Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The report advocates for a shift in leadership within the manufacturing sector, moving away from command-and-control models toward a 'people at the centre' approach. It identifies six dimensions of leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution—responsibility, systems, technology, entrepreneurial, adaptive, and shaping societies—and emphasizes that worker enablement is the primary priority for leaders. The document calls for a multistakeholder compact between businesses, governments, labour unions, and academia to facilitate lifelong learning and reskilling, warning that G20 economies could lose $11.5 trillion in cumulative GDP growth over 10 years if workforce enablement fails to keep pace with technological progress.

• The manufacturing sector is a critical global economic driver, accounting for 16% of global GDP and employing approximately 1.2 billion people, or nearly one-quarter of the global workforce.
• Failure to align workforce enablement with the speed of technological advancement could result in a loss of up to $11.5 trillion in cumulative GDP growth for G20 economies over the next decade.
• There is a significant gap between investment in technology and investment in people; while spending on intelligent technology rose by over 60% between 2016 and 2017, only 3% of leaders planned to significantly increase training investments the following year.
• The report identifies six dimensions of leadership required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: responsibility and accountability, systems leadership, technology leadership, entrepreneurial leadership, adaptive leadership, and shaping societies.
• Most production jobs are expected to be reconfigured rather than entirely lost due to automation, though some displacement will occur. The challenge for leaders is to transition workers fairly as tasks change.
• Professional skills now have a half-life of approximately five years, necessitating a shift from a 'train and stay' career model to one of continuous learning and role shifting.
• Effective adult learning in production is best achieved through experiential, on-the-job training at the point of need, as evidenced by the Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) system.
• A successful workforce enablement ecosystem requires a multistakeholder compact where businesses provide transparency on skill shifts, governments invest in timely reskilling, labour unions prioritize long-term employability over job security, and educational institutions modularize curricula.
• The World Economic Forum proposes three initiatives to support production leaders: a Global Manufacturing Skills Council for certification standards, a Future Production Workforce Insights Platform for technology impact data, and a Manufacturing Education Index (ROI.edu) to track human capital investment.

APA

World Economic Forum (2019). Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Leading_through_the_Fourth_Industrial_Revolution.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Leading_through_the_Fourth_Industrial_Revolution.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution |date=January 2019 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Leading_through_the_Fourth_Industrial_Revolution.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2019leading, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Leading_through_the_Fourth_Industrial_Revolution.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }