In the business world, it was once commonly thought that leadership is a trait you either have or lack.
According to Miriam O'Callaghan's new book "Conscio-Smart," leadership is actually a skill you can develop by boosting your competency in key areas.
O'Callaghan is an assistant professor of management at William Woods University. This is her second book on the topic of leadership and it's available on Amazon in paperback and digital format.
"It all started while I was teaching doctorate classes at a university in Washington, D.C.," O'Callaghan said Tuesday. "It was a class on leadership, and we were talking about different theories of leadership. My students would ask questions like, 'Do these stories still apply?'"
The truth is, O'Callaghan said, past models of leadership are outmoded thanks to changes in industry structures, increased complexity and volatility, and technological developments.
"Previously, people would talk about trait-based leadership - leadership as an inborn thing," she said. "Actually, leadership is an acquired and developed competency."
To truly succeed in today's business world, O'Callaghan proposes everyone in the workforce needs to become a leader. In "Conscio-Smart: How to Lead and Achieve Your Total Wellbeing in Industry 4.0," O'Callaghan gives readers tools for developing skills in 39 areas of competency.
"The most important thing is consciousness, meaning higher-order cognitive skills," O'Callaghan said.
It's about taking the knowledge you've acquired and using it to solve problems using novel and effective approaches - from big-picture thinking to system-based thinking.
"As conscio (conscious), you use your total brain capacity to make decisions and solve complex problems," O'Callaghan writes on the Conscio-Smart website. "As smart, you sense and learn to continuously update and upgrade your capabilities."
The author said her book may help people have a better life beyond the workplace, too.
"In order to succeed in industry 4.0, you will need more than higher IQ's, technical skills and emotional intelligence," O'Callaghan said. "If your focus is achieving total wellbeing and not just career success, you need Conscio-Smart competencies. Consciousness is not merely a subjective concept or a hard problem, it is a cluster of competencies."
The 39 competencies discussed in her book are sorted into three clusters: the consciousness cluster, technical and life-skills cluster, and the social-emotional cluster.
"(To develop these skills), the first level is information," she said. "You need a framework, and that's what this book provides."
Each competency is paired with exercises to help the reader develop and assess his or her progress.
O'Callaghan said Conscio-Smart is targeted at college students and those just entering the workforce.
"Industry 4.0 is here, and if we don't prepare ourselves now, it's going to be too late," she said. "It's high time to wake up and develop the skills important to you, and most of these competencies aren't taught in textbooks."
O'Callaghan came to WWU in 2018 from Stratford University (Falls Church, Virginia), where she served as a cultural exchange professor during 2016-17.
Previous experience includes serving as Director of Global Business Development for ACPI Training Australia; assistant professor at Jagran Lakecity University (Bhopal, India) from 2013-15; expert member of curriculum and content development at Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education and faculty member at Barkatullah University (Bhopal, India).
She holds a Ph.D in management from Barkatullah University, and MBA degrees in human resource management and applied economics from Indira Gandhi National Open University.