Not a new regular employment relationship I had for the last 20 years, but something more adventures. And being an MBA student, I thought to myself what am I doing here if I don’t dare to try getting into the business. There must be a reason I enrolled in this study in the first place! So I decided to try something new, something I cherished in my thoughts for years, but never had the courage to do. And then I got first offer to do some consultancy services even before I opened my business and I understood this as a clear sign to go forward with the idea.
Good leaders are always learning. Did an MBA helped you with your decision or supported you with additional knowledge?
MBA for sure helped me put things in the right perspective. Meeting diverse people with different opinions and experiences and out of box thinking contributed to reflect at my positions from a different perspective. In addition, having courses where we were challenged to think about our future and where do we see ourselves in a certain timeline, forced me to put down on paper what I wished for. I strongly believe that enrolling the MBA put me in the right position, at the right time. For me, starting my own business at 46 was the perfect timing. I wish now I would have done it earlier, but everything happens for a reason and at the right time. At 46, I was ready to launch my business from scratch and MBA just gave me the right tools to do it. Needless to say, the professors were very supportive and open and looking from today’s perspective, it gives me great comfort knowing I made some strong alliances on the SEB.
Do you believe that women need more business »role models« and what would your advice be to them?
Having role models helps for sure, but what women need is supporting society, that will not expect them to compete to be the most beautiful woman, the best student, the nicest person, great neighbor, best wife, best mom, best daughter, best cook, best colleague. I see so many standards for women all over the place how we should look, how to behave, how to dress. If you think you need to meet all these expectations, you find yourself doing things that just drain your energy from your life. I believe that women should go with the flow, be more relaxed, not having such high standards for themselves. My advice to women would be: Have confidence, don’t let anyone tell you your dreams are impossible. Be daring, be you, be what you always wanted to be. If you fail, it’s fine. Get up and try once more. Don’t apologize for being you. Have faith and be optimistic. And if you can enjoy in what you do and be happy at the same time, you are already a winner. As Falon Fatemi said: At the end of the day, you are the only one that is limiting your ability to dream or to actually execute on your dreams. Don’t let yourself get in the way of that.
How do you find balance in your life? What gives you the joy and energy to balance all the roles that you play?
My whole life is in balance since I started my own business. Flexibility to work when you wish to work, what you want to do, with whom you chose to work is priceless. Sometimes I start my workday early in the morning, the other day in the afternoon. Sometimes my weekend is in the middle of the week and Saturday working day. I can choose to have an office at the seaside or up in the mountains. But one thing is for sure: every project that I do is a different learning experience. I do not consider my new career as a job; it is a part of my life that I chose for myself. My private life and my professional life are in sync. And none of this would be possible without strong support from my husband and my two loving daughters, who taught me how to be brave and courageous.
My motive for joining LJUBLJANA MBA programme, was to grow, advance and broaden my horizon, whereas not too dramatically disrupt my private and professional life.
I did grow, I grew as a person and I grew as a leader.
Running a multinational team, multiple high priority deadlines, airports, travels, lack of sleep was not easy if you consider having a family and doing an MBA at the same time. But the whole journey made me stronger because when you fight through these obligations you grew so much more at the same time.
One of the biggest impacts on my development were the courses that have sharpened my soft skills and the ones that helped me empowered and activate myself to continuously improve and grow as a human being and helped me to lead even better.
The network I have built over these two years with my peers and professors at SEB already enriched me and will continue to do so.
Now that I have finished the Ljubljana MBA programme, I am much more self-aware, and I do self-reflect more often than in the past. Thanks to the numerous self-reflection moments throughout this programme, I got to better know myself, my strongholds, but even more my areas where I continue to work on improvements. And although my standards remained the same “being the best as I can be”, I am seeing it through a broader, long-term perspective now.
Benjamin Brulc, LJUBLJANA MBA Alumni, 7th Generation
*Below we publish the article in Slovenian language.
Kaj o psihologiji inovativnosti pravi drugi slovenec, ki je objavil članek v Harvard Business Review ?
»Pravijo, da sta inovativnost in kreativnost plod posebne miselnosti. Kreativnost bi lahko bila začetna točka inovativnosti, ampak ali je to pogoj? In dodatno, ali je kreativnost kot pogoj, zadostna ali nezadostna gonilna sila inovativnosti?«
Dr. Miha Škerlavaj je redni profesor za področje managementa na Ekonomski Fakulteti v Ljubljani (EF) in pridruženi redni profesor vodenja in organizacijskega vedenja na BI Norwegian Business School, kot gost pa večkratsvoje znanje deli s študenti drugih fakultet v Evropi in Aziji. Pred kratkim je sprejel tudi prodekanovanje raziskovalnega področja na EF. Ker so njegove znanje in izkušnje izjemno uporabne tudi za poslovni svet, je reden predavatelj in trener v programih poslovnega izobraževanja Centra poslovne odličnosti EF. Najpogosteje pripravlja programe v sodelovanju s posameznim podjetjem, in sicer na področju inovativnosti in vodenja sprememb. Predava tudi na Ljubljana MBA programu, kjer se lahko pohvali z laskavim nazivom najboljšega profesorja generacije. Iz opusa njegovih mednarodnih objav je težko izbrati najodmevnejšo, zagotovo pa lahko izpostavimo Harvard Business Review (HBR), kjer mu je uspela objava kot drugemu Slovencu. Miha pravi, da ga najbolj zanima psihologija ljudi in pogoji, ki jih ustvarjajo podjetja za uspešno inoviranje zaposlenih.
