Hodgetts: Fred, in getting started, let me begin by asking if you'd first like to make an opening statement. Then I'd like to focus on your views of the new environment facing leaders in 21st century organizations. Luthans: Thank you, Richard. I appreciate this opportunity for both of us to express our views on leadership as we enter the new millennium. As you know, we did the same for management in general for the inaugural issue of the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management. Some of the same questions and responses will be taken from that cyber conversation, but since it was on-line, we thought in this forum of the Journal of Leadership Studies our previous conversation might be worth repeating and focusing on leadership per se. Hodgetts: Speaking of cyberspace, Fred, what do you think the environment for the 21st century will be like and how will this affect leadership? Luthans: Well certainly with the millennium around the corner this is a good time to reflect and take stock of where we've been and where we're going. And much of what's happening-and, yes, going to happen-is already in the works. We have a borderless, international economy. This is no longer talk; it's reality. Second, the information revolution has also become a reality. We no longer have to fantasize and dream about exotic computer technology-it's here; artificial intelligence, expert systems, telecommunications, Internet, Internet II, intranet, extranet. All of this is now common, everyday language, and application. And then there is the quality-speed revolution, which started with total quality management more than 15 years ago-and has such a big impact on organizational culture and operations and customer expectations. Hodgetts: Before you continue, is quality going to remain a major area of consideration in the new millennium? Luthans: Absolutely. For example, you and I have been pushing in our own recent articles that the concept of going from TQM to learning organizations and then, of course, to world-class organizations. In fact, it's almost a cliche but it bears repetition: In order to change, we must be able to learn. Hodgetts: Do you think it's difficult for organizational leaders to accomplish the needed change through learning? Luthans: Unfortunately, yes. But if they don't accomplish change, their organizations won't succeed or even survive. What surprises me is that too many of today's managers think they can get by without changing. Every time I think of this faulty reasoning, I recall Einstein's response to the question: What is insanity? He said it was people who do the same things and expect to obtain different results. This resistance to change is pure insanity given the environment in which we live. We have to change. So what I'm saying is that today's leaders must transform their firms into learning organizations, anticipate change and learn how to learn-and yet this isn't even enough. Now they have to move their organizations into world class status. These world class organizations or WCOs, as we call them, are basically striving to be the best in this hypercompetitive environment of internationalization, advanced information, technology, quality, and speed. Hodgetts: What do you think some of the things that leaders will need to do if they want to attain and then sustain a competitive advantage for their organizations in the new century? Specifically in the organizational behavior and human resource management area? Luthans: Yes, I'm glad you added in the OB/HR area because I think it's obvious that leaders have to keep up in the strategy and technology areas, new, innovative product development and entrepreneurship, operations and system development, etc. But I think the key here is that effective leaders can't forget the people. Jeff Pfeffer in his latest book, The Human Equation, really said it well. He says that today's managers are so concerned about things such as artificial intelligence that they overlook human intelligence. …