We Want to Work Smart Now! How Digitalization Challenges Entrepreneurial Leadership

Digital platforms and the increasing pursuit of becoming more effective and flexible have affected many traditional work structures within and across organizations. This chapter introduces the concepts of smart working and smart leadership and delineates the challenges digital transformation poses for entrepreneurial leaders. It is argued that digital workplaces do not only mean the extensive use of digital technologies at work but new and complex configurations of human and technology relationships that reshape the very nature of work. Effective leadership requires a broad behavioral repertoire, mastering new roles and mindsets. Smart leadership, as a facilitative behavior that inspires change and produces innovation in the ways of thinking about work, emerges as a response to smart working practices. Entrepreneurial leaders fostering collaborative and open relationships, empowering employees, and facilitating knowledge sharing and trust help employees to perceive their work as significant and boost employee work engagement. To be an effective leader in a virtual environment, one needs to be skillful in using information and communication technologies for communication, creating and maintaining relationships and a sense of trust. The leaders of the digitalizing companies must be able to challenge how their organizations operate, engage their personnel in the process of redefining their work roles, and keep their minds open to the possibility that their own roles will change as well.