Nekatera podjetja imajo posebej oblikovane inovativne centre z namenom spodbujanja večje inovativnosti, pa kljub temu ne izžarevajo kreativnosti. Spet na drugi strani imamo podjetja ali posameznike, ki nimajo zadostnih finančnih sredstev oz. primernega prostora, pa so kljub temu kreativni in uspešni v procesu inoviranja. Kako pomembno je dejansko okolje, ki spodbuja inovativnost?
Okolje je pri ustvarjalnosti in inovativnosti eden ključnih dejavnikov. Vsak od nas ima v sebi kakšno vrlino ali je skozi leta pridobil veščine, ki prispevajo bodisi pri generiranju idej, njihovi selekciji, razvoju ali pa implementaciji. Proces inoviranja je sam po sebi tako raznolik, da je veliko prostora tako za različne osebnosti kot tudi za različne prispevke. Vendar pa so naše vrline zgolj neizkoriščen potencial, če ne ustvarjamo okolij, ki spodbujajo in omogočajo, da te vrline pridejo tudi do izraza.
Študije na Harvard Business School so pokazale, da je skoraj vsak posameznik lahko kreativen v pravih okoliščinah (v okoliščinah, ki spodbujajo inovativnost). Ali se strinjate s to trditvijo?
Ustvarjalnost je potreben, ne pa tudi zadosten pogoj za inovativnost. V splošnem se pridružujem ugotovitvi, da lahko marsikdo od nas prispeva k procesu inoviranja z generiranjem idej – torej imamo vsi potencial biti kreativni. Je pa tudi res, da raziskave – recimo mojih kolegov psihologov na Norveškem – kažejo, da so določene osebnostne značilnosti močneje povezane z ustvarjalnim vedenjem. Med njimi zlasti odprtost za nove izkušnje, potreba po originalnosti, ambicioznost, ciljna naravnanost, fleksibilnost v razmišljanju, hkrati pa tudi nizka emocionalna stabilnost in nizka družabnost.
Kakšno je podjetje, za katerega vi rečete, da je zares inovativno? Je zares inovativnih podjetij veliko?
Če bi obstajal recept za inovativno podjetje, bi ga vsi ostali najbrž tako hitro skopirali, da ne bi več deloval. Ravno tako ne verjamem veliko v lestvice, ki primerjajo zelo raznolike organizacije in poizkušajo presojati katero je bolj in katero manj inovativno. Mene pravzaprav zanimajo ljudje v organizacijah in pogoji, ki jih organizacije ustvarjamo zato, da lahko naša ustvarjalnost in inovativnost prideta do izraza. Menim, da so ključni dejavniki tu soorganizacijska kultura, procesi inovativnosti in vodenje.
Inovativnost je tesno povezana s pripravljenostjo podjetja in zaposlenih na spremembe. Ljudje, kot človeška vrsta, nismo naklonjeni spremembam in se pod pritiskom velikokrat obnašamo drugače. Kako pomembna je pripravljenost na spremembe, ko govorimo o inovacijah?
Inovacije po definiciji prinašajo nekaj novega, novost pa pomeni spremembo. Do sprememb imamo udeleženi tako kognitiven kot tudi afektiven odnos, ki variira vse od negativnega preko nevtralnega do pozitivnega. Z vsem tem se morajo ukvarjati vodje v vlogi agentov sprememb, še posebej ko nastopi čas, da ustvarjalne ideje spravimo v oprijemljive inovacije.
Po vašem mnenju bi lahko bilo pomanjkanje podpore s strani vodij v fazi implementacije sprememb razlog, da se prebojne ideje ne primejo?
Da, tudi to je ena izmed zavor pri udejanjanju prebojnih idej. V naši knjigi Capitalizing on creativity smo zbrali 42 raziskovalcev iz štirih celin, da bi se sistematično posvetili vprašanju, kako boljše udejanjati visoko ustvarjalne ideje. Ugotovili smo, da je poleg agentov sprememb, podpirajočih vodij, proaktivnih zaposlenih, potrebno tudi spodbujati multi-disciplinarno delo in pogled iz večih perspektiv.
“Ravno tako kot potrebujemo spremembe, potrebujemo tudi stabilnost. Podjetja s tako mentaliteto so najbolj uspešna.” To je eno od sporočil ene vaših odmevnejših raziskovalnih objav, med drugim tudi v Harvard Business Review. Kaj ta trditev pomeni za podjetja?
Predvsem gre za to, da nehamo nekritično ponavljati krilatico, da so spremembe edina stalnica. Seveda potrebujemo spremembe in upamo, da so to spremembe na boljše. Naučiti se moramo obvladovati procese spreminjanja in njihove zakonitosti. Tako organizacije kot posamezniki v njih pa potrebujemo tudi nekaj stabilnosti. V časih spreminjanja sejemo, v časih stabilnosti pa žanjemo.
Lahko pomen te trditve prenesemo tudi na nivo posameznika? Ali je t.i. agilnost, k kateri nas pogosto tudi populistično nagovarja okolje, lahko tudi nevarna?
