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Muscle #6 Be prepared for changing circumstances. Be bold, have courage, and adapt quickly.
Leaders who are able to face failure and learn from their mistakes can get ahead of the changing times. They seek information and input from multiple sources, are not afraid of admitting what they don’t know, and can bring in outside expertise when necessary. Leaders must decide what to do, hold on to large projects and expense, and prioritize. Your “what not to” choices should be made public. Get rid of yesterday’s strategies. The actions that once drove results may no more be relevant. Leaders who are able to adapt quickly and create new plans of attack are the best. Strengthen or build direct connections with the front line. Leaders who excel extend their antennae into all the ecosystems in which they work.
Leaders who are great at asking for help and recognize that they cannot do everything on their own are the best. Leaders are not expected to be the most intelligent person in the room or have all the answers. I was speaking to leaders at a mid-sized scale up company when they stated that they want their leader to be one of us, someone who can make mistakes, learn from us, and have fun with them. Many leaders believe they need to be an invincible, know-it all leader. However, these leaders rarely succeed. No one can lead by themselves. Your team and you will be better off if you have more help.
Warren Buffett said that if you are the smartest person in the room, it is not the right room. Contrary the CEO-as Superman myth you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. It might even be a disadvantage. However, you need to identify who the smartest guy in the room, invite them to join your team, then let them lead. Two leaders who agree are better than one. Remember to not be afraid of being the dumbest person in a room. Make it your goal.
For me, kindness and courage are essential for every leader. Courage has guided me in my decisions and helped me make the right decisions, even when they were difficult. For example. For example, letting go of people in a downturn can save the organization from losing money or even closing down. Kindness allows for the execution of decisions with compassion and care. Courageous leaders can face reality better in times of crisis. Courage can even help them to listen to the ground and get 360-degree feedback to see the blind spots.
Leaders cannot play favorites and must be fair and transparent. Leaders must be able to take tough decisions about performance and ethical issues. It helps leaders communicate openly and regularly to lead the change. Courageous leaders don’t hide behind jargon. Leaders who are confident, courageous, and capable will find it easy to give credit when others deserving, while also being able to hold people responsible for their actions.
Muscle #7 Rooted in purpose for continued attractiveness for customers and talent.
Leaders need to manage complex and diverse stakeholders. This includes conversations and accountability on areas like ESGs, diversity and government relations. These areas are all becoming more important due to climate change.
Leaders must ensure their organizations have a purpose. This will provide stability and motivate people in times of economic and societal uncertainty. Inspire a passion for renewal in your business, products, organization, and people.
Leaders must reorient organizations to enable sustainable growth and long-term value to all stakeholders, employees, society, investors and customers. Despite leaders being open to change, there are still gaps in their ability, focus areas, and translating their intent into action. Radical customer-centricity, as well as a purposeful and nurturing company culture, embeds the agility needed to adapt to market and customer change.
Three things to remember during volatile times like the one we are experiencing now with the pandemic
- Clarity on what is important (purpose), sense belonging, and show care
- Our teams should be focusing on customer satisfaction and business continuity to make an impact.
- Consistent story telling by our leaders, and consistency in their words and actions-especially during crisis.
Leaders who are strong and able to attract the best people will be able to attract the best. We see that millennials are willing to give up a big brand and a high salary to join a start-up or a social enterprise. Whatever gives them meaning and purpose, whether it is technology, innovation or a cause they feel connected to, this is a great time to be a leader.
Leaders can learn from their team and vice versa by being able to hire people who are better than you. This creates an environment for learning and allows them to be more open to learning from others. Managers need to be confident about losing their jobs and have an abundance mindset.
Muscle #8 Keeping up with technology is key to building an ecosystem.
Leaders must embrace three interconnected value drivers in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Technology at speed, innovation at scale, and people at the centre are key components of a leader’s vision.
The impact of advanced technologies on how companies improve their business models, customer and employee experience, and how they market themselves is increasing. It is crucial to use technology to increase creativity and deploy it faster.
CEOs and C-suite executives must not only understand the value of data but also reframe how they manage, use, and scale it. The enterprise’s intelligence will be powered by trusting data, business models, advanced technologies and a value-first strategy. This will allow for targeted, sustainable value creation.
Technology is changing the way we work and operate, but it is also affecting the culture of the company in many ways. Information is no longer a source of power. Managers and HR do not have as much information about an employee as the employee. This creates greater ownership and empowerment. It is liberating to democratically choose your career path and learn about other careers. It allowed people to choose, but it also held them accountable.
To create a positive employee experience, companies are using AI-enabled integrated talent strategies. AI-enabled hiring is an example. It involves matching profiles with job requirements, experience, aspirations, talent crowdsourcing for specific projects, career growth, curated knowledge from global repositories and employee engagement. This creates a personalized and engaging experience.
