A conversation with Wilfred Jarvis

Coming up in next month's Management Magazine is a piece I've written about the future of management education. (If I say so myself, it's a goodie - be on the watch for it.)

I had hoped to get the views of Wilfred Jarvis, founder of four quadrant leadership and recognised as Australia's most experienced behavioural scientist. Unfortunately we weren't able to connect before deadline, but we were able to have an email exchange.

We began discussing the future and so on by email, but then he said something that kind of startled me:

"...one major theme is obvious to me. People are becoming less important, and things are being given and will be given far greater priorities than the leadership of people."

Really? In this world of emotional intelligence, spiritual capital etc. etc... ? Jarvis thinks so, and continues...

"In most organisations, (private enterprise or civil service), those priorities are already obvious. The distinctions will be given further emphases in the coming years.

Regrettably then, I don’t predict a growing focus on leadership. But I am sure that those rare organisations that defy universal trends, by requiring leadership, will gain substantial advantages from that ethos.

...

On-line training is escalating everywhere. Because its processes are not confined to national boundaries, a galaxy of quick-fix programs will multiply. Those revolutions will further diminish educational processes in which instructors and students experience face-to-face relationships.

Those changes are already norms in multitudes of classrooms. We cannot have personal-relationships with electronic devices; but, for countless children, adolescents and adults, captivity to things is diminishing close, dependable relationships with people."

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm quite a fan of the connections that can be forged through technology; connections that couldn't be forged in the past. Tomorrow I'll post my question on that to Wilfred Jarvis, and his answer.