Vsekakor. Organizacij brez posameznikov ni in niti ne more biti. V medicini ter psihiatriji dobro vedo, da je stalna izpostavljenost dražljajem povezana z bolezenskimi stanji, kot je recimo t.i. vietnamski sindrom. Tako toksičnih organizacij si prav gotovo ne želimo ustvarjati, ali pač?
V tem oziru je agilnost zanimiva tema. Gre za ta hip zelo popularen skupek pristopov, ki želijo izboljšati koordinacijo med ljudmi, ki delujejo v soodvisnosti na projektih. Veliko od teh praks je zelo koristnih. Hkrati pa se je potrebno zavedati, da tovrstne prakse visoko intenzivirajo delo in imajo denimo lahko tudi psihološke stroške (to področje še ni popolnoma raziskano).
Zanimivo je videti, da so agilnost ponekod uporabili tudi v smeri preoblikovanja celotnih organizacij. Takšen primer je recimo nizozemska banka ING, ki pa se je v zadnjem času povlekla korak nazaj. Enako se je zgodilo v Zapposu, ki stopa korak nazaj od t.i. holokracije.
Mogoče še najbolje moje sporočilo pojasni prispodoba, ki jo uporablja gospa Teresita Alvarez – nekdanja predsednica alumnija Harvarda in izjemno uspešna poslovna ženska. s Svojo življenjsko zgodbo naslovi z »Roots and wings« –korenine in krila, torej stabilnost in spremembe. Oboje potrebujemo! Paragraph
Vse to in še več bo Miha naslovil v delavnici na temo psihologije inoviranja v sklopu izobraževalnega programa Psihologija v poslu v organizaciji Centra poslovne odličnosti EF. Skupaj z udeleženci se bo podal na pot pomembnosti in razumevanja inovativnosti. Inovativnost namreč ni več rezultat potreb potrošnikov, temveč so potrebe potrošnikov rezultat inovativnosti. Podjetja, ki želijo to doseči pa morajo razumeti psihološke mehanizme izvirnosti, prepoznati ustrezno miselnost in čustveno stanje tako ekipe kot posameznega zaposlenega ter obvladati umetnost kreativnega razmišljanja.
*Below we publish the article in Slovenian language.
Vodenje podjetij v Sloveniji pogosto temelji na argumentu moči, namesto na moči argumentov.
Kot odgovor na nepošteno vedenje vodij, na neetična vedenja, politične, družbene in gospodarske pretrese v svetu v zadnjih dveh desetletjih, je nastalo avtentično vodenje. Zanj sicer ne obstaja jasna in enotna ter splošno sprejeta definicija, obstaja pa strinjanje stroke, da avtentični vodje dobro poznajo lastno bit, se identificirajo s svojo vlogo in ravnajo skladno s svojimi vrednotami in prepričanji.
O relativno novem načinu vodenja smo se pogovarjali z dr. Sandro Penger, redno profesorico na ljubljanski Ekonomski fakulteti. Leta 2006 je zagovarjala doktorsko disertacijo, kjer je bilo avtentično vodenje osrednji raziskovalni koncept in takrat prvič predstavljeno v slovenskem akademskem okolju.
Profesor Pengerjeva, zdi se, da izraz avtentično vodenje v Sloveniji še ni udomačen. Nam lahko, prosim, pojasnite za kakšen koncept vodenja gre?
Korenine koncepta avtentičnosti zasledimo že v starodavni grški filozofiji, kjer so ga misleci obravnavali s frazama “poznati sebe” in “tvoj resnični jaz”. Izraz avtentičnost označuje humanistično psihološko naravnanost, ki pomeni: samemu sebi naj bo resnično. Bistvo avtentičnosti je v sprejemanju samega sebe ter ohranjanju lastnega jaza. Sinonimi avtentičnosti so pogosto tudi pristnost, bona fide (v dobri veri in z iskrenim namenom), točnost, legitimnost in pravilnost. Ko nekaj danes poimenujemo za “resnično”, zahtevamo, da je zakoreninjeno v človeški etiki, v naravi.
V znanosti in poslovni praksi smo priča intenzivnemu razvoju avtentičnega vodenja zadnjih 20 let. Vodilna znanstvena revija na svetu za področje menedžmenta, Academy of Management Annals, je leta 2019 avtentično vodenje opredelila kot zlati standard vodenja v inovativnih organizacijah. “Današnji najuspešnejši vodje so avtentični vodje,” citira tudi vodilna harvardska univerza, ki je avtentičnost označila kot zlati standard vodenja že v letu 2015.
Na Ekonomski fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani smo povsem v koraku z vodilnimi izsledki znanosti na svetu s področja avtentičnega vodenja oziroma jih aktivno soustvarjamo. Močno smo povezani z gospodarstvom. V Sloveniji smo prvi, ki v sodelovanju s Centrom poslovne odličnosti Ekonomske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani organiziramo vsakoletno akademijo avtentičnega vodenja za vodilne iz poslovne prakse. Tu smo povsem v koraku z diseminacijo v mednarodnem poslovnem svetu, saj na ta način vodilnim posredujemo najnovejše prakse.
Kot zanimivost naj povem, da Harvard Business School dvakrat letno organizira akademijo za vodilne vodje na temo avtentičnega vodenja, kjer štiridnevno izobraževanje stane nekaj manj kot 16 tisoč dolarjev. Ko to pokažem magistrskim študentom, si jih večina želi, da bi še bolj poglobili ta znanja znotraj magistrskega dela. Med študenti ekonomije in poslovnih ved je koncept avtentičnega vodenja zelo dobro poznan.
