The demands of leadership in the 21st Century are changing at warp speed.
Exponential change means that old models of leadership are looking increasingly outdated.
People are now talking of becoming "Agile", but we need to be looking beyond agility. Agile helps organisations adapt to and even anticipate change. I believe that this will not be enough and leaders will have to learn to transition their organisations from Force to Flow, co-creating the future as it unfolds.
This will need an entirely different approach.
If we're "living in disruptive times" as the cliche goes, then as leaders we need to be looking at how we can be doing some of the disrutping. Otherwise we're merely following.
Of two things we can be certain:
- The future will be different to what most of us expect; and
- It will happen much sooner that we think.
That's why we're working at the cutting edge of leadership thinking. We're looking at programmes to equip leaders for the future, not a past that is rapidly receding.
We're not interested in "same old, same old." We're embracing a future that is exciting, scary and full of opportunities.
ACTION POINT
Ask yourself: what can you do to disrupt yourself, disrupt your teams, or disrupt your industry? If you don't step up and do it, someone else will.
And where will that leave you?
Of course it's impossible to say because if you're on the receiving end of disruption you won't have a clue what's going on until it's too late! Leaders of the future will have to disrupt or be disrupted.
And the future's already here!
If you're still doing things the same way as you have for years, take stock - it's time to start thinking really radically. Imagine what crazy things could happen to make your business totally irrelevant.
Then ask"What can I do to help make that happen?" instead of waiting to become a victim of someone else's mould-breaking idea.
