I love working with leaders that want to be better today than they were yesterday – it is truly is an honor to work with mindsets that embrace learning and change.
These days the questions of ‘Learning Leaders’ are:
All good questions! It is number six from above that I want to talk about today. The speed of leadership.
The world continues to get smaller, flatter and faster. It is also getting more complicated and unpredictable. For example, the current Intel Core i9 processor is capable of solving problems in just a few minutes, which the early computers NASA used for the Apollo program would have taken 30-years to calculate. And… Quantum computers are capable of solving problems the current Intel processor would take 30-years to calculate. Crazy!
For us, while we have incredibly powerful brains, we are not yet able to operate on a quantum level, however we do have to find ways to increase the speed of leadership. By that, I mean that we have to find ways to reduce any cumbersome processes and policies (that were, in reality, designed for the comfort and convenience of the organization and not for making it easier for our people to create value for customers).
Yes, we need structure in a business, or we will end up ‘flying by the seat of our pants’ and fighting fires every day. What I am talking about here are the things that slow us down and prevent us from creating a great place to work, outsmarting competition, and creating value for customers. This takes leaders that are flexible and able to pivot… quickly.
A long time ago, I was assessed by a team of Psychologists for a role that I was being considered for in a large organization. Among many things in the thick report the Psychologists produced was that I was in the 28th percentile of ‘Conventional Conformity’ and in the 84th percentile of ‘Innovation’. Those two characteristics were bad in leader (back then). They hired me anyway. Predictably, I was not a fit for the ‘standard’ culture and was quickly moved off to lead an Incubator Group where thinking differently was welcomed.
That is exactly what we need today! I am telling business leaders that I work with today that the only way we are going to be able to compete with things like AI, attract top talent , and create a culture that is able to be agile enough to stay ahead of the competition is to foster an environment where people are encouraged to challenge the status quo, think fast and move fast.
Increase your speed of leadership. That sound you hear right now is the competition chasing you!
Part 2 is now available – click here to read.