Kako se avtentično vodenje razlikuje od tradicionalnega?
Da bi podali odgovor, moramo vedeti, kaj avtentično vodenje ni! Znanost je pri tem jasna, govorimo o psevdotransformacijskem vodenju kot nasprotju avtentičnega vodenja, kjer vodja govori in dela eno, v svojih mislih in v zakulisju pa, ko ga sledilci ne vidijo, počne drugo ter tako pri sledilcih vzbuja lažne občutke z namenom doseganja lastne koristi. Od drugih teorij se razlikuje v tem, da je avtentično vodenje v skladu s svojo lastno osebnostjo, vrednotami, etičnimi načeli, prepričanji, integriteto in obenem širjenje teh vrednot z etičnim delovanjem kot vzorom za zaposlene v organizaciji ter spodbujanje njihove osebne in strokovne rasti. Zato potrebujemo moralne in etične vodje, ki gojijo zaupanje zaposlenih, jih opolnomočijo in skupaj stremijo za cilji, ki imajo zanje smisel.
Zaupanje v avtentičnem vodenju razumemo kot olje v motorju, brez katerega ne more delovati. Legendarni smučarski trener Filip Gartner je dejal, da je “zaupanje alfa in omega vsega.” Kot vidimo, gre pri avtentičnem vodenju za poudarek na opolnomočenju sledilcev, da ti prostovoljno sledijo in proaktivno prevzemajo aktivnosti k doseganju skupnega cilja. Da čim bolj minimiziramo nepotrebne komunikacijske procese, sledilci potrebujejo jasna in kratka navodila, ključna naloga uspešnega vodje je, da čim prej podaja povratne informacije in pri tem sočasno opolnomoči sledilce ter jim zaupa.
V vsakodnevnem delovniku to takoj opazimo. Opolnomočeni zaposleni imajo žar v očeh, odnos med vodjo in sledilci temelji na vzajemnem spoštovanju, v vsakodnevnem urniku pa se to občuti kot lahkotno prehajanje med “kljukicami”, zaključenimi nalogami, projekti, čeprav pogosto med zelo zahtevnimi nalogami.
V čem je avtentično vodenje boljše od avtoritativnega? Kje so njegove pasti, tveganja?
“Boljše” je v tem, da je avtentično vodenje zlati standard vodenja v dobi inovativnosti, v digitalni dobi in odraža stil vodenja in sledenja za sodobno družbo, ki je visoko digitalizirana, a v ospredje uvršča integriteto vodje kot najpomembnejšo dimenzijo vodenja. Voditi inovativne posameznike in inovativne time v digitalni dobi zahteva od vodij drugačen pristop, kot ga je zahtevalo vodenje v prejšnjem stoletju.
Avtentično vodenje pozitivno in neposredno vpliva na številne izide na ravni posameznikov, timov in organizacij, zato je ena od ključnih teorija vodenja v digitalni dobi, za razliko od drugih teorij, ki so se razvile v prejšnjem stoletju. Vodje, ki jih sledilci/zaposleni zaznavajo kot avtentični, bodo uspešnejši. “Prednosti” avtentičnega vodenja so v tem, da pozitivno in neposredno vpliva na uspešnost, zavzetost, pripadnost, dobro počutje na delovnem mestu, identifikacijo z vodjo, inovativnost, znižuje raven stresa v timu, ena zadnjih raziskav v ugledni reviji The Leadership Quarterly pa je potrdila, da avtentično vodenje vpliva pozitivno na zdravje in dolgoživost vodje samega z vidika samovodenja in osebnega razvoja vodje samega.
Je prva teorija vodenja, ki meri pozitivni psihološki kapital kot del novejše vede o pozitivnem organizacijskem vedenju, med katere kot osrednje resurse avtentičnega vodje uvrščamo samozavest, optimizem, upanje in prožnost. V kombinaciji s pozitivnim organizacijskim kontekstom in določenimi sprožilnimi dogodki ta pozitivna psihološka stanja okrepijo samozavedanje in samoregulacijo vodje kot del procesa lastnega pozitivnega razvoja.
Inovativne osebe je treba primerno motivirati, voditi in jim na pravilen način podajati povratne informacije. Vodje se ne smejo posluževati tradicionalnega načina vodenja, kot je avtoritativnost, in zahtevati od svojih sledilcev konformizma. Inovativni posamezniki se zato znajdejo v dilemi, ali razvijati kreativne ideje, s tem tudi tvegati in zapraviti svoj čas ter finančne resurse za morebiti neuresničljive ideje, ali se ukvarjati z vsakodnevnimi nalogami. Vodja mora ta konflikt pravilno rešiti in zaščititi svoje sledilce pred tako dilemo. Avtentično vodenje je pozitivno povezano z inovativnostjo. Avtentični vodja pomaga svojim sledilcem, da najdejo smisel v svojem delu. S svojim delovanjem zgradi delovno okolje, zaradi katerega se vsi počutijo del organizacije.
