pipe dream, is now a reality—so real it has eliminated the franc
and the deutsche mark and replaced them with the Esperanto of
currencies, the euro. In the United States during the last dozen
years, the New Economy emerged, soared, and crashed. During
the 1990s, it seemed as if every bright twenty-something started
his or her own e-business and saw its stock boom even before
products were marketed or profits turned. Given that this was an
economy based almost entirely on promise, the dot bomb should
have come as no surprise. But certain elements of the New
Economy are still valid in spite of the woeful state of the Nasdaq.
The New Economy was fueled by intellectual capital, as the
economy of the twenty-first century will be. The days when a
company’s most important assets are buildings and equipment
are gone forever. Ideas are now the acknowledged engine and
currency of the global economy. For leaders, and would-be
leaders, the take-home lesson of the New Economy is that
power follows ideas, not position. Right now, the business me-
dia are filled with stories on how dispirited workers have aban-
doned the dream of early retirement as they watch their 401(k)
balances shrink quarter after quarter. In the last half of 2002,
workers are happy to have jobs, and are doing what they have
to do to keep them. But that will change. And when it does,
leaders who want their organizations to succeed will once again
have to reward, even cosset, those employees who have the best
ideas. Bad economic times allow second-rate leaders to exercise
power recklessly and with impunity. Good times will come
again, and when they do, the leaders who survive and flourish
will be those who treat the people around them, not as under-
lings, but as invaluable colleagues and collaborators.
Just as the New Economy rose and fell, so has the imperial
leader. One of the truly dreadful trends of the 1990s was the
emergence of the celebrity CEO. Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca wasOn Becoming a Leaderxvi0465014088_fm.qxd:0738208175_fm.qxd 12/2/08 2:52 PM Page xvi