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    WebinarPositive Vision of the Future 2013 60 min

    What Social Media Means for Leadership

    Just about everyone has jumped on the social media bandwagon. Companies are falling over themselves to engage customers and stakeholders in social media spaces, for fear of missing out on the social media “revolution.” Indeed, marketing and PR have been permanently changed by social media. Traditional marketing methods haven’t disappeared, but our increasingly social-savvy audiences have changed their expectations about how companies interact with them online. But the “revolution” in marketing is actually just the tip of the iceberg. Companies that are the most engaged in social media are seeing the impact not just in marketing, but also in key organizational processes, structures, and even culture. In this session, authors Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant will show how the prevailing leadership and management models have been stuck in “machine thinking” for decades, and social media is now shining a light on a new, more human approach to organizations. By embracing the principles of open, trustworthy, generative, and courageous, organizations can solve perennial problems of agility and engagement and become more compatible with social media in the process.

    Presenter

    JN

    Jamie Notter

    •Understand the subtle ways in which our organizational “best practices” have been sabotaging our organizations for some time now. •Understand a new framework for changing culture, process, and behavior in organizations in ways that is more aligned with the power of social media and what it means to be human. •How to identify strategies for changing their own organization on at least one of those three levels

    Key Takeaways

    • 1.Social media's influence extends beyond marketing to reshape core organizational processes, structures, and culture.
    • 2.Traditional leadership models are often stuck in "machine thinking," which is incompatible with the social age.
    • 3.A more human-centered approach to organizations is emerging, highlighted by social media's collaborative nature.
    • 4.Leaders can improve agility and engagement by adopting principles of being open, trustworthy, generative, and courageous.
    • 5.Becoming more compatible with social media requires re-evaluating and changing organizational structures and processes.
    • 6.Fostering a culture of openness and trust is crucial for leaders in today’s digitally integrated workplaces.

    Beyond Marketing: Social Media's True Organizational Impact

    While many companies adopt social media as a critical marketing and public relations tool, its most profound effects are felt internally. Beyond customer engagement, social media is reshaping core organizational processes, hierarchies, and culture. It challenges long-standing business practices by altering employee and stakeholder expectations about how organizations should communicate and operate.

    Moving from "Machine Thinking" to a Human-Centered Model

    For decades, prevailing leadership and management models have been rooted in "machine thinking"—a rigid, hierarchical approach to organizations. This webinar with Jamie Notter explains how the rise of social media has exposed the limitations of this model. Instead, it illuminates a path toward a more human approach to work, one that mirrors the collaborative, open, and dynamic nature of social platforms.

    The Four Principles of Social-Age Leadership

    To navigate this shift, leaders are encouraged to embrace a new mindset centered on four key principles:

    • Open: Fostering transparency and open lines of communication across the organization.
    • Trustworthy: Building credibility and psychological safety through consistent and authentic actions.
    • Generative: Empowering employees to contribute ideas, innovate, and take initiative, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of positive contributions.
    • Courageous: Making bold decisions and embracing new, potentially disruptive organizational models that foster agility and growth.

    Improving Agility, Engagement, and Inclusivity

    By adopting these principles, organizations can address persistent challenges like poor employee engagement and slow responsiveness (agility). This new leadership framework helps create an environment where all voices can be heard and valued, directly supporting inclusivity goals. Leaders can make their organizations more compatible with the social age by actively re-evaluating legacy processes and structures to ensure they support collaboration and employee empowerment rather than hinder them.

    This session, featuring Jamie Notter, delves into the profound impact of social media beyond marketing, exploring its influence on organizational processes, structure, and culture. It highlights how social media has catalyzed a shift from traditional "machine thinking" to a more human-centered approach to leadership and management, which remains highly relevant for today's digitally integrated workplaces.

    What you'll learn

    • How social media transcends marketing to impact core organizational functions.
    • The shift from conventional "machine thinking" to a more human approach in organizations.
    • Principles of open, trustworthy, generative, and courageous leadership.
    • Strategies for enhancing organizational agility and employee engagement in a social age.
    • Understanding how organizations can become more compatible with social media's inherent principles.

    Who this webinar is for

    This webinar is ideal for:

    • Senior leaders and executives navigating digital transformation.
    • HR professionals focusing on organizational development and culture.
    • Managers seeking to improve team agility and engagement.
    • Anyone interested in the intersection of technology, leadership, and organizational design.
    • Professionals driving inclusivity initiatives within their organizations.

    Why it matters now

    Even today, understanding how social technologies reshape interactions, expectations, and power dynamics within organizations is crucial. The principles of openness, trust, and courage discussed are foundational for modern leadership, especially as remote and hybrid work models rely heavily on digital communication. Leaders must continuously adapt their styles and structures to foster environments that are both agile and deeply engaging, mirroring the collaborative nature of social platforms.

    How leaders can apply this

    Leaders can apply these insights by:

    • Actively fostering a culture of openness and transparency within their teams and across the organization.
    • Building trust through consistent, authentic communication, leveraging digital channels effectively.
    • Empowering employees to contribute ideas and take initiative, cultivating a generative environment.
    • Demonstrating courage in decision-making and in embracing new, potentially disruptive, organizational models.
    • Re-evaluating existing organizational processes and structures to ensure they support agility and engagement, rather than hindering them.
    • Championing inclusivity by ensuring all voices are heard and valued, facilitated by accessible digital platforms.

    About this session

    Key takeaways

    Watching this webinar gives you grounded, practical perspective on Inclusivity. Expect ideas you can use in leadership conversations, not abstract theory, drawn from Jamie Notter's direct experience.

    Who this is for

    CHROs, HR business partners, talent leaders, executive coaches, organizational development practitioners, and senior leaders who are responsible for positive vision of the future inside their organization.

    Why it matters now

    Workforce expectations, hybrid work patterns, and AI-driven change keep raising the bar on culture and leadership. Sessions like this help leaders make smarter, more evidence-informed decisions about Inclusivity.

    How to apply it

    Use the ideas here to challenge a current assumption on your team, design a single concrete experiment in the next 30 days, and bring one finding back to your leadership group for discussion.

    Frequently asked questions

    Topics

    Inclusivity

    Best Practice Institute

    Best Practice Institute is the research organization behind Most Loved Workplace® certification, the SPARK Model, the Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI™), and The Workplace Report.

    The Workplace Report

    The Workplace Report is BPI's original workplace culture research and editorial briefing series for CEOs, CHROs, people leaders, talent leaders, and employer-brand teams. It turns BPI's 25 years of research, Most Loved Workplace® certification data, SPARK findings, and current workforce signals into practical analysis leaders can use.

    The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.