Kritike razumevanja avtentičnega vodenja segajo v samo pojmovanje teorije avtentičnega vodenja, pridevnika avtentičnosti, na področje merjenja avtentičnega vodenja. Kritiki opozarjajo na vidik, da avtentičnost ni intrinzično etična; na primer, četudi avtentični vodja zasleduje visoke moralne standarde, bo sprejemanje etičnih odločitev podvrženo zunanjim pritiskom, denimo tržnim. Podobno kritike osvetljujejo predpostavko, da “avtentično pomeni dobro”, zato je gledanje avtentičnosti kot inherentnega dobrega problematično zaradi njene samoreferenčne in tavtološke narave. Ta argument temelji na zamisli, da je avtentično vodenje dobro, ker je dobro vodenje avtentično. Pri tem nimamo vedenja o tem, kaj je dobro in kdo to določa. Hkrati se pojavljajo vprašanja o različnosti v konceptualizaciji avtentičnosti in o precenjenosti avtentičnosti.
Nam lahko navedete ime kakšnega vidnega in uspešnega vodje, ki se poslužuje avtentičnega vodenja?
Na nedavnem imenovanju najuspešnejšega menedžerja na svetu za leto 2019, na lestvici “Best performing CEO”, ki jo izdaja ugledna znanstvena revija Harvard Business Review, sklene novoimenovani Jensen Huang, soustanovitelj in predsednik podjetja Nvidia: “Dovolite mi, da sklenem, kdo so po moji presoji uspešni vodje. Cenim ljudi, ki so pristni, avtentični. Preprosto so, kar so.” Tako uspešnega vodjo v dobi inovativnosti opredeli ta hip na svetu vodilni izvršni menedžer.
V Sloveniji se zdi, da je vodenje podjetij pogosto napačno. Predvsem je problematičen odnos med nadrejenimi in podrejenimi, saj odločitve nadrejenih pogosto temeljijo na poziciji moči; utemeljeni argumenti podrejenih niso zaželeni, kaj šele upoštevani. Kakšne so vaše izkušnje? Kakšen tip vodenja prevladuje v Sloveniji?
Koncept avtentičnega vodenja je prepoznan v Sloveniji med gospodarstveniki, kot ena izmed teorij vodenja, na primer poleg transformacijskega vodenja, ki pozitivno vpliva na izide inovativnosti in posledično na uspešnost. V Sloveniji smo leta 2015 izvedli raziskavo med 64 kadrovskimi direktorji velikih podjetij o razvitosti avtentičnega vodenja v slovenski gospodarski praksi. Že takrat so rezultati pokazali, da slovenski kadrovski menedžerji velikih podjetij poznajo avtentično vodenje in mu pripisujejo pozitivno in neposredno povezavo pri razvoju koncepta učeče se, agilne organizacije.
Med pričakovanimi lastnostmi uspešnega vodje so kot najpomembnejše kompetence izpostavili prav pozitivno naravnanost, iskrenost in odločnost, kar so osrednje dimenzije avtentičnega vodenja. Želela bi izpostaviti izkušnjo, da v javnosti običajno pri nas odmevajo najbolj negativne zgodbe, vendar se moramo zavedati, da je zavedanje in izobraženost vodilnih (vodij, menedžerjev, kadrovskih direktorjev …) v Sloveniji na zelo visoki ravni, posebej še mladih generacij vodij v digitalni dobi. Pohvalila bi tudi, da se trend ozaveščanja javnosti spreminja, kot je tudi ta intervju z vami, vse večji interes je za delitev dobrih praks in poudarek na pozitivnih zgodbah, kar kaže zglede in smo za to iskreno hvaležni.
Kakšne so torej osebnostne lastnosti avtentičnega vodje? Kakšne vrednote mora imeti? In če teh vrednot nima, je lahko sploh avtentični vodja?
Avtentično vodenje se razprostira prek avtentičnosti vodje kot samega sebe, saj obsega tudi odnose s sledilci, sodelavci in podrejenimi, ki jih odsevajo odkritost, odprtost, zaupanje, vodenje k ustreznim ciljem ter poudarek na razvoju sledilcev. Avtentični vodje prek pozitivnega modeliranja skozi osebno identifikacijo v razmerju vodja-zaposleni (vodenje z zgledom) razvijajo upanje in preostale elemente pozitivnega psihološkega kapitala pri svojih zaposlenih. Vzpostavi se avtentično sledenje. Avtentični vodje so samosvoji, avtonomni in visoko neodvisni. Razvijejo svoj edinstveni slog vodenja in z njim služijo drugim, so veseli za rast in razvoj drugih. Vodijo z opolnomočenjem sledilcev. Pri pomenu pozitivnega vpliva vodje ni ključno, kako pristno se vodje počutijo glede svojih namenov, marveč, kako jih vidijo sledilci. Avtentičnost je lastnost, ki ti jo pripišejo drugi: “Vodja se ne more pogledati v ogledalo in preprosto ugotoviti, da je avtentičen.”
Avtentično vodenje je v dobi inovativnosti intenzivna psihološka paradigma, temelječa na znanju, sprejetju in vedenjskem odzivu osebe, ki izvira v osebnih, moralnih ter etičnih vrednotah, visokih standardih, prepričanjih, čustvih in motivih. Avtentično vodenje je zadnja evolucijska stopnja v razvoju vodenja in poudarja avtentičnost vodje. Za avtentično vodenje ne obstaja jasna in enotna ter splošno sprejeta definicija, obstaja pa strinjanje stroke, da avtentični vodje dobro poznajo lastno bit, se identificirajo s svojo vlogo in ravnajo skladno s svojimi vrednotami in prepričanji.
