Business contains only 3 things: People, Process, & Situations. 

And in this new era, if leaders don't get the People part right - their businesses fail.

That last sentence was qualified by the words "in this new era". In this new era, if leaders don't get the People part right then their businesses will fail. 

Q: What's changed? 

Q: What's escalated to importance of getting the People part right?

A1: Technology has changed & escalated. 

A2: People have changed & escalated.

Handful of examples & explanations:

• Technology has changed: this point can be summed up in one word - Google. 
• The pace of Technology has escalated exponentially - from slide rule to electronic calculator to PC to iPhone and in less than 40 years.
• Technology & People have changed: from closed/corporate-created Encyclopedia Britannica to open/volunteer-created Wikipedia in less than a generation. [the "Information Free-For-All"]
• People have changed: they read differently now...tending to scan and look for small bullets of information rather than wading through paragraphs. 
• The pace of People's lives has escalated: from multiple cars taking-kids-to-sports-events-and-lots-of-other-after-hours-activities to 5,000 advertising hits per day, [the "Attention-Getting Dilemma"...the "Attention Free-For-None"].

Yes, Leaders need to know their People are experiencing:

1. an Information Free-For-All
2. an Attention Free-For-None.

People struggle with New Things.

Leaders are uniquely positioned to help People remove/reduce their struggles.

Helping People understand and handle the Information Free-For-All and the Attention Free-For-None situation as it applies to business, that's one way Leaders can get the People part right.