eLeadership: Proven Techniques for Creating an Environment of Speed and Flexibility in the Digital Economy.(Review)

eLeadership: Proven Techniques for Creating an Environment of Speed and Flexibility in the Digital Economy by Susan Annunzio The Free Press, 2001 pages, $25.00

When The Free Press first contacted me about this new book and urged me to review if for The Journal of Leadership Studies, I suspected this was a book about how to lead dot.com companies. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find out that the book was not focused on either Internet-based companies or how to do business on the Internet. Instead, the book is aimed squarely at leaders of traditional American businesses.

Susan Annunzio, author of eLeadership, is a partner at Nextera, a global consulting company. Annunzio specializes in change management and has worked with a diverse list of clients including Amoco, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and Enrnst & Young. She believes that with the advent of eBusiness, traditional organizations have to respond to an increasing level of change more rapidly than ever. She feels the winners will be those who are able to attract and retain the best talent and encourage the free expression of ideas. Her goal, therefore, in writing eLeadership is to help leaders create "an environment that will keep the best and smartest people on board.(p. 7)

Annunzio's definition of eLeadership is "shaking up your corporate culture and fostering an attitude of speed and flexibility in order to facilitate the internal transformation to an environment for the new economy." (p. 12) What characterizes the effective eLeader besides an ability to do everything at extreme speed? According to Annunzio, eLeaders have the following qualities: honesty, responsiveness, vigilance, willingness to learn and relearn, sense of adventure, vision, and altruism.

Before discussing her guidelines for eLeaders, Annunzio gives us a great chapter on the successful interaction of Baby Boomer leaders with their Generation X and Y employees. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book since the obvious differences in values and goals between these groups cause concern for all leaders today. Annunzio first looks in general terms at what motivates each of these three groups and how they can communicate better. She feels it is especially important for the Baby Boomer leader to know how to motivate and thus retain his or her most promising Gen X employees who are likely to be enthusiastic, technologically adept and creative in their thinking. Annunzio tells us these younger workers want impact, personal accountability and rewards, a great challenge, and work about which they can be passionate. Better yet, Annunzio prescribes ten ways leaders can motivate this important group. Creating an entrepreneurial environment and celebrating their success are just two of the suggestions offered.

From this interesting start, Annunzio provides individual chapters on her five step prescription to enter the ranks of eLeaders. She starts with a chapter on the "20/60/20 rule." This rule suggests that the top 20% of any company's employees are the stars, the ones you want to use to motivate the rest of the employees. The bottom 20% on the other hand are the ...