Kako dovzetni so v Sloveniji vodje oziroma lastniki kapitala, da spremenijo način vodenja? Če grabijo dobiček le zase in tega niso pripravljeni spremeniti oz. deliti s podrejenimi, bodo verjetno težko spremenili stil vodenja?
Ravno kot odgovor na nepošteno vedenje vodij, na neetična vedenja, politične, družbene in gospodarske pretrese v svetu v zadnjih dveh desetletjih je nastalo avtentično vodenje. Uvrščamo ga v bazen etičnega z vrednotami usklajenega vedenja in vodenja. Bolj kot ljudje ostajajo zvesti svojim temeljnim (pozitivnim) vrednotam, identiteti, čustvom in prepričanjem, bolj avtentični postanejo.
Avtentičnemu vodji zaposleni nikakor ne predstavljajo zgolj stroška, ravno tu je razlikovalna dimenzija avtentičnega vodenja, saj avtentični vodje skozi čas pri sledilcih vzgojijo avtentične harmonične osebnosti, kar sledilcem omogoča zadovoljevati lastne potrebe in razvijati ter dosegati lastne cilje. Pri tem bi rada izpostavila, da vodja ni nujno isto kot lastnik podjetja ali menedžer, kar zadeva odločitve o plačah, lahko so te organizacijske vloge (funkcija upravljanja oz. lastništva, funkcija menedžmenta/vodenja in funkcije izvedbe) združene, ni pa nujno. Pri sledilcih se skozi proces avtentičnega vodenja razvijeta samozavedanje in samoregulacija.
Rezultat razvoja avtentičnega vodenja je, da najbolj avtentični sledilci prevzamejo vlogo novih avtentičnih vodij. Preostali sodelujejo z njimi pri doseganju skupnih ciljev, vključno s pozitivno etično klimo. Najbolj avtentični zaposleni bodo prevzeli vlogo avtentičnih vodij. Kot v družini, vsak starš si želi, se bori, veseli in ga navdihuje, da bi otrok čim prej postal samostojen, pripravljen za izzive življenja, močan in opolnomočen z znanjem za vse lepe, a hkrati tudi težke preizkušnje, ki pridejo v življenju.Paragraph
Naj sklenem z mislijo profesorja Vlada Dimovskega: “Ne želite si le vodstvene pozicije, ampak si želite predvsem postati vodilni na svojem področju dela, nato bo vodstvena pozicija prišla kot nagrada predanemu delu. Delo naj vam bo vrednota, učenje in študij priložnost, razvoj neprestan in potem sledi tudi napredek.”
Avtor: David Kos (intervju je bil 26.2.2020 v izvirni obliki objavljen na portalu SiolNET, Posel danes.)
LJUBLJANA MBA Annual Awards 2018 – Best Alumni
David Marjanović, Petrol
David, your colleague’s Alumni choose you for the FELU MBA Annual award for Best Alumnus. What does this mean to you?
I never thought about it in terms of personal meaning, but more as perception and recognition from my Alumni colleagues. It seems I was able to interact with them throughout our studies in such a way that they found me as their final candidate of choice for the MBA Annual award for Best Alumnus. This kind of external recognition is always great feedback and push for the future. Especially if you are among the youngest ones in your generation.
What are the most important decisions/challenges that you face daily as a leader in your organization?
Never forget to learn, even from situations that you think are just part of the daily routine and are not even part of your job description. Every decision always affects someone in your organization. I always consider investing my time to whom I interact with, by trying to understand their needs and impulses, Trying to recognize their time spent and effort in the organization, gives me further leverage for decision making. Earning trust is a hard, but very important daily challenge.
As an individual and professional, how do you operate today (after your MBA degree)? What’s different from before, during the MBA course?
Different for me… was to find a new career opportunity in a company that will support my further development. A new career path is one of them.
I always considered a network of people as essential access to the experience and knowledge and I mean a network of people with a very broad meaning. During our studies, you interact with many different people. You try to keep up with your activities as best you can and in between, you try to acquire/accumulate as much knowledge as possible. However, the added value is that you are given a unique chance to operate with experienced professionals. With their foot on the ground type of experience, you learn and you feel like having a patron in every situation. My general feeling is, somehow you become unconsciously better. You reinvent yourself and if that is not enough for you, you do it with people who become your friends.
Have you ever noticed how first impressions influence your perception of people? How you judge or treat some persons differently based on their facial appearance?
Similar ideas have been studied in business settings as well. Appearance-based perceptions are not only crucial in day-to-day human interactions but can significantly influence the individual’s success.
Phycology literature argues that first impressions are a powerful source of information about individuals’ action, social role, and personality and are often formed unconsciously from the visual appearance of their faces.
It has been proven that just from short, non-verbal observations of people’s behavior, we can accurately predict, for example, teachers’ end-of-semester evaluations, individuals’ job performance, election outcomes, and people’s intelligence ratings.
Even more interestingly, facial appearance is extremely important in corporate settings as CEOs’ success can be inferred from the cognitive perception of their faces.
For example, CEOs that look more powerful and are perceived as better leaders also reach higher profits for their firms. Additionally, CEOs with higher width-to-height ratios of their faces are better negotiators as they look more aggressive and self-interested.
Taking all this into account, it seems that some element of firm financial success is communicated through the CEO’s facial appearance.