Leaders have the responsibility of accelerating technology adoption. The digital-first era was created by the pandemic. Companies that are able to leverage new technologies as tools of creativity will be more successful, with them rapidly evolving and maturing. These technologies will not only be used by companies, but they will also require faster deployment of technology to meet the ever-changing demands of customers, employees, partners, and the ecosystem. Digital-driven business transformation and AI/datascience are two of the most important competencies that will require more or greater C-suite attention.
Companies must be mindful of the human impact of any technology before widespread deployment. As the public becomes more aware of security, privacy, and ethical risks, they need to be careful. To reap the full benefits of AI and data science, CEOs must build trust with stakeholders.
It takes a lot of skill and determination to successfully leverage and implement technology quickly. Strong cybersecurity capabilities and forward-looking risk management will be key to fully realizing the potential of technology to improve the human experience within our increasingly virtual world.
Integration into ecosystems is a key feature of a future-focused enterprise. We have seen industry boundaries change over the years and new threats emerge from traditional competitors. Companies are becoming more open to cohetition and cooperation among competitors, as well adopting ecosystem models to provide superior customer value, and to lead the market. This requires a shift in mindset for leaders to embrace this change and make it a competitive advantage. Resistance to this change will lead leaders to become obsolete.
Muscle #9 Take responsibility for your own crisis.
Even though there are many factors and challenges beyond their control, the best leaders take ownership of a crisis. They create a culture of accountability, align team focus, and establish new metrics to monitor performance. They keep their eyes on and aligned to a daily dashboard of priorities. Leaders should concisely list their top five priorities (on a single page or less) and ensure that others are aligned. Leaders should review performance against these items often – if possible, at least weekly – and ensure that they share this information with their direct reports. Your “hit list” should be reviewed and updated at the end each day or week. To measure performance, you should establish key performance indicators. Each week, choose three to five metrics that are most important and have leaders report on them regularly. Keep your body and mind in top shape. Leaders must keep their composure even when others lose their heads. You can establish a routine for self-care that includes exercise, healthy eating, meditation, and other activities. You should have a good supply of energy, emotional reserves, as well as coping mechanisms. Leaders must be more focused and can balance both immediate needs to ensure survival and long-term growth.
Muscle #10 Push the limits of your growth and be able to make changes.
By improving our mental, social, and physical fitness, we can create neural pathways that strengthen our capabilities in each area and help us achieve peak performance.
It includes taking into account the larger aspects of leadership health like sleep, water intake, stress, and rest. It is important to take time for your own health and fitness. People across the globe have been affected by this crisis. The status quo was dissolved and the autopilot shut down. Leaders are facing terrifying uncertainty and the pace of change. Leaders cannot do it all at once. Similar to strength training, leaders must make time to rest, reflect, and recover to be strong for their journey. White space is essential for mental harmony.
It is well-known the frequency and consistency of exercise build muscle. There is no quick fix for keeping fit. However there is no quick solution to leadership growth. Every day, small decisions and actions create habits that can be consciously or unconsciously shaped into a leader’s permanent state of mind. There is science to understanding how to change bad habits and create new ones. To grow your leadership skills, self-awareness is key. It will allow you to make conscious and targeted efforts to discover your natural strengths and talents, as well as what can be improved. Leaders must disrupt themselves before others do it for them. This exercise teaches us that leaders who create and sustain new habits will be able to resist the status quo and be ready to disrupt it when it happens.
HBR research shows that despite the many benefits of self-care, many leaders still resist the idea. Self-care is often seen as a sign of weakness, a lack of time, or a general skepticism about the whole concept.
Leaders need to constantly improve their cognitive abilities to plan, remember and reason, as well as decide, adapt, and adapt. Gilkey and Kits state that leaders who are skilled in stimulating their brain cells with diverse stimulations (e.g., music or sports) or have a unique bobby that engages a different skill set are known as “leaders who stimulate their brain cells.” It is possible to build new neural networks through direct, hands-on activities like pottery and gardening.
I was born in India, and I spent most of my life there. However, during my time in the Netherlands, it became clear to me that adults don’t give up their favorite sports once they leave school. Everyone had at least one other sport, which kept them physically active and made it impossible to find the time. Cycling was an integral part of their daily commutes which allowed them to get enough exercise. In a nutshell: If all aspects of life are given the appropriate importance and focus, there will be no reason to excuse a lack of time for maintaining this balance.
Many leaders want to change but not always to. Human beings are wired to resist change. Our brain craves predictability while our emotions long for stability. We have seen the power of human nature, which is the ultimate adapter, in this crisis. It can be difficult, regardless of whether it is crisis-induced change or failure. Similar to exercise. Leaders should not be afraid to fail. They know that hard times are the best place to learn. History has shown that failure in business is inevitable. Leaders who learn from their mistakes and incorporate these lessons into their personal toolkit are better equipped to push the boundaries for their own growth as well as that of their teams or organizations.