In an era of digital transformation, how can leaders manage a team, or an organization, successfully? In this DLD20 discussion moderated by WIRED UK editor Greg Williams, Deutsche Telekom board member Claudia Nemat, Michael Diederich (HypoVereinsbank/UniCredit) and Tarek Müller (About You) delve into what it takes to lead an ever-evolving workforce.
One takeaway: Flexibility and adaptability in an organizational structure have become much more important, due to the digital transformation of the economy.
Müller said that he had to change his leadership style to accommodate the growth when his bootstrapped fashion e-commerce startup About You went from a 30 person-team to more than 700 employees. “We tried to solve this by coming up with our own organizational model that we call ‘Model Move’”, he explained. This model saw the company splitting up into “circles consisting of 5-10 people where each circle has two leadership roles” and each circle would be guided by managing directors.
The panellists also discuss how to provide incentives that go beyond money, why it’s important to approach workers as individuals and how they envision a successful organisation ten years from now.