However, the CEO’s facial appearance does not only predict firm success, but it can also influence the decision of whether to invest in the company or not. As attractiveness can dramatically affect human lives in general, it is also extremely important when assessing firm value. It has been proven that investors are more likely to buy shares in firms with more attractive CEOs, leading to higher stock returns for such firms. Similarly, the cognitive perceptions of management competence, trustworthiness, and attractiveness also increase the pricing of firms’ shares.
Now, let’s take a look at the role that facial expressions plays in all of this.
While most of the appearance-based studies control for the emotional expressiveness, emotions can be also important cues when making inferences about CEOs‘ characteristics, and hence deciding about investing in the firm.
For example, looking at two pictures of the same CEO below, when would you preferably invest in the firm – when you see the left photo of a CEO in the annual report or rather the right one? When do you consider the CEO as more competent, credible, or trustworthy?
If your answer is the right picture, this is quite expected given the psychology research…
The current literature suggests that positive emotions may lead the CEO to process more information, be more creative, and reduce the conflict between individuals who work together. Furthermore, positive psychological traits of CEOs (e.g., optimism) are positively associated with transformational leadership, which improves the firm’s performance. Another important aspect of positive emotions is CEO charisma, which positively influences the perception of leader effectiveness and attraction to the leader.
On the other hand, when leaders express negative emotions, people negatively assess their competences.
When studying the relationship between CEOs’ emotional display and the firms’ stock prices, we can observe that investors value CEOs with positive emotions more favorably, leading to higher stock prices after controlling for financial results (i.e., net income and book value of equity). These findings provide initial evidence that investors detect managers’ ability from their facial cues and at least partially incorporate it into the firm valuation.
Therefore, believe it or not, emotional expressions are extremely important in several contexts of human life since they can notably affect our perceptions of individuals and their characteristics.
That is not only the case in a corporate setting, where CEO photos included in annual reports can significantly influence the investors’ perceptions, but can happen in every-day situations that involve social interactions between humans, such as job interviews, oral exams, or even romantic dates.
Access to global markets have increased the complexity of supply chains, but often the effect the globalisation on supply chain performance has been neglected. Regarding that situation and future trends we are talking with Marko Jakšič, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.
What is the supply chain, and are we aware of its importance for whole economy?
It has to be noted at the beginning, that supply chains or networks should not merely be perceived as channels through which the products or services are delivered from suppliers to end customers. Due to this common misperception, the role of supply chain management is often reduced to “management of logistics”. While this may be the consequence of the fact that in most supply chains 90% of the relationships are transactional, companies are increasingly realising that their performance is heavily influenced by how well they co-ordinate their activities, and how well they co-operate with their supply chain partners. This is something that is not easily achieved within the company, and even more so across a supply chain. Often characterised as a “behind-the-scenes” function, the supply chain function often only is noticed when there is a problem, thus it is no surprise that companies are struggling with how to position it within their organisational structure.
The supply chain is in fact a system that enables “end-to-end” integration within organisations, activities, resources, and information with a primary objective to fulfil customer demand. The success of such integration is of vital importance, particularly in small economies, due to the fact that individual companies cannot develop their capabilities and achieve the desired economies of scale outside global supply chains, linking them to suppliers and potential customers around the world.
What are the global trends in supply chain management?
Access to global sourcing and sales markets have increased the complexity of supply chains in recent decades. However, often the effect the globalisation has on supply chain performance has been neglected, which nowadays forces companies to rethink their past investment decisions, particularly in off-shore production capabilities. This is a consequence of a “total cost approach” to supply chain management, combined with increasing comparative cost attractiveness of developed economies compared with traditional off-shoring locations. However, the complexity of supply chains is here to stay as they continue to evolve by taking advantage of multiple sourcing to decrease risk, supporting the future trend of “distributed manufacturing”, and by tapping into new sales channels. Such complexity requires companies to rethink their approach to analysis and the optimisation of supply chain activities. As it is only “end-to-end” solutions that will deliver the full benefit to the supply chain, more effort will be put into sharing data across supply chains. This will result in connected supply chains with a strong focus on achieving “supply chain visibility” and transparent supply chain management practices. It is evident that trends like re-shoring, “Internet of Things”, smart automation through Industry 4.0, real-time demand fulfilment, new manufacturing technologies like 3D-printing, and others will largely shape the way the modern supply chains will be structured.
In retail and manufacturing business in our region are going intensive investment and consolidation. Are same things going also in the supply chain?
We need to understand that there are opposing trends in action, which will work both in favour as well as against the consolidation of supply chains. While in some, particularly mature industries, the need to attain the economies of scale will prevail resulting in consolidation, and to some degree also the vertical integration of supply chains, we will see further fragmentation of supply chains in others. For instance, the advent of 3D printing combined with on-demand manufacturing may result in bringing the manufacturing capabilities back in-house and closer to the end markets, which will require a major restructuring of the distribution system and the supply base. Similar can be observed related to increasing product diversity, shortening product life-cycles, and the specifics of the distribution in urban areas.
What will the future look like?
