Leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution 5 technologies and their potential impact on the workforce and economic growth. However, this book is the first of its kind to focus specifically on how the 4IR workplace will impact leadership itself. The second machine age is different than the first machine age (i.e., com- puters and early Internet technologies) because of a great convergence between the digital, physical, and biological worlds. This great convergence of mega trends will bring technologies, materials, and services to the market in the next three to five years that will create exciting new experiences, products, and possibilities for the human race. And the 4IR will also bring plenty of risks, disruptions, and challenges that leaders must rise up to address. A (Very) Brief History of the 4IR To understand what the 4IR is and why it matters to your organization, you need to consider the 4IR in its historical context. The first industrial revolution (1IR) took place over a hundred-year period in Europe and North America. Key dates associated with this era are the 18th to 19th centuries. During this period, people moved from agrarian (i.e., farming) societies to urban societies aimed at production and modernization. A key innovation associated with the 1IR occurred between 1813 and 1814 in the United Kingdom. An engineer named William Hedley built “Puff- ing Billy.” This was the first steam-powered engine that was built to haul coal from the mine at Wylam to the docks at Northumberland. Steam power quickly spread and gave rise to iron, railroad, and textile industries, which created multiple spin-off industries and made many large fortunes. The second industrial revolution (2IR) is marked roughly by the period of rapid economic growth that began in 1870 and continued until the begin- ning of World War I (1914). In this era, growth in new industries fed the major cities emerging around the world. Steel, oil, gas, the expansion of railroads and telegraph systems, factory production lines, and the advent of electricity grew into heavy industries that built empires. Names like Car ne gie, J. P. Morgan, Charles Schwab, and Rockefeller shaped this era in the United States. Interestingly, the 2IR lasted only four and a half decades—less than half the time of the first revolution! Through this period of rapid innovation, the 2IR ushered in new technologies like the light bulb, the phonograph, and the internal combustion engine. In my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, men like Ransom Olds and Henry Ford introduced assembly lines in their automo- bile factories. Ford’s improvement upon Olds’ factory allowed him to crank out Model T’s in about 93 minutes. A new industry was born, and the lives of many families in Detroit were changed forever—including those my grandparents! Enter the third industrial revolution (3IR). This revolution began in the late 1950s and continued into the 1970s. In 1958, Jack Kilby, a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments, convinced management that he had solved a
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