This morning's Opening General Session at the NAMIC Conference was Leadership 2.0: A New Paradigm, moderated by Monica Bertran, the host of Bloomberg Television's Market Movers. The panelists were Bob DeBitetto, EVP & GM, A&E Network; Peter Firestone, Managing Director, US, Media and Entertaining Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, LLP; Scott Mills, President & COO, BET Networks; Christina Norman, President, MTV; Evan Shapiro, EVP & GM, The Independent Film Channel.
One theme that emerged from the discussion is that today's leadership doesn't necessarily consist of a top-down structure. In many cases, the power of diverse thought can lead to creative solutions. As Shapiro put it, "No one is smarter than everyone." Norman likened a leader's role in that situation to that of a shepherd or an air traffic controller. Strength can come from letting go of power.
One other note: DeBitetto made a passing comment on Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants. This is a concept popularized by Marc Prensky that distinguishes between those people born into the Digital World, who are completely familiar with its workings, and those who have had to enter into it and learn the geography. There are young people who don't know a world without color television, remote controls, digital cable, the Internet, high-speed data, personal computers, and so on. Prensky argues that young people "think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors," because they were born into the Digital World and are native speakers of its inherent language.
This is, of course, yet another argument for diversity. If you're trying to reach all consumers, you need people who speak the language.