Having discussed major global trends, there are some specifics of the small economies in our region. As many companies in the region are 2nd or 3rd tier suppliers to global multinational companies, more stress will be put on them to align with the increased focus on agility and responsiveness related to on-demand manufacturing. Essentially, this means that they will as well have to adopt the technological capabilities that will lead to faster, easily accessible, and cheaper manufacturing and supply options. Another concern that I would like to mention is a significant constraint related to availability of supply chain management related “people capabilities” within the companies as well as on the labour market. The importance of data-driven decision-making and complete understanding of end-to-end supply chains requires a profile of people who can grasp all aspects of supply chain activities. Here, it is only recently that faculties in the field are offering a limited choice of study programmes that allow students to combine engineering and business management knowledge. It is certainly our goal to improve the situation, as the demand from companies for young talent has been substantial in recent years.
In what way are innovation and technology helping the prosperity of this part of the economy?
Technology will act as a crucial tool to support the integration of supply chain operations. We will see Mobile Apps, automated data exchange used to automatically record all transactions, provide real-time updates of the status of operations, and better end-to-end visibility. The large amount of data will require new approaches to data analysis where “Big data” techniques and “Cloud computing” will offer deeper insights to the marketplace and the supply base, as well as potentially lowering capital investment. But most significantly, it is the changes in market requirements leading to changing manufacturing technologies and strategies that will require further development of supply chains. Thus, it is safe to say that the relevance of supply chain management will be increasing with the increasing need to integrate all these technologies in modern supply chains.
How to achieve successful sustainability in the supply chain?
There is a very short answer to this that captures the essence of building a successful “sustainable supply chain”. The sustainability aspects, whether they are related to economic, social or environmental performance, need to be recognised as potential sources of added value and competitive advantage on the market.
Being a cyborg means to realize that technology defines humanity. Human society as a whole is a cyborg but we as individuals rarely see ourselves this way.
Not so long ago we were asking ourselves whether we are heading towards a future where the human race merges with machines. Well this question is outdated and one proof for that are cyborgs. A cyborg or a cybernetic organism in IT is defined as an organism with both biological and technological components. It is an organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort of feedback. We could easily say that super heroes that we know from fairytales are here. Superhuman strength, dexterity, and senses are no longer science fiction, they are already here.
One living example of this extraordinary technology is Enno Park. He is a cyborg, author, speaker as well as the founder and chairperson of Cyborgs e.V. in Berlin. He is a member of the research project “futurebody” at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and member of Advisory board of VALID research project on ethical aspects of digitalization in the health sector at University of Applied Sciences, Furtwangen, Germany. Enno Park will share his experience at the “Cutting Edge of Digital Mind” conference on September 20 in Austria Trend Hotel in Ljubljana.
The definition of a cyborg is clear – an organism with both biological and technological components. But tell us from your perspective, what does being a Cyborg actually mean and at what point does one become a Cyborg?
Being a cyborg means to realize that technology defines humanity. It started when we began to use fire and outsourced parts digestion to cooking. History of culture is also a history of technology. So, being a cyborg isn’t about having artificial implants inside your body, but rather being a part of a cybernetic system. Human society as a whole is a cyborg but we as individuals rarely see ourselves this way.
Has becoming a cyborg influenced your career in any way or vice versa – did your career in any way influence your decision to get cochlea implants?
Despite some exceptions being deaf usually limits your opportunities which jobs to choose. I’ve been working as a designer and later as a software developer because those are jobs where verbal communication isn’t that important. Gaining my hearing back, with cochlear implants, had a deep impact on my life. You can do phone calls, watch movies without subtitles, and it’s way easier to have a flirt at a crowded bar. By changing what things I could do, it changed my behavior and through this my identity. Shortly after implantation, I started working as a publicist, did video and radio pieces, started to study again and met people to establish the Cyborgs e.V. with.
“One of the biggest goals is to keep (democratic) control over the technology you’re entangled with.”
As mentioned above, you are a founder and chairperson of Cyborgs e.V. in Berlin. Could you tell us what exactly you do and what is your mission?
Firstly, Cyborgs e.V. is about hacktivism. You have a medical implant or prosthetic and want to know how to hack, program and control it beyond the possibilities vendors usually allow. Security became an important point, not only when you have a digital pacemaker. For the better picture we try to run a public debate on digitalization beyond the old positions of solutionism on the one hand and seeing technology as unnatural and perverted on the other hand. One of the biggest goals is to keep (democratic) control over the technology you’re entangled with – no matter if you have a medical device, a smartphone, a computer, an e-book reader or other algorithmic systems to influence your life.
In the last period we started considering privacy more seriously. You have a piece of technology inside your body – does this mean that theoretically you could be a target of a cyber-attack?
There are security breaches in cochlea implants but they’re not connected to the internet or any other computer outside the clinic. So I’m safe. It’s that simple – never connect implants or other devices your life relies on to the internet.
We could probably agree that human evolution is an ongoing process. And with new technologies and implants we are shaping this process. Do you think that in the future everyone will become a Cyborg?
Trans-humanism tends to confuse technological development with evolution. Humans of the future will be humans as we are. Of course new technologies can prolong life expectancy or enhance our abilities, but you have to see it in the context of human history. In the 1800s when industrialization started, there was a need for everyone to have a new sense – time. So watches became ubiquitous. Of course there have been lots of technical enhancements people could attach to their body before, but watch was the first device nearly everybody was wearing it strapped to a wrist on a daily basis. Right now it happened again with smart phones. They aren’t implanted, but you always have them with you. So you don’t have to wait for things like brain implants to study the effects of cyborg